ECON cruise, LR cruise...
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: MIRSI hold - give or take...
Age: 52
Posts: 568
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Chronus,
The report quite clearly stated why the accident happened:
1) The crew were habitually not completing checklists in the prescribed fashion, or at all
2) The crew on other approaches did not arm speed-brakes and only corrected this on touch-down, yet did not manage to correct this trend in themselves
3) The crew did not plan the short flight in respect of LDA vs. LDR, and preflight planning was deemed ineffective by the BEA
In short - crew training, crew integrity & professionalism did not stop some habits developing over the years, as transgressions of procedures were repeatedly reinforced as having no apparent negative consequences. Modern aviation is so safe, with so wide safety boundaries that we can violate procedure 999 times and it'll all go smooth-as-you-like. The 1000th time you try it, you'll find out why the procedure was put in place in the first place.
Part of the problem resides in us pilots thinking individually, on the individual risk we perceive. Concepts such as cumulative risk, herd immunity and basic probability rarely enter our thoughts - and this will need to change.
Perhaps time to include 'Statistics & Probability 101' in the ATPL syllabus, i.s.o. making sure the youngsters know what kind of N2 is used to service the tyres?