Originally Posted by
sunnySA
So the Swiss cheese aligned, AsA failed to provide a service, a heavy jet missed the hills, more by accident than design. Nothing to see, these aren't the droids you're looking for, move along. Really, is this the best we can do?
Of course there should be better. It's lucky that the holes with the GPWS and terrain display slice didn't line up with everything else.
Although I do think that the lack of ATC may had some role to play in this incident (in that it could have reduced the severity of this incident), I reckon inadequate crew training is more to blame. Blind Dog said that the 2nd KC-135 crew was given a detailed explanation of how to fly the SID after the first crew almost flew into that mountain a few minutes earlier, but still managed to end up in the same situation as the preceding crew. Lead Balloon pointed out that the C-17 and KC-135 guys are trained at the same facility. I really don't want to cast a shadow over our U.S friends, but I must question the quality of the training that they're receiving in the aspect of flying complex SIDs. How is it that 3 separate crews trained by the same people at the same place manage to end almost flying into the side of the same one mountain?