“AND ER VICTOR GOLF ECHO WE HAVE A MAJOR PROBLEM A MAJOR POWER PROBLEM IT LOOKS AS THOUGH WE’RE ER GOING IN WE’RE GOING IN.
You’ve just taken off and think one or both of your engines have failed. You try and restart them whilst circuiting to return to the airfield. You realise you’re not going to make it. What’s going through your mind? Who do you think of? What do you say?
The transcripts of flight deck conversation on BA038 shortly before crashing at Heathrow have not been released, apparently out of respect for the crew (although the Air Traffic Control audio is worth listening to for the calm manner in which the event was handled); now we can read the transcript of a Cessna Citation crash at Biggin Hill. In a situation that’s almost impossible to imagine, the crew attempt to return to the runway before realising they’re “going in”.
And it was all because of a faulty bearing in an airconditioning unit.
