Crash a Boeing 777. Get a Medal from British Airways

They say that if it looks like a duck, flies like a duck and walks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

And so it was when BA flight #38 crashed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport in England on January 17, 2008. It landed heavily and fortunately there were only nine injuries and no fatalities.

Initial thoughts were that it has run out of fuel – THE major ‘no, no’ for a pilot, THE worst of mortal sins, THE big Kahuna of screw ups – but British Airways insisted that we all wait for the investigation and promptly gave the pilots and crew medals.

In fact in the pre-launch days of ButlerReport our editor argued in a number of short articles strongly in favor of the ‘out of fuel’ theory based on considerable insider aviation knowledge from a friend of a friend who dates the sister of a pilot.

The BA reports that have been made available stated that on approach to the airport the autopilot ordered an increase of engine power and that none was available; first on one engine followed by a reduction in power on the second engine, eight seconds later. The pilots were left to coast - glide – and control-crash at the end of the runway. On crashing there was no fire or fuel leak emergency.

After seven months of testing, analysis and head scratching all of the obvious reasons for the crash have been ruled out. The fuels pumps tested well, the flight computer checked out as did the fuel management system, no water or contaminants in the fuel, no weather anomalies and the rest of the plane seems to have been working fine.

The smoking gun of running out of fuel lies in the fact that the engine power reductions were eight seconds apart - as opposed to both engines losing power at the same time - a typical response for fuel starved engines.

The investigation has taken a surprisingly long time to complete considering the plane had the good manners to land in Britain, right next to a British Airways facility and did not burn or get destroyed. Tools, technicians, equipment were readily available. It was, may I say, a technically perfect crash for the investigator. It could only have been better if it had slid to a halt in a hanger.

Major air crashes have been analyzed and their results released far more quickly than this one. One has to wonder why.

At risk of course is a potentially gigantic lawsuit if the pilots were indeed negligent and flew into London low on fuel, “on fumes” as we say in the car-driving business. Boeing certainly wants to rule out any liability on its part for the same reason.

The pilots - one of whom was featured as a bit of a ladies man in a racy newspaper article - who were praised as ‘heroes’ (who isn’t a hero these days?) have got to be biting their nails down to the quick. The consequences to their career and possibly their personal fortunes for this potentially major faux pas are unimaginable, except that future career options may include working for that Scottish sounding food company – McDonalds.

The investigation, led by the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), has kept the media apprised with the odd update now and again to keep the sharks at bay. One hopes there is nothing iffy going on and British Airways are not trying the public relations ‘last year’ tactic of letting the report slide into next year so the press will refer to it as “last year’s crash…” which makes it all the more disinteresting. Mere speculation on my part of course as the British establishment are well known for their fairness, humility and transparency in matters that have the potential to make them look bad.

We may as well wait a little longer and see what news waddles out of the final report.


Background:
British Airways Flight 38 (call sign Speedbird 38) was a scheduled flight from Beijing Capital International Airport which crash landed just short of the runway at its destination, Heathrow Airport, London, on 17 January 2008 after an 8100 kilometer (4400 nm) flight. There were no fatalities, but nine people sustained injuries. It was the first accident that resulted in a Boeing 777 hull loss.

Overview of results so far at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_38