QF32 and information overload
Airbus described the situation the QF32 crew faced after the uncontained engine failure as “dynamic”. That’s accurate insofar as it goes, but rather an understatement. The obvious and immediate...
View ArticleRolls stuck dumb over Qantas Trents
I sent the following message to Rolls-Royce’s director of corporate affairs Peter Morgan. Seven hours later I have yet to receive an acknowledgement of my message, let alone an answer: Dear Peter John...
View ArticleAir travel evolution: Connie to A380
On a warm night in 1950 a four-year-old boy, holding his father’s hand in manly solidarity, walked through the echoing terminal at Sydney‘s Mascot airfield and out across the pan. A long-legged Qantas...
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Can technology kill the most common airline accident?
In the last 25 years there have been 1,020 runway overruns by airliners or business jets. Most overruns were non-fatal, but they were highly damaging, expensive, and shocking to passengers. Many,...
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Handling The Big Jet: the human story of QF32
Last Friday Capt Richard Champion de Crespigny arrived at Qantas’s London regional headquarters in Hammersmith to give the staff a personal account of the day in November 2010 when his Airbus A380...
View ArticleHandling The Big Jet: lessons for the A380 from QF32
Much as Qantas’ Capt Richard Champion de Crespigny has praised the A380′s ability to absorb massive damage and still fly safely, he says the Australian Transport Safety Bureau will provide Airbus with...
View ArticleQF32 – the book
This morning I received a review copy of Capt Richard Champion de Crespigny’s book about Qantas flight 32, the Airbus A380 whose No 2 engine suffered catastrophic failure on departure from Singapore...
View ArticleQF32 – the book (pt 2): setting up for approach
We’re still airborne an hour after the engine disintegration. I’m exhausted from empathising with the stress, the confusion, the multi-layered situation facing the pilots, cabin crew, airline and...
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QF32 – the book (pt 3): approach and landing
The approach to runway 20C at Singapore was a cliffhanger. The crew did not know whether they could trust the performance calculations they had done because they understood they couldn’t possibly know...
View ArticleHow to build a brand that cruises above the rest
British Airways, as a world brand, is second only to Apple among businesses with a base in the UK, and beats all its airline peers according to Business and Consumer Superbrands. Meanwhile as a...
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