British Airways Attempts 777 Soft Field Landing

[Corbon]

They're lucky they didn't have any fuel in the tanks or there could have been a fire

 

[GearUpLightsIn]

The BBC quoted the pilot of the Boeing 777 as saying that he had lost all power and the avionics and was forced to glide the plane in to land.

http://www.rttnews.com/FOREX/gblnews.asp?date=01/17/2008&item=12http://www.rttnews.com/FOREX/gblnews.asp?date=01/17/2008&item=12http://www.rttnews.com/FOREX/gblnews.asp?date=01/17/2008&item=12

The same article also says it was a MINOR accident. WTF over?

 

[Oakum_Boy]

The same article also says it was a MINOR accident. WTF over?

The BBC calls it an "incident". That's the way the brits are.

 

[viper548]

No such thing as pilot error over there

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

Captain, F/O and In-Flight Lead just gave a press briefing. Captain thanked everyone for being "professional" and apologized for injuries. Said the F/O was flying (he looked mid-thirties) and added that he wouldnt comment on the cause until the investigation is over.

 

[SPDBRD747400]

Captain, F/O and In-Flight Lead just gave a press briefing. Captain thanked everyone for being "professional" and apologized for injuries. Said the F/O was flying (he looked mid-thirties) and added that he wouldnt comment on the cause until the investigation is over.

Do you have a link by any chance?

 

[Papps]

Quick lets all figure out what he did wrong!

 

[Erlanger]

Well I guess they didn't run it out of gas. The BBC is now reporting that investigators have said that;

A significant amount of fuel leaked out after the crash but there was no fire.

from the AAIB - Air Accident Investigations Branch

 

[LowlyPropCapt]

I'll bet the amount of unusable fuel in a 777 is what a fire fighter would term as "significant."

Who knows... Could be just one of those freak things.

 

[viper548]

I'll bet the amount of unusable fuel in a 777 is what a fire fighter would term as "significant."

Who knows... Could be just one of those freak things.

Good point. Anyone know how much unusable fuel the 777 has?
How much fuel does it usually land with?

 

[SpauldingSmails]

Was listening to BBC raidio on NPR this morning. When interviewed at the scene, the captain kept saying "There must be some mistake. It must have been something mechanical. This doesn't happen to British pilots"!

Uhh, Nigel. There's about 500,000 lbs of "doesn't happen" sitting on the threshold then.

 

[ubpilot]

No such thing as pilot error over there

That's right! The error must be the American built plane!

 

[Varmint]

That's right! The error must be the American built plane!

I seem to remember a european built aircraft landing itself in the trees at an airshow a few years back...maybe its just a human error...the kind your parents made when they had you.

 

[LowlyPropCapt]

I seem to remember a european built aircraft landing itself in the trees at an airshow a few years back...maybe its just a human error...the kind your parents made when they had you.

Ummm... I am just guessing here, but I am thinking ubpilot was joking.

Now, who's parents forgot to "pull up?"

 

[Prog 2/2]

There was no fire. Wonder if they ran it out of fuel. If it was, they must of known of their fuel situation and I wonder if they figured they could make it home. If it was that would suck; they were so close.

"figured they could make it home" ?

Is this the kind of mindset you operate your jet with?

I don't know about your world, but long haul flying is dictated by the numbers, with fuel qty being at the top of the list. No "figuring" about it. You either most certainly can, or you don't try.

Again, to suggest that a crew of 3 sat on their hands and allowed a low fuel situation to develop into a fuel exhaustion event is ridiculous.