PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Did the pilot originally scheduled to fly [i]that[/i] Concorde refuse?
Old 23rd Aug 2001, 01:06
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beaver eager
 
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The First Officer on three separate occasions draws the Captain's attention to the Airspeed Indicator.

Unfortunately, he only uses the words...

"Warning, The Airspeed Indicator, The Airspeed Indicator, The Airspeed Indicator"...

"The Airspeed Indicator"

"The Airspeed Indicator"

There's a lot going on in between, but it must be assumed that as handling pilot, the Captain's selective radial scan had broken down due to sensory overload, and he was therefore not responding to the prompts from the First Officer, which seem to indicate to me that in a desparate attempt to retain/gain altitude, airspeed (which they didn't have to spare) was being sacrificed.

A better call from the First Officer would have been...

"Speed! (or Airspeed Indicator, if you like)"
but backed up with the COMMAND "PITCH DOWN".

Failure to comply should have resulted in his taking control. Better to plough into a field/motorway/whatever the right way up with some aerodynamic control than upside down and vertically.

Having said that, it's easy to sit here and pick up on every little thing. If they did commence take off 10 tonnes overweight, they were digging a pretty big hole for themselves, but nevertheless, it is most likeley that with the sequence of events as they were, it would always have been an unsurviveable incident.

I'm not religious but... There but for the grace of God, go I.
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