I have not read this thread but I wonder if this feedback is interesting for you....
Sir, I am concerned at the decision to allow Boeing 777 aircraft with Rolls-Royce engines to continue flying after the crash landing at Heathrow in January 2008 (report,
Mar 14). I cannot help comparing the response to this accident with that after the loss of an Air France Concorde at Paris in 2000. The latter aircraft was brought down after a collision with a metal object on the runway, that should never have been there in the first place. Yet despite the aircraft being relatively blameless, the entire Concorde fleet was grounded within days pending hugely expensive modifications to the fuel tanks.
Within a very short time of the Heathrow crash landing in January 2008 it was apparent that there was a potentially serious design problem affecting this aircraft. The temporary operating procedures for these Boeing 777s, pending modifications, appear to be no more than window dressing to deflect public opinion. I have read internet forums where Boeing 777 pilots have resorted to exchanging informal ideas about what best to do if faced with unresponsive engines at the critical moments on the approach to land. This should not be happening in 21st-century aviation.
It is a letter to your Times newspaper of today. I took the guys name out just in case he-you know-offednded someone?