Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
Yes, it was LYN not BZN
HKG MD-11 Crash Video Released, read on on following page...
The second assertion that it was at BZN is true in that Brize was where it landed ]i] after[/i] the prang at Lyneham
Despite assertions to the contrary, the incident occurred at BZN and not LYN, and is (or at least was) one of the incidents highlighted during the Flying Authorisors and Flying Supervisors cses.
A friend of mine who was on 10 Sqn at the time watched the Tristar fly the visual circuit whilst spewing out a cloud of fuel.
At the time there were no RAF manuals for the a/c so crews relied on a mishmash of letters/memos/loose minutes as well as the British Airways manuals. There was, therefore, a belief that the a/c was cleared for autoland when it was not. Additionally there was also a belief that the narrow beamed ILS at BZN could allow Cat 3.
The TC had flown a visual cct and decided to extend it then turn in and capture the ILS using autopilot. The resultant capture was late meaning that the a/c was well above the glideslope and causing the AP to 'hunt' with a resultant high RoD This resulted in a heavy ldg with a concomitantly large bounce. At that point the TC, rather than attempting to Go Round, retarded the throttles. Since autoland had been selected, this action caused the spoilers to deploy and the a/c literally fell out of the sky causing a second heavy landing (and cracking the mainspar). At this point the TC decided to get airborne again and fly a visual cct to land.
IIRC the coment on the CVR was: "It's not supposed to do that" (!!)