Friday 7 March 2008

Hamburg International Airport - 1st of March 2008 (II)

Haven't been able to post the video from Youtube don't know why. Nevertheless here are the links to the landing footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW4oLXFAFSg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z42fchrzhHY&feature=related

A lot has been said about this incident. I believe there is little more to add but still I find particularly odd some of the comments made. Especially those calling the pilot negligent or an idiot. I am sure I would be in favour of these if I was inside that plane, but then my pants would have been wet so I guess i would have had the right to go irrational.

I am not a pilot or an aviation expert to evaluate the maneuver accuracy. Nonetheless all this discussion reminds me of people when they talk about football ( I am sorry to all Americans and Irish people but I simply refuse to enter the word soccer in my vocabulary). Every now and then, people like to talk about of how one team didn't deserve to loose since they played much better than the other team, or of how unlucky they were in not winning. Fact of life, the only goals that count are the ones that go in.

In this case the same logic applies. The weather conditions were extreme in that day. Still the pilots are well trained to these kind of situations (I have a friend who flies these planes and he tells me that in the simulator, the minimum emergency you get is flying with a single engine). They didn't deliver the first landing but they managed to do it on a second attempt having the passengers arrived safe and sound in Hamburg. Isn't that what we require the crew to do?

PS – Next time I fly Lufthansa I would like to request these pilots. They passed through an imminent crash situation, which I believe is a far more valuable experience than a simulator.

No comments: