Such a very sad incident could happen to anybody at any point in time. Lets not flog a dead horse here. It's just a question of the level of preparedness for this kind of a glitch at the end of a long Duty period and at the fag end of that too.
At no point will I deny the 'monitor and disconnect' mode of LV ops. But how does any one of us here know that he didn't do just that!
By what I see, the initial excursion on the LHS of the rwy occoured at low speed. Probably less than 60 kts. The rudder aerodynamic control must be close to zero at this point in time. He therefore chose to use the tiller, i reckon.
Over steered, cause obviously he saw the excursion a nano second too late(probably due low the vis/fog), and over reacted.
I, however, am of the firm belief that ALL of us here are in some learning phase or another, irrespective of the level(s) of experience we wield.
This incident should positively be highlighted as a learning experience for all of us here rather than the proverbial finger pointing attitude we choose to adopt. And in the process, grind our very old machettes.
I, for one, am changing my attitude for myself and my pupils from this moment on, towards LVP and Cat-2/3 training.
Needs some hard re thinking. Too many holes lined up already.
Off now..
Last edited by A380 Jockey; 6th Nov 2011 at 13:58.
Reason: Missed out "the" as kindly pointed out by BOAC