Posted on 12/10/2010 3:08:01 PM PST by naturalman1975
Edited on 12/10/2010 4:19:52 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
FEARS of jet fuel gushing from ruptured tanks gripped the pilots of the crippled Qantas A380 superjumbo after the emergency landing in Singapore last month.
In the first account by a member of the flight crew, senior Qantas check-captain David Evans reveals the most dangerous period during the three-hour drama was during the 50 minutes it took to offload the 469 passengers and crew, reported the Herald Sun.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
No slats, overweight, 3 engines left and leaking fuel, that must have been some landing.
Leaking fuel onto the hot brakes could have been a major disaster. I think I might have kissed the ground after that.
....occasionally I’ll still look at vids of the A380....BIG BIG PLANE
Leaking fuel onto the hot brakes could have been a major disaster. I think I might have kissed the ground after that.
If I were a passenger on the flight I would have kissed the pilots after that. To get that wounded beast down and have everyone walk away safely was great airmanship.
But, most everyone would have burned to death had the tanks caught on fire, sooooooo..................
At 2100m they probably in the climb when the No. 2 engine exploded. I can’t imagine how they kept that aircraft flying with the damage caused by the engine explosion. They probably just re-wrote the emergency procedures section of the A380’s manuals. Quick thinking and a well trained flight crew saved 469 lives.
I hope they got all that from the flight management computers and the black box tape. Great to redo the flight in a full motion simulator.
By regulation, aren't they supposed to be able to evacuate the plane in about five minutes?
They should have used the slides. There is something the are not telling us.
The Captain made a choice - use the slides and passengers would have been injured. He decided the risk level justified waiting for stairs and buses. I don’t think he expected them to take as long to arrive as they did.
He did a great job safely landing the plane, and he should be commended. However, he should have deployed the slides, if fire broke out, I bet at least 200 would have died. With all that fuel on board, leaking and pooling on the ground, it would not have taken a lot for ignition of some sort to turn that plane into a fireball.
I think what the Captain is telling us is that he had no confidence in the A380’s evacuation system in a very dangerous situation, which is a major problem for the A380.
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