as pilots we tend to be too quick to wash our hands off one of our colleagues after they've achieved that undesirable disconnect between number of Takeoffs and number of landing
Not I, perhaps you missed my
None of the foregoing is criticism of the operating crew since so many other factors come into play eg training, pressure from management, experience
and
but the discerning aviator, whether they be amateur or professional, only have an interest in learning how a fellow practitioner of the art managed to come to grief. We are all fallible.
I reckon it is time for a lot of posters on this forum to take a deep breath and let the REAL experts get on with their investigations
My understanding from posts elsewhere on the site is that Danny set up the board as a substitute for the "happy hour" hangar flying that people might otherwise indulge. Should any not be comfortable with that I guess they can remove themselves and drink at the other end of the bar. Then again I don't know what subjects you restrain yourself to when hangar flying.
The site's going to be a pretty empty place if we were all to take a deep breath whenever unfortunate events take place, though a deep breath is preferable before going under water.
Some info that just came to hand from another source
As an expat Norfolk Islander I can confirm there is no ILS available on Norfolk. The only aids are ADF and VOR. The GPS that was installed a number of years ago has not been commissioned. The weather during the 12 hours before the ditching was low ceilings that tended to roll in as fog every few hours. At the time of the ditching it was very heavy rain with fairly solid mist just above the cliff tops. Using the available aids there is no way that the strip could have been sighted in such conditions. The alternates are New Caledonia and Kaitaia in New Zealand both around an hour's flying time away. The local gossip at this stage is that the pilot held too long hoping for a break, and that the ditching was dead stick after just departing the end of RWY 22. If he had lost the engines while over land the ending would have been considerably worse as the airstrip is pretty much the only flat piece of land on Norfolk, the rest is very undulating and covered in Norfolk Island pines, a very substantial tree.
After radio contact was lost - there was no Mayday call - one of the local fire safety officers went out to the cliff top on the western side of the island and spotted 3 little lights bobbing in the ocean. There were only 3 life jackets being used for the 6 survivors. The accident report will make for interesting reading and there are sure to be lessons that can be learned not withstanding the amazing survival and rescue of all onboard.
Deadstick after all perhaps? In which case kudos for a good job in pulling it off if that be the case.