Topic: | Re:BA Flight Lands Short of Runway at Heathrow | |
Posted by: | Richard Jennings | |
Date/Time: | 27/01/08 17:17:00 |
"I would have expected someone with your eye to detail to have picked up the initial spelling error of runaway by David Giles instead of leaving it so late." Late? I picked it up 6 years ago! (It was in this post, but his spelling seems to be hard-wired, just like his politics.) "Apparently the approach to Heathrow no longer is a long slight decline but a steeper approach which allows pilots to 'glide' " No, almost the reverse. The approach from leaving the holding stack to joining the ILS 3º slope used to be a mixture of level flight and fairly rapid descents to a new level as instructed by ATC. Nowadays, they aim for a smooth descent at a constant power level (not a glide). "the fact then remains that a revised landing approach which saves fuel by reducing power demands on the engines may then have itself contributed to the accident" That's speculation, not "fact". Yes, the fuel in the tanks could still have been very cold, but there's a water scavenging system, a heat exchanger, and an emergency by-pass in case of blocked filters. But then every other possible cause looks very unlikely too. |