Bartlett - AIR CRASHES AND MIRACLE LANDINGS: Sixty Narratives

AIR CRASHES
and
MIRACLE LANDINGS

Sixty Narratives

(How, When And Most Importantly Why)

by

Christopher Bartlett

Copyright 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 Christopher Bartlett

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-0-9560723-2-0

First Published April 12, 2010

Reprinted with Revisions and UpdatesSeptember, 2012
and March 17, 2013 (for AF447)

by
OpenHatch Books, London, UK
openhatchbooks.com
chrisbart.com

Front coverphoto

by
Florian Trojer (jetvisuals.com)
depicting a routine & safe flight departure
from Innsbruck Airport, Austria,
in accordance with published procedures

For
all those who died
and
all those who survived.

Lessons
were learnt
for the benefit
of us all.

ChristopherBartlett initially trained as a mining engineer,a field where ensuring compliance with safety standards is of prime importance.His passion, however, has been flying, and notably air safety.

This was engendered as anAir Cadet during his youth, and as a member of the British InterplanetarySociety, as well as in the course of sessions on fighter simulators at the AirMinistry. He completed his two years military service in the British Royal AirForce.

After taking a degree inModern Chinese and Japanese at the School of Oriental and African Studies,London University, he became, amongst other things, a professional translatorof Japanese scientific and technical material. This included Japanese rockettests. He also wrote for magazines in the Far East.

His fluency andunderstanding of English, French, and Japanese enabled him to undertakeresearch based on material published in its original format and note opinionsand facts that were not widely publicized. In addition, his coincidentalresidence in countries when and where headline air crashes occurred has enabledhim to add local color and extra details to a number of these accounts.

CONTENTS

In Kindle version, CLICK ON ITEM.

ENDNOTES:
clicking on the endnote number takes one directly to it.

(After reading the endnote, clickon back, or the number to go back to that point in the narrative.Incidentally, using this feature, one can find the endnotes very informative intheir own right, clicking on the ones of particular interest to see to whatthey refer.)

Figures

Illustrations and diagrams are only includedwhere needed for explanation.

Figure 1 2,556-mile leg from Lae, Papua New Guinea, to Howland

Figure 2 The DHL 757 almostentirely passes under the TU-154

Figure 3 Normal clockwise route blocked by parked a/c

Figure 4 Route followed by SQ006

Figure 5 The Cessna should havetaxied north via R5 not via R6

Figure 6 Left wing stalls and drops

Figure 7 Kegworth impact sequence

Figure 8 Routes taken by the fourhijacked aircraft

To view images in color and detail,see

DIAGRAMS & PHOTOS FOR KINDLE
READERS + LINKS FOR ALL READERS
on our website chrisbart.com

While covering the technicalaspects of the various incidents described, and sometimes reading like adetective story, the book highlights the human factors, which relate not onlyto aviation but also to many other facets of our daily lives. Readers should findreassurance in the fact that many of the incidents occurred a long time ago andprovided the lessons that have made flying so much safer today.

The intention was to explain notonly how and why those accidents occurred, but also to increase the readersinterest in the underlying causes of accidents in general. While the book attimes suggests possible causes not emphasized or cited in the official reports,sufficient facts have been included for the reader to draw his or her ownconclusions, which of course may differ from those of the author.

In the haste to publish aftersome five years research, and with the book continuously evolving (improving)after the initial proofreading, there were unfortunately grammatical andtypographical errors in the first edition. We have therefore thoroughly proofread*this updated version after adding inter alia an account of the Colgan Airdisaster and the latest (as of March 15, 2013) available information regarding theloss of Air France AF447 with its many lessons for todays pilots lulled byautomation. We have also revised some tongue-in-cheek comments suggesting someheroes benefited from circumstances, which regrettably some readersmisinterpreted to the extent of taking offense.

As it was not possible to consultall the individuals and organizations cited, the book may have unwittinglyportrayed a few unfairly. That said, mention of a given airline, organizationor individual may simply reflect their integrity and transparency.

Finally, as this quite a long complex book, the printed version is perhaps more appropriate than the Kindle one. However, besides being cheaper and more easily available, the Kindle version is very good, as one reviewer said, for 'dipping into,' thanks in part to the detailed Table of Contents. Another Kindle reviewer appreciated 'the large format illustrations the author provides on his web site [chrisbart.com].'

* The US spellings andgrammar still seemed incorrect to one UK reviewer.

Interestingly, the USconvention of placing of the full stop (period) inside the inverted comma (quote)originated because it tended to get lost in the course of manual typesetting.

Christopher Bartlett