The Brazil crash was not the same as the Tenerife crash, which I've studied in some detail, but only touched on in blog posts and yet there's at least one common element - the combined force of a number of small errors which led to it:
That was for starters. The critical point following that was that the jet appeared to be trying to take off again but only veered left and crashed into the fuel storage facility. Thus the 200 or so died.
Trying to look into the pilot's mind, imagine his thoughts as he touched down, presumably at the correct speed but instead of the thrusters working, they didn't. Now he had a set of safety procedures at this point and he would have employed them but to no avail.
The aircraft was still travelling at three times the correct speed. At what point he changed his mind and wanted to abort the landing and take-off again, on a short runway, is the crucial point - the earlier the better, of course. I'm also thinking of traction issues on that slippery runway.
With the runway being so short, wouldn't it have been in the pilot's mind that the instant he realized the thrusters weren't working he should have aborted there and then and attempted a takeoff?
Everyone was to blame - from the runway designers, through the officials, to the crew at the end. And always there was the commercial pressure, with soaring prices, to delay solutions just that little bit longer.
When we take that car to the airport, we have other issues on our minds - the meeting, the holiday, whatever. We worry about the weight of our baggage, the delay in traffic, we make that call on the cellphone. We check in and then have to run the gauntlet of the screenings on the way through.
Then comes the boredom of the wait, the boarding procedure and the putting of things in the overhead lockers. The last thing on our minds is that this particular plane had problems yesterday or that the runway we are to be landing on is too short.
There's a lot of trust in this thing, isn't there?
1. The reverse thruster had been switched off during regular maintenance [though why it could not have been switched on again, I'm not sure];
2. The runway had been recently resurfaced;
3. It was too short;
4. There was heavy rain that day;
5. The geography of the runway and surrounding area had a fuel depot immediately to the left near the end of the runway;
6. That same plane had had problems landing the day before.
That was for starters. The critical point following that was that the jet appeared to be trying to take off again but only veered left and crashed into the fuel storage facility. Thus the 200 or so died.
Trying to look into the pilot's mind, imagine his thoughts as he touched down, presumably at the correct speed but instead of the thrusters working, they didn't. Now he had a set of safety procedures at this point and he would have employed them but to no avail.
The aircraft was still travelling at three times the correct speed. At what point he changed his mind and wanted to abort the landing and take-off again, on a short runway, is the crucial point - the earlier the better, of course. I'm also thinking of traction issues on that slippery runway.
With the runway being so short, wouldn't it have been in the pilot's mind that the instant he realized the thrusters weren't working he should have aborted there and then and attempted a takeoff?
Everyone was to blame - from the runway designers, through the officials, to the crew at the end. And always there was the commercial pressure, with soaring prices, to delay solutions just that little bit longer.
When we take that car to the airport, we have other issues on our minds - the meeting, the holiday, whatever. We worry about the weight of our baggage, the delay in traffic, we make that call on the cellphone. We check in and then have to run the gauntlet of the screenings on the way through.
Then comes the boredom of the wait, the boarding procedure and the putting of things in the overhead lockers. The last thing on our minds is that this particular plane had problems yesterday or that the runway we are to be landing on is too short.
There's a lot of trust in this thing, isn't there?
I hate everything do with flying.
ReplyDeleteShame for I would travel a lot more, otherwise.