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A hero called Coward: BA pilot declares it was his deputy who landed stricken flight
Daily Mail, via Drudge ^ | January 18, 2008 | David Williams

Posted on 01/19/2008 5:44:02 AM PST by Virginia Ridgerunner

The real hero of the Heathrow crash landing was revealed yesterday as a man named Coward.

Straight after the drama Captain Peter Burkill was praised for safely bringing down his stricken Boeing 777 with 136 passengers on board.

But Captain Burkill admitted yesterday that Senior First Officer John Coward was at the controls when the plane suffered a catastrophic power failure in both engines 40 seconds from landing. The initial investigation report confirmed both engines had failed two miles from the airport.

"Flying is about teamwork - and we had an outstanding team on board yesterday," said the 43-year-old father of five.

"I am proud to say that every member of the team played their part expertly, displaying the highest standards of skill and professionalism. No-one more so than my senior first officer John Coward - who was the handling pilot in the final stages of the flight - and did the most remarkable job.

(snip)

Air accident investigators said yesterday that the plane had been on autopilot and autothrottle at 600ft, over West Hounslow, and in its landing approach after a normal and uneventful flight. At that point, the autothrottle had demanded an "increase in thrust", meaning more power, from the engines but they failed to respond.

With time running out, the flight crew then tried to move the throttle levers manually and the engines again failed to respond.

By then, the plane was seconds from the ground with Mr Coward at the controls and so sudden and dramatic was the failure that the crew did not have time to sound a warning. It would have taken less than 40 seconds for the plane to travel the last two miles.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: airline; ba; british; crash; lhr; pilots; planecrash
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To: rightwingextremist1776
Yea, when you hit a flock.....

No evidence of bird strikes anywhere on the aircraft. Nose, wing leading edges, engine inlets ...

21 posted on 01/19/2008 6:41:44 AM PST by Doe Eyes
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

Is it me, or does the lady on the right look like she's still in shock?

22 posted on 01/19/2008 6:45:48 AM PST by raybbr (You think it's bad now - wait till the anchor babies start to vote!)
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To: milford421

Ping.


23 posted on 01/19/2008 6:45:51 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1886546/posts?page=4972#4972 45 Item Communist Manifesto)
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To: IronJack

United Flight 232

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7664206256212725581


24 posted on 01/19/2008 6:47:10 AM PST by DAC22
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To: Moonman62
My opinion is a plane shouldn't come up that short of the runway because of a loss of engine power at 600ft

Your opinion is at least 100 percent wrong.600 feet above the ground is about 2 miles from the end of the runway. Jet transport A/C on approach are configured with a lot of drag (gear/flaps) and require almost 75 to 80 percent power just to stabilize on the glide path. A sudden loss of power to both engines, for example from an autothrottle computer failure or sudden stoppage due to fuel contamination would result in a rapid decrease in airspeed and altitude beyond any pilots control. (gravity you know)Large aircraft do not glide in to land as do their smaller brothers and sisters.

25 posted on 01/19/2008 6:48:28 AM PST by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
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To: abseaman
I can’t believe a bird(s) strike would do this. Modern engines are enginered to take care of this problem.

If it had been a strike, the evidence of the strike would have already been found. However, no turbine engine is proof against a bird strike. A big enough bird - or enough birds - will kill a motor. Look what the geese did to the AWACS up in Alaska several years back.

26 posted on 01/19/2008 6:54:45 AM PST by Tennessee_Bob ("Those who "abjure" violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf.")
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To: Moose4
That flight attendant looks EXACTLY like my wife’s aunt

No, I'm quite sure it's Carol Burnett. I'd been wondering what she was doing lately.

27 posted on 01/19/2008 8:29:02 AM PST by BfloGuy (It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect . . .)
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner
Mr Coward said he is not nervous about flying again

This fellow really needs to change his last name. I don't think I'm the only one who'd have a hard time stifling laughter if he was introduced to me by name and I knew who he was.

28 posted on 01/19/2008 8:33:34 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: don-o; Moose4

She has a bit of that Camilla Parker Bowes look to her...


29 posted on 01/19/2008 8:36:15 AM PST by ErnBatavia (...forward this to your 10 very best friends....)
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To: BallyBill

Ron Howard, alongside wazzitzname (George Clooney’s ‘Rat uncle who ran for congress), and Camilla...


30 posted on 01/19/2008 8:38:23 AM PST by ErnBatavia (...forward this to your 10 very best friends....)
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To: BfloGuy

OK. So left to right, it’s Ron Howard, Jay Leno, and Carol Burnett. Got it!

}:-)4


31 posted on 01/19/2008 8:48:10 AM PST by Moose4 (Wasting away again in Michaelnifongville.)
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To: Don Corleone
According to the official report there wasn't a sudden loss of power. The engines didn't respond to throttle, but whatever thrust they were at should have been maintained. I know the press is saying there was a total loss of power, but they've been known to be wrong.

The official report is here.

32 posted on 01/19/2008 9:39:33 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Yo-Yo

Clearly form the photo’s, there was dirt in the engine. Yep, too much dirt in the engine will stop em every time. ;^)


33 posted on 01/19/2008 9:47:24 AM PST by D Rider
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To: Virginia Ridgerunner

This was clearly Bush’s fault..

Women, children and minorities hardest hit..


34 posted on 01/19/2008 9:59:45 AM PST by Wil H
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To: DAC22

they were good but how about the pilots of Air Transat Flight 236..... I didn’t know they made gliders also...hahahahaha


35 posted on 01/19/2008 10:05:51 AM PST by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: raybbr

Good grief...who wouldn’t be still in shock??


36 posted on 01/19/2008 10:08:43 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion.....The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Moonman62

Your views may be prescient. They are shared by some members of British Airways Engineering staff at Heathrow who cannot understand why icing in the fuel tank would block both engine feeds just 40 minutes from touchdown after 13 hours flying over the Arctic.

Scuttlebut in the hangar is that the co-pilot was doing one of the rare but obligatory on an occasional basis manual landings at Heathrow which has automatic landing systems for all BA aircraft.

The captain who has since left the airline may not have been in the cockpit according to hangar scuttlebut and the co-pilot may have come in too low and then found that the fuel thrust response has a time delay.

As of now these are just private opinions to be confirmed or denied by the Accident Investigations Board.


37 posted on 09/24/2009 5:09:34 AM PDT by British Aviator
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