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2008/01/21

Hats off to John Coward - Co-pilot Senior First Officer for flight BA038

Senior First Officer John Coward
"As we landed I was bracing myself for an enormous thud"
Senior First Officer John Coward
This was the sort of emergency that BA pilots have been trained to cope with in their sleep, and which they hope will never happen. Well, it did happen when, on 2008/01/17, a BA flight BA038 had to crash-land at heathrow airport after the jet's engines failed to respond to demands for increased thrust from the crew, two miles from touchdown. The incident is being investigated by the AAIB.
All passengers and crew survived. One person suffered a broken leg and others received minor injuries during the emergency evacuation just at the end of the runway.
Co-pilot Senior First Officer John Coward (41), who brought the plane in, has said how he feared everyone on board was going to die.
A lucky escape for all? No. It is just more proof - if more proof were needed - that BA pilot training and performance is first-class, even if the traveller only paid Economy Class fare.
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2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 July 2008 at 06:43

    it looks like it is pilot error according to this website http://ba038.terapad.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Slartibartfarst11 July 2008 at 13:43

    Thanks, anonymous, that's an interesting link - did you write the article there?
    However, I have to say that the link seems to contain just statements of opinion, which are not much on which to base any kind of critical thinking. Also, it looks to me looks like it could be a typical conspiracy theory website. They always make me suspicious of motivation - e.g., would that be good for drumming up adsense clicks?

    In any event:
    (a) there is yet no explanation for what happened - including, for example: "Then first the right engine, followed eight seconds later by the left, powered down - to a level below the thrust needed."

    (b) it would seem to presuppose the results yet to come from the investigation by the AAIB (Air Accident Investigation Branch) - which I gather is still under way.

    I would therefore recommend that we await the outcome of the AAIB investigation before declaring unsubstantiated opinions as though they were fact.

    ReplyDelete

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