OK - I was going to resume the series of "Now Boarding..." Friday posts, but given the crash-landing at Heathrow yesterday, perhaps another time.
I know we're not supposed to speculate on the possible causes of the accident, but I can't help noting some interesting comments from passengers and eye witnesses. Two quotes from the BBC article here:
Passenger Jerome Ensinck said: "There was no indication
that we were going to have a bad landing. When we hit the ground, it
was extremely rough, but I've had rough landings before and I thought
'This is the roughest I've had'."
Antonio De Crescenzo, 52, from Naples in Italy,
said: "We were coming in to land but the plane felt like it should have
been taking off. The engines were roaring and then we landed and it was
just banging."
Several reports describe the pilot as saying that the plane suffered a 'complete loss of power' very shortly before landing. Given that both passengers and eye-witnesses on the ground describe the engines as being unusually noisy at the time, one has to assume he means electrical power - and by implication some or all control over things like the throttles.
It does not sound as though there was a "Brace" instruction.
Some initial reports suggested that the undercarriage had not been deployed, but those now look unfounded. It would have been weird indeed if the aircraft had been that close to touching down and the wheels were still up.
Thank goodness no-one was seriously hurt, and that whatever caused the problem did not happen while the plane was further out on its approach (and therefore still over London).
On a practical note, relieved passenger Mr Miles O'Flyte said:
"After we landed, as the undercarriage had been crushed and the hold doors had popped clean off their hinges, I was able to simply pick my bag out of the wreckage and carry on through customs. Not only was it the fastest I've ever cleared Heathrow on arrival, my luggage was also less damaged than usual."
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