Atlantic Boeing

10
Apr

Atlantic Boeing

Ba038 - More Questions Than Answers

A Pilot's view.

The British Airways Boeing 777 that crash-landed at London Heathrow on Thursday provoked a wave of speculation. How could a modern hi-tech airliner lose thrust from both engines at once? Theories ranged from crew error to fuel starvation.

BA is a top class airline and crews don’t easily make casual mistakes –

or run out of fuel, either so these ideas did not ring entirely true with me. Fuel starvation did seem the only plausible explanation for both engines stopping at once. Yet the 777 engines have completely independent fuel and engine control systems and the odds of two random failures at the same time seem too much to believe. Well, now we know a little more:

The Air Accident Investigation Branch has released a preliminary report that explains the incident more clearly, albeit not providing the answers. It seems that during a normal approach with autopilot and auto-throttle engaged these systems called for more thrust from both engines but got no response. First Officer John Coward, who was the handling pilot, called for more power, which Captain Burkill attempted to provide by moving the throttles manually. No response came from the either engine, in spite of this being the correct procedure.

At this point the aircraft was at 600 feet and less than 2 miles from touchdown. The crew had little more than 30 seconds to react before reaching ground level. The stall protection system activated the, “stick shaker,” a warning device that vibrates the pilot’s control column to warn of impending loss of flying speed. FO John Coward was then faced with lowering the aircraft nose to maintain a safe speed and losing height more rapidly as a result. He clearly got the balance just right, scraping over the fence and landing in the clear area just before runway 27Left.

The aircraft was in full landing configuration, which would have inhibited some alert systems and I understand that accident investigators are looking into this design feature in case it requires attention. The undercarriage was already down and undoubtedly absorbed some of the impact forces, to the great benefit of those on board. A happy ending then?

Yes indeed, an incredibly fortunate outcome to an incident that could have ended horrifically had the problem occurred only 30 seconds earlier. No amount of piloting skill could have kept the aircraft in the air beyond its best possible glide angle and it did miss roads and urban areas by a frighteningly small margin.

So do we need to worry about aircraft falling on the houses near Heathrow? Before this incident I would have said that it was near impossible. This event, however, reminds us that, “near,” is far from absolute.

A question that remains unanswered however, and it is this. How can these engines possibly fail to respond to throttle commands, no doubt investigators are asking this question too. Some pilots are questioning the “fly by wire,” technology in which all controls are operated by electrical signals rather than cables or mechanical linkage as in the past. This is now common practice on modern jets ever since Airbus pioneered it with the A320.

In spite of many BBC interviews I did in the days following the accident, I was frustratingly unable to express my ,major concern. Namely that this Boeing type is licensed to fly over remote areas like the North Atlantic. It is only permissible for aircraft with 2 engines to operate on these routes by qualifying for special permission known as ETOPS, or Extended Range Twin engined Operations. To comply, aircraft and engine combinations – in this case Boeing / Rolls Royce – must have a proven reliability record as well as specific equipment. They may then be permitted to fly for up to 180 minutes from an available diversion airfield at single engine flying speed. That means 3 hours on one engine.

Early detractors – including myself – have so far been proven wrong, as the system has been in operation for many years without accidents. Nevertheless, how does BA038 affect the ruling for Boeing 777 aircraft on long over water or remote routes? So far it seems no restriction has been placed on ETOPS by these aircraft but I would be a little concerned until some definitive answers are provided. I am told that BA are carrying out their own engineering checks on 777s prior to flight.

Airline regulators always have to balance between total safety and commercial practicality and do not always get it right. To stop all 777s from operating on ETOPS routes, or even ground them completely as some are calling for, would be a financial catastrophe but then so would a major human tragedy. I have no doubt that the fundamental question, “how could this happen,” is number one on the crash investigators list for this very reason.

What is clear is that both engines either failed completely or failed to answer to the pilot’s controls and that is a major safety issue that requires action or answers now.

Find out more about ‘A Fool’s Paradise’ at the http://earlyworkspress.co.uk/terry_tozer2.htm

About the Author

Terry Tozer has more than 20 years in the pilots seat of a variety of aircraft and now writes about aviation. His new book, "A Fool's Paradise," is due out early in 2008 and is an insider's look at an airline industry driven by the low cost imperative and with weak regulators.

Has anyone been in emirates airline boeing 777-200 LR?

Has anyone been in emirates airline boeing 777-200 LR?
i am thinking to travel from san fransico ca, to dubai
what do u think ?
is it good airline ? safe ? is boeing 777-200 LR good ? how many airlines fly with 200 LR
which better and safe
emirates airline
british airway
virgin atlantic

I've flown from NY to Hamburg on Emirates in a 777-300ER. Same aircraft, just a bit longer. Great airline, staff was pleasant and the entrainment system was great. I wrote a trip report if you care to read it with photos and video clips:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/101636/

But If I were you, I would fly from San Fransisco to New York on JetBlue and then take the Emirates A380 from JFK to Dubai. Sure, your travel time would be longer, but you'll get to sample the A380 service. I just had a colleague fly Emirates to Dubai on the A380 and he was very, very impressed.

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-400 Take-Off From Gatwick