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Originally Posted by deep4u How much of an expert you are, it only takes a small mistake or miscalculation to cause an accident. However all media tried to whitewash the pilot, painting a picture of a hero who sacrificed his life to save others onboard, which is contrary to what happened. It is sad that the pilots lost their lives.
I have seen many fighter planes equipped with parachute for limiting speed while landing. Can't we equip similar feature in passenger planes also to be used in emergency situations? |
THIS! As Jeroen has rightly pointed out earlier in this thread, the PIC’s past experience, awards & medals are irrelevant in this accident investigation. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure he was highly experienced, highly respected, highly decorated and the like. But the AAIB investigation will focus on his actions(lack of) that ultimately lead to the loss of life and destruction of a multi million dollar machine.
Regarding parachutes, conventional commercial jet transports are certified to take off and land at relatively docile speeds. The B737-800 is a Category D aeroplane which means it’s landing speed approaching the runway is 141 knots or more but less than 166 knots. At these speeds, the aircraft is certified by law to be able to operate without the need for parachutes. If flown correctly, there is no need for any more deceleration devices than what’s already fitted to the aeroplane. The brakes on the B737 are outstanding. No matter of technology can stop a pilot incorrectly operating an aeroplane.
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Originally Posted by Jessierider It is all but natural to praise a person or paint a picture of a hero of a person on the face of an incident like this where he lost his life but majority of his passengers are safe. Its early days of the investigation to put all the blame on the pilot and wash our hands off.
In my view, until proven otherwise, Capt. Deepak Sathe and FO Akhilesh Kumar are heros, they deserve the benefit of the doubt that a fully loaded aircraft with fuel came hurtling down a 40 feet slope, disintegrated into three pieces but somehow did not catch fire. |
These are the exact type of Approach and Landing Accident Reduction (ALAR) which the industry has been trying to prevent since decades but unfortunately keep reoccurring every few years. The Flight Crew Training Manual for the B737 has specific conditions which fight crews MUST adhere to for every single approach & landing (Recommended elements of a stabilised approach). They should have gone around long before they touched down. The fact that they landed long on a wet runway, with a tailwind, on a performance limited runway, is just asking for trouble.
Have I given you enough reasons already why this PIC shouldn’t be put on a pedestal? This accident should never have happened if he did in fact follow procedure. An accident is after all a chain of events.
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Originally Posted by skanchan95 Exactly. It is better to wait for the final report before pointing fingers to the pilots or their background.
If fingers are to be pointed, why not point it to the ATC as well who cleared them for the landing? I know Mangalore airport does not allow landing of aircraft when the weather gets very bad and it rains heavily eventhough the airport is equipped with ILS. On the morning of the Calicut crash, an Indigo A320 from Bangalore to Mangalore was asked to fly back to Bangalore because it was raining heavily and weather was bad. Bad weather was certainly a factor in the Calicut crash and pilot error too may have been a factor. But it is unfair to crucify the pilots even as the investigation is under progress, something which a dumb DGCA official tried to do on national television recently!!! |
We aren’t claiming to pull out facts out of thin air. We are referring to publicly available information and images of the accident. The fact that they tried to salvage/force a landing from an unstable approach instantly points to pilot error. Of course, the DFDR will reveal all in detail.
ATC is not the final authority, far from it. The PIC has the ultimate responsibility & authority for the safe outcome of the flight & it’s occupants. Nobody (except an air to air intercept) can ask a PIC to divert to another airport, it is the PIC’s discretion to divert based on a myriad of factors (weather at destination, fuel remaining, aircraft performance, traffic congestion, etc.
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Originally Posted by avishar It is not upto the ATC to decide if landing operations are going to be shutdown. They give the pilots information about the runway conditions. It is the pilot's decision if he wants to abort, go-around or even divert. It doesn't require ATC clearance.
This is a case of Swiss cheese holes lining up. Unfortunate events start cascading into a disaster. The pilots would have survived had it not been for the concrete (?) wall surrounding the airport. That is what killed them, sadly. |
Well said. A classic Swiss cheese model with a chain of events leading up to an accident.
Whatever happened to ICAO guidelines on frangible objects in & around an airport? That’s specifically designed to prevent this sort of devastation.
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Originally Posted by Jessierider I have heard the training standards at AirIndia for cabin crew are top notch among other airlines with very experienced crew still flying. |
I can’t speak for the cabin crew, but from what I have heard, the pilot training standards at this airline is from the bottom drawer of Indian aviation. Just look at the number of incidents they’ve had compared to other airlines in the country.