Mini Cooper wrote:"A tragic accident. The METARS suggest nothing too bad weatherwise, however evidently something was not quite right. This guy tries an approach from what I hear and he quite rightly doesn't like it so goes around - good call. Why then did he try again straight away - maybe press-onitis, maybe he was watching the fuels guages and didn't have the option of holding, maybe he hadn't thought about taking extra fuel before leaving Bangkok or maybe the company pressurised him to take flight plan fuel and no more??. You know the scenario, short flight, weather seems ok, 3% or 5% contingency fuel on a short flight in reality is NOT MUCH, the weather changes unexpectedly, hence he tries again as the options are running out. Maybe the vis wasn't too good but not bad enough for this to happen. We will have to wait and see the outcome. Don't want to put blame soley on him, maybe company has to take some blame.
Again a tragic accident - there but the grace of god go many of us - IF IN DOUBT TAKE MORE FUEL - GIVES YOU OPTIONS."
sizematters wrote:"Orient Thai.......mmm, been an accident looking for a map reference for a long time. .............Know a few guys who have worked there and as soon as they find someone who will do the job for $500 a month less than you, it suddenly becomes very difficult to renew your thai vailidation !!!! These are the guys who sacked the pilot who tried to stop some phillipino mafia pilots from signing their licences after a four hour sim session which was videod with the "in sim" video during which time they played cards for 4 hours..............and is anyone in the know suprised they wipe an MD 80.........er..................NO !!!!"
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I wonder how much commercial pressure there is on the crew to land ? I know Phuket and a sudden squall can give you quite a drenching. I was out in a longtail boat once when it happened. I would have been drier had I been swimming in my clothes !
What is the windshear accompanying this type of weather ? I was once told that analysts thought a likely difficult scenario would be a MD-80 series aircraft getting caught in wake vortex on the approach by a preceeding heavy aircraft. Yet the MD-80 series are very reliable and excellent revenue earners. I have also heard they are not the easiest to land.
One Thai newspaper described the specification of the MD-82 = Faster than the speed of sound .76 - Of course they meant Mach .76 - Yet this is the understanding one gets from newspapers.
One has to be concerned for the families that have lost; but unless there is a thorough and open investigation it will happen again. At the time of the 1998 accident in Surathani there were comments that a VIP on board insisted they land. That sort of thing happens in Thailand.
On commercial pressure, "If you think safe is expensive, wait till you have an accident!"
Unfortunately these days 'beancounters' run the show. The effect of cost cutting on safety must be addressed.