Pilot Hero or Zero – Part II – the lessons that must be learnt from Smolensk

Aviation No Responses »
Apr 132010

When I blogged the other day on the post incident issue that pilots face, I did not think that we within days would have an incident where the pilot would be in the public eye on such as scale as has followed the tragic incident in Russia last weekend.

Firstly as somebody closely involved in aviation my feelings and thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones, and also to the people of Poland who have lost a generation of leaders in such a tragic accident.

However my thoughts are particularly with those who had loved ones as the crew, who have to endure both a tragic lost, but an increasing scrutiny of their actions leading up to the incident which may give cause to haunt them for many years to come.

Now I mentioned in my first Pilot hero or zero blog, in the UK as in many other countries the primary action of the investigating authorities is “ To improve aviation safety by determining the causes of air accidents and serious incidents and making safety recommendations intended to prevent recurrence …It is not to apportion blame or liability”, Lets hope that this is not overlooked when the authorities investigate the Russian incident.

What we do know at this stage is that Smolensk’s northern military airfield, was being approached in foggy conditions without the aid of an Instrument Landing System, as the airport has none.

In most of the western world such an approach would be considered unsafe and not commercially viable i.e an operator would not plan on using such an airfield without this most basic of facilities, because an approach in foggy or bad weather conditions would be unsafe.

Secondly we are aware that the aircraft had on board most of the senior military commanders of Poland as well as many other high-ranking officials. What we will never likely to fully know is what pressures this caused the captain and crew to face and if they where overruled or told to attempt to land at all costs.

We as of yet are unaware of what provision had been made in the flight planning process to divert to another airfield, this planning being a fundamental of all flights.

Whilst this incident is a terrible tragedy, what would also be a tragedy is if no lessons where learned and aviation safety in Russia is not improved as a consequence of it.

Roy April 13th 2010

Posted by Roy Hinds at 22:00 Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

Pilot Hero or Zero ?

Aviation No Responses »
Apr 052010

In the United Kingdom we pride ourselves on having a democracy and a legal system, which assumes that you are innocent until proven guilty. Fortunately for the travelling public, the basis on which air transport accidents and incidents are investigated is stated as ““To improve aviation safety by determining the causes of air accidents and serious incidents and making safety recommendations intended to prevent recurrence
…It is not to apportion blame or liability”, that is according to the lead investigator of the UK’s Aircraft Accident Investigation board.

So far, so good – however in his recent interviews Peter Burkill Captain of the British Airways flight BA038, the 777 which landed just short of the runway at Heathrow he tells a very different story where the pilot is made to feel the villain and a scapegoat when the reality of the situation is very different.

Sadly we are increasingly living in a litigious age, where the first thoughts of an increasing number of individuals and organisations, is not what can we learn from such incidents and who can we thank for being the hero of the hour, but which parties are to “blame” and what monies can be obtained by way of legal actions.

During my studies at City University I was privileged to meet Captain Eric Moody. Eric and his crew became famous during 1982 for an incident where for a while he and his fellow crew piloted the worlds largest glider, a powerless 747 as a result of the engines ingesting volcanic ash. Whilst Eric and his team where in the long term praised for his efforts and skills ensuring a positive outcome to what could of so easily been a major incident, he did allude to a poor handling of the situation within the management of British Airways, and minimal follow up in terms of the stress and physiological effects of such an incident. It would appear that British Airways has learnt little over two decades later.

I like many upon hearing of the crash of flight BA038 at Heathrow, wondered if something unthinkable had happened, like the crew had failed to ensure that enough fuel was on-board for the flight. However within hours of the incident it was looking as if something more complex was likely to be the cause and the fact that Captain Burkhill appeared the following day in a very public press conference with the CEO of British Airways Willie Walsh, made me think that the crew had in-fact been the hero’s of the day, especially given that Willie Walsh was a former pilot, so therefore would have had a better insight into the situation than many airline executives.

However during his interviews Captain Burkhill recounts how he increasingly felt that his piloting skills where under question and that he did not feel he was getting the management support that he so clearly deserved.

What I find most ironic however is when we think of the litigious age in which we live we immediately think of North America as the culprit for this litigious culture and yet it would appear that Captain Chesley Sullenberger experiences after the Hudson River incident could not be more contrasting.

So upon the next incident of this nature, can we collectively treat those professionals involved as more likely to be Hero’s than zero’s and perhaps the likes of Captain Burkhill would be less likely to leave these shores and work overseas.

Roy 5th April 2010

Posted by Roy Hinds at 10:00 Tagged with: , , , , ,

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