Star Marianas Airlines president Shaun Christian denied yesterday a rumor swirling in social media that one of its airplanes \u201cdied\u201d in midair after taking off last Friday afternoon from Tinian.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe engine didn\u2019t die,\u201d Christian said.<\/p>\n
Last Friday, a source contacted Saipan Tribune saying that a Star Marianas plane departed from Tinian at 2pm and \u201cwas about 200 feet in the air when the engine died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pilot managed to glide the aircraft and landed [it] safely. Another pilot inspected the plane upon landing. He muttered that the plane was out of fuel. Continued negligence seems to be the trend with this airline company that has already had two plane crashes and fatalities,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo Airport Rescue Fire Fighters, medics, or Commonwealth Ports Authority police were on site, probably because the pilot did not call it in,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n
Christian said there was a misinterpretation of what actually happened that afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe teach the pilots on what they need to do about making a decision to check first. They are trained to do these landings. The pilot rejected takeoff that involves reducing the power to idle,\u201d Christian said.<\/p>\n
For smaller planes, according to Wikipedia, the pilot can choose to cut the power anywhere from a few feet above the ground to thousands of feet in the air. It depends on weather conditions (wind in particular), how they are going to maneuver in for landing, and what they are trying to accomplish. Long-range glides are mainly just a stunt or a training exercise to prepare for that fateful day when the engine quits.<\/p>\n
As to why Star Marianas didn\u2019t report it to CPA, Christian said it wasn\u2019t an incident that was reportable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pilot got airborne and opted to reject the take off. After the plane landed and maintenance was done, we tried to identify the problem. It then flew later that day again because no problem was found,\u201d Christian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pilot made a right decision and it was a safe decision. \u2026It wasn\u2019t 200 feet in the air, it was between 50 to 100 feet in the air. As for the gas, when we inspected the plane, there was more than 50 gallons of gas still in the plane,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
There is a certain phase that is taught pilots, when soon after taking off, if there is something that they feel is wrong with the plane, the pilot makes the determination to reject the take off, added Christian.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these things always happen and we try to avoid is as much as we can but the pilot made the right decision for safety matters,\u201d Christian said.<\/p>\n
He noted that Star Marianas does a total of 4,500 flights per month with a total of 150 takeoffs everyday, while on busy days, a total of 200 takeoffs are made.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing was wrong with the plane. It was a misunderstanding and it was misinterpreted,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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