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One of the more interesting landings I have experienced was in a 747SP at Wellington NZ. Touchdown with auto braking on (brakes come on with full application subject to ABS as weight comes on the wheel, and full reverse thrust as soon as the nosewheel touches. I was on the top deck - and a poorly stowed coffee pot shot out of the kitchen and landed at the door to the cockpit!
John
It would be hard to blame the pilots for the Erebus crash. They had a waypoint changed (unknown to them) which, instead of leading them down over the flat ice of McMurdo Sound, led them straight into Mt.Erebus. Because of the layer of stratiform cloud hiding the top of the mountain, the featureless white slope of the mountain under the cloud looked just like the featureless flat ice they were expecting to see, and the intersecting line of the cloud on the mountain looked like the distant horizon.Quote:
Originally Posted by JDNSW
The antics of Air New Zealand in trying to cover up their many errors and failures led to Justice Peter Mahon describing their evidence as "an orchestrated litany of lies".
Stephen.
Absolutely correct Stephen. Captain Collins and his crew acted prudently throughout. It is sad that they are still maligned by those who, despite the irrefutable evidence to the contrary, still believe that he descended below lowest safe in IMC. (Not referring to your comment JD, but to the comments I sometimes hear in the industry) What killed them all was the systemic issue you described, coupled with the lack of contrast in the terrain and the reflection of light between the overcast and the snow. Very sad. The fellow who discovered what actually happened and spent years researching the way that the brain can incorrectly process vision, Gordon Vette, was subsequently incapacitated by a severe stroke but still lives in New Zealand. As a result of the accident and Gordon Vette's work, aviation is much safer now for all. Justice Peter Mahon (who was effectively hounded for telling the truth and died shortly after the Privy Council action), also deserves our thanks for not bending to political and commercial pressure, and perservering in his search for the truth.
I'll get off my hobby horse now.
That must be very frustrating for them. I bet they'd like to do a "howard hughes" and just lift it off a few metres;)
You might find this site interesting re Erebus
Erebus plane crash disaster story. Air New Zealand flight TE901 crashed at Mt Erebus Antarctica 28 November 1979 > Home
hi all i heard on te news virgin do not do a saftey check before each flight bit of a worry i wont like thinking of that next time work puts me on one cheeers all
They must do a prestart each morning though.Quote:
Originally Posted by fatcat
Also, the captain should walk around his ship and inspect before each flight for obvious things (might not have helped in this case). It does add new relevance to "kick the tyres, light the fires".
Did anyone hear the pilot union saying it could have crashed the plane? I thought of possible reasons... CG change, front leg failure just before rotation...etc. No, he said he was worried that it could have been sucked one of the jets. That seems very very unlikely to me.
No need to worry - the mainstream media are often inaccurate in their reporting of aviation matters. There are standard operating procedures in place to ensure safety. No airline wants their plane to crash.Quote:
Originally Posted by fatcat