I'm off to work for BA! All that fuel. They live in pilot heaven.
A lot of routes are "tankering" inc. BUD. So they probably loaded enough to do LHR-BUD-LHR, or as much of the BUD-LHR as MLW permitted. So a 40min hold no problem...
Strange that Aircraft was ok to fly for 6 days, then AAIB got involved and checks had to be actioned
I don't think you'll find "checks" were actioned as much as "an investigation". The key will be should BA have launched an investigation and/or alerted the AAIB themselves. It took the MOR to get to the CAA etc. which all took time.
"The commander transmitted a ‘MAYDAY’ call on VHF No 1"
Minor point, but he did not... he just tried to
The VHF wasn't working either...
but pressing on to BUD after a MAYDAY seems a bit on the daft side.
We've already done the "Mayday" thread elsewhere... Any commerical pilot will tell you that emergencies are dynamic, and can rapidly worsen, or improve. DODAR blah - know what the 'R' is for?? The crew "reviewed" and apparently decided all was now OK enough. The route to BUD, if all in good weather, left many alternates, and the situation appeared resolved.
As others have intimated, the Airbus has its quirks
Essential stuff goes via Essential Buses... And if some "quirk" means that Essential Bus is not automatically selected, then "Houston we have a problem". Whatever, 1 screen remained, and that carried a drill which told the crew to press the button that turned everything back on...
I have flown an A320 with an MEL item (DMC 1 or 2?) that meant a single (further) failure could lose ALL displays - the bottom line of the MEL was that you needed to press this button and hey presto, most (all?) would return...
I think the issues are too complex to meaningfully debate here, so let's let the AAIB do their work before people who should know better hang the crew / BA etc.
NoD