Incident over London

[mgh 89]

The UK Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) recently publishes a bulletion relating to a Evergreen International Airlines' B747-132 that had problems on a flight from Ramstein to Wright Field. This hit the headlines in the UK newspapers. http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/cms_resources/N481EV%201-06.pdfOne engine ran down and couldn't be restarted and the crew decided that the remaining engines were not producing the selected thrust. The captain declared an emergency and requested a diversion to London Heathrow. The reason it hit the headlines was becase of the lack of thrust the pilot (whose skill was praised) had to hand-fly the aircraft in VMC, and had to make S-turns over central London to reduce height prior to landing on 27L.The bulletin remarked that the commander believed he was only able to position the aircraft visually and the safe outcome would not have been possible in IMC, and that had the conditions been IMC the aircraft might have landed well short of the runway. The AAIB expressed concerns about the balance of safety between people on-board an aircraft in difficulties and those on the ground in densely populated and congested areas and recommended that improved guidance on avoiding built-up areas be given to air traffic controllers.The AAIB was also concerned that, although the crew had requested a diversion to Heathrow, they had no Heathrow charts on-board. The explanation given by the airline was that much of its work was for the US military so it used the US Department of Defence charts (DAFIF?). However, these charts didn't cover Heathrow.The AAIB made other recommendation relation to gliding performance and Dangerous Goods.

[RobbieHe 0]

Being a Ready for Pushback 747 fan, that is really cool to read. Thanks for the link and the info!RH

[Guest jboweruk]

Interesting read. Shows though how London ATC are incredibly good at their job, getting it down safely under conditions where they don't know what's on board or exactly how bad it is. It doesn't matter to me what the manual says about what happened the pilot knows his plane, and it obviously didn't feel right. I think all concerned did a marvellous job and my congratulations go out to all of them.