The reason I say this is a 'must read' report is precisely because it could have happened to anyone.
I am sure that the captain would, in hindsight, have stuck with his original decision. But hindsight is just that, yesterdays news and today's fish wrapper.
He was, however, talked out of it for the following, very human reasons:
- Relatively new commander and therefore more readily talked out of believing he had a strike, which would, in isolation, be a CLM .
- Probably, (although not referred to in the report) was not told by the F/O, that the oleos were 50% below mimima ( and over-ruled by the ground engineer/s in Auckland). This info, if relayed to him at the time, would have allayed his fears of it being a CLM.
- The commercial pressure that casts a shadow over all operational decisions.
It all ended safely and I think some valuable lessons were learned.
Last edited by Traffic; 22nd Jun 2004 at 23:58.