I haven’t been to Europe for quite some time, Spitoon, so I’ll take your advice and read up on their changed procedures. But at a guess, I’d bet London to a brick they’re nowhere near as straightforward and sensible as the Australian procedures of ‘get the broken aircraft on the ground asap’.
b]Findo[/b], look again and you’ll see that I introduced my post with “Probably not strictly on the subject of the tread,…. My internet café computer wouldn’t/couldn’t follow the links to listen in to the interview, so I couldn’t comment on what the gentleman in question said. However I agree, from the reactions of others, that it sounds like typical non-specialist ‘management’ “head in the clouds” gobbldegook, (which is perhaps a most unfortunate turn of phrase in this case. What we need is someone in this gent’s position whose head is in the **** clouds - up among the aeroplanes his organisation is supposed to be controlling!!).
I have to agree that anyone who could say that a loss of radio isn’t a Flight Safety matter, (particularly if it’s the controlling agency, like London Centre or LHR App for example, who’s lost the radio in ) has a rather different definition of Flight Safety to most of us.
As for my suggestion re the emergency phone number. Why in the hell not don’t we have it for emergency situations? Most of us (except the people in ICAO HQ, it would seem) are bit young to remember blinking green Aldis lamps and Verey pistols.