I read PPRuNe in the hope of learning what I didn't know I did not know. And whenever I am lucky enough to find the limits of my knowledge before they bite me, I return to my company issued Boeing 744 CD-rom, a poor cousin to the erstwhile manuals.
I also read PPRuNe in the hope of re-learning what the passage of time has caused me to unwittingly and unwillingly forget. There's been a lot of forgetting going on in my overfull, greying head lately.
A few critical points have been taken from this very important thread:
One is the undeniable fact of it being populated by some very testy and apparently uneducated people on the matter of aviation who seem uncommonly keen to discredit tried and true procedures, to question proper process, or to nit pick well worded posts written by highly experienced pilots commiting the inexcusable crime of not naming an obscure and forgettable grouping of dim lights he has overflown on countless departures over the wider bush that is Africa.
Another is that the BA036 crew did an outstanding job.
Most importantly, my thirst for knowledge has been reinvigorated by a sense of self preservation. Fate is the hunter, and though I know the B744 airplane well, I don't know it as well as I'd like. Given it is my chariot in the workplace, I am forced to review my training in the case of being faced with the unthinkable.
I don't know how this incident would have transpired were I on the flight deck any more than I know how this afternoon's flight will ultimately work out until the brakes are set to park on the second and final stand.
Anything could happen, according to Boeing.
Which is sufficient reason to review my CD-rom, hateful disc of plastic that it is; to rely not on prayer but experience, training and a cool head, and to hope that my clear thinking cap with its well receded hairline is firmly latched if and when events become as unpredictable as they did for the BA crew departing Jo'berg.
Last edited by 4PW's; 18th May 2009 at 22:23.
Reason: stay on topic