sispanys ria -
Thank you for your supporting remarks regarding the flap issue. Not that I need it, but it's nice to know you're not alone!
Basil -
>>>....."discussing the actions of the flight crew who, following a long flight, had seconds to consider ways of ameliorating a very confusing situation. The aircraft landed within the airfield perimeter; no one was killed; rejoice!"
You are absolutely correct in that. That is NOT what I was attempting to prove/disprove, however. As -sispanys ria- wrote, we're trying to learn something here should another pilot/pilots ever be faced with a similar situation in the future. I stand by my remark that I think it was improper to raise the flaps at that point in time under the conditions that existed. BTW, I'm a retired DC-8 Captain. Not that that makes me any more qualified than many others here. But I DO know what it's like to have the flaps dumped on me! First thing that happens is.....you guessed it; airplane goes DOWN.
Now.....back to the report. I still question the preliminary findings about ice/fuel. Granted, I wasn't qualified on the 777, but I'd be interested to know about the fuel heat on board that machine. I was qualified on the 737 and we had to turn on the fuel heat manually; and did so often after observing the fuel temp gauge. Don't recall now the temp at which it was to be turned on, but it was something that was watched even though flight legs on that little bird were obviously much shorter than the flight in question.
The DC-8 had a fuel/oil heat exchanger that the crew had no control over and I've been in the air for 9 hours (KORD - PHNL) with no known problem.
Let's hope when the final report comes out we really know what happened so that it may never happen again.
Last edited by DC-ATE; 7th Sep 2008 at 14:25.