I42
The workup to Stanstead is interesting, in relation to the Captain. on the immediately preceding flight, the SS Capt had operated into the en route hub in southern CIS states, and diverted towards the south. On departure from the divert APT, the Capt got confused with his left and right hands... and turned the wrong way. Fairly exciting, it is a one way departure due to lumpy bits. Lots of screaming going on, shades of the VOR approaches later flown two times sequentially into Milan on the B744F with the German DH pilot screaming at the crew... who were using ILS mode, both times... (became the great GPWS approach aid, descend until the pax screams or the GPWS goes off incessantly...). The SS Capt was under fairly great pressure as the company really had had enough of his activities by the time he took his face plant into the english countryside. (The German pilot was sufficiently traumatised after Milan's disneyland to decline the invitation to return to work, smart move).
The SS CVR transcript is chilling reading and harrowing listening. The engineer accepted his fate before impact, the Captain died relaxed, didn't have a schmick as to what was happening, and the poor FO was still tuning a DME. The engineer who had re-racked the INU got a close up encounter with the consequences of the process.
Making mistakes is a human characteristic; the "Zero Error" expectancy by this company short circuits all aspects of operational safety, and results in a pathologically dysfunctional program. I personally consider that the Koreans can be very professional in any aspect of endeavour, but the system precludes that, and the background xenophobic response makes it a hard task to alter the position, if anyone cared enough to bother, after the abuse meted out by the company and it's misguided supporters.