Lionair plane down in Bali.

[ExSp33db1rd]

PJ2 - I agree that we should return to the subject of the accident, but I would just like to make a couple more comments.

I was once told, but can't verify, that when Eddie Rickenbacker was in charge of Eastern Airlines he refused to have aircraft fitted with the then fairly new Sperry autopilot of the era, on the grounds that those guys are paid to fly, so make them fly. Maybe some Eastern Old Fart can confirm ?

and ... I well remember the furore over the then BEA experiment of the two pilots flying a "monitored approach" whereby the non-handling pilot did nothing but look out of the window until he had the runway in sight and could positively take over and make a visual landing, meanwhile the handling pilot kept resolutely on instruments and made no attempt to transition from instrument flying to visual flying, and if at Minima the non-handling pilot had not taken over, then the instrument flying pilot started the go-around without further command. The concept was to avoid the difficulty of making the transition from instruments to visual, and maybe back to instruments again if nothing was in sight.

I was in Idlewild ( not Kennedy ) Customs one day when a grizzled old (!) PanAm Captain came over to us and asked if we were that Limey outfit carrying out the monitored approach nonsense ? ( we weren't, we were BOAC not BEA ) He went on to say that PanAm had been carrying out Monitored Approach procedures evers since the formation of the airline. Oh, really we said, Yes, he replied - I fly, he monitors.

Now ... about this accident ..............