Originally Posted by
Goldenrivett
According to the accident report - the handle was never pulled. See Page 20.
"On this occasion the difference between the two drills, was in advertently obscured by the Flight Engineer, who went for, but did not pull, the fire shut-off handle whilst carrying out the Engine Overheat or Failure Drill; it appears that this not only gave him the impression that he had pulled the fire shut-off handle as part of the fire drill, but also gave the same impression to the First Officer."
BOAC had 2 similar procedures then - with the vital difference of pulling or not pulling the FCH. The crew started one procedure - then changed when they realised the fire warning. They thought the handle had been pulled - but actually it had not.
Later the two procedures were were amalgamated into one - to make it simpler.
KISS principal again.
apolgies I think we are into thread creep territory?
Yes that’s true. The engineer thought he had but hadn’t. The point is that you could fire the bottles without having pulled the fire handle which masked the error. On a 737 for example that can’t happen Anyway it was not done correctly I agree. What happened next is what I’m saying is almost unthinkable today- to land in four minutes. 4 passengers died. Plane totally burned out in a very short time. All you need to land is the wheels. Nothing else. No speeds weights or dumping needed -180 will do on long runway. And that’s pretty much what they did.