dear danny:
how very civilized of you to chat with me.
first off, I have never indicated I flew the B747. Please find the passage in which I mention "I FLY B747".
I have never done long haul flying.
I did mention doing a 3 engine ferry on the BAE146 to indicate how flying on a 4 engine plane with ony 3 running should (imho) be done...that is without passengers.
I have certainly flown jet aircraft dispatched with one engine generator inop, to be replaced by the apu generator.
I also know how mad mechanics (you call them engineers I think, just like an adjustable spanner there is a monkey wrench here) get when you come back to the gate to have them do the paperwork and how frustrating it is when a company does not keep proper spare parts nearby.
I also never said that flying a B747 with 3 gens was unsafe...I just said I would go back to the gate and have the mechanics look at it. (meaning fix or defer)
And perhaps the wink and the nod came from your mechanics, sorry engineers, and not your fellow pilots.
You all seem to think I am blaming pilots on your side of the pond for doing things I might not have done. Perhaps you don't understand that I am trying to point out the pressure that money brings on pilots to make some decisions.
AND for the record, while we have dispatchers in the USA and our flights leave with concurrence of both pilot and dispatcher, the PILOT IN COMMAND still gets the final word while airborne.
And yes I have flown for one large and one tiny airline that have both been in bankruptcy.
Raising the question about another engine problem 3 weeks later is certainly relevent. Perhaps it is a trend of poor mx,inherent problems with that type of plane or engine, or perhaps just a coincidence?
And to the low fuel emergency. We are obviously seperated by a common language. We don't have that in our lexicon either, we can advise "minimum fuel". Slang terms sometimes don't carry across the pond...I for one still can't understand your side's reference to women as BIRDS, yet I understand our own reference to CHICKS.
(do you know what the phrase "I am popeye" means?)
Fine, then a MAYDAY should be declared and the reason was low fuel? does that make more sense to you?
Sadly a 707 going into JFK many years ago got the lexicon wrong and ended up crashed, but that is another thread.
And reading between the lines I get this from you and your side of the pond. You believe all of us love 2 engine planes ( an economic decision I am sure which you all seem to place so high in the equation). You very much believe that we are sales people for Boeing 777's and the like. And that we are trying to get the FAA to take action just to increase B777 sales.
Please.
For the record I really don't care for Boeings. I prefer single digit douglas and I guess Boeing liked them enough to buy them.
I base all of my opinions NOT ON BEING A 747 pilot, but having flown for 3 small airlines and one big one; having seen the pressure on pilots to save money even moving into the world of calculated risk; having watched what happens when pilots don't write up problems in "tech logs" only to have the next pilot have to deal with it, sometimes unexpectedly.
Certainly 30 years in aviation does allow me to post on this site however!
My opinions are also based on teaching people to fly as a CFIIMEI/ATP and how judgement differs from person to person, background to background.
My opinions are also based on trying to get improvements in safety for pilots and having a deaf ear turned to such topics as: enhanced security training (prior to 9/11), installation of EMAS systems at airports (way prior to Chicago Midway Southwest) and better real time wx information for pilots (prior to a tragic crash in KCLT in 1994).
The deaf ear was turned towards me by the FAA and elected governement officials. The answer was always money related.
I have already said before that flying on 3 engines in your 747 was just fine, but that other options which would have (imho) enhanced safety and were easily available existed.
Sometimes I think pilots (ourselves) are our own worst enemy. We can be a bit too heroic in trying to get the mission done. Perhaps I think the BA pilots were being a bit too heroic to get the mission done. I have also indicated that money is too often part of the equation (IMHO)>
We must ask ourselves this question:
IF the B747 in question had dumped fuel/burned fuel down to landing weight and landed safely at any of half a dozen airports on the west coast of the USA, would the FAA had made such a big stink?
Long ago I learned that besides the passengers, the company and myself as a pilot, I also had to please the lawyers ( or at least stay away from them!).
regards
jon
PS. I have not yet made reference to a popular TV network in your country...lots of things can be made up about BBC.
"i am popeye" means the aircraft is IMC and can't find the traffic mentioned...I had been flying 17 years before I heard that one...a US navy term.