June AAIB - wrong deck landing
I see there is a report on a wrong deck landing (out of Aberdeen) in this month's AAIB report. I have to say that, bearing in mind the large amount of time it takes to get important reports out, one wonders whether the AAIB should be bothering itself with such trivia? Political pressure? One is hard pushed to consider the event an "accident" although I'm sure the weasel words of aviation legislation probably does encompass it. Yes oil companies love to rant and wail about such things but in reality it is almost certainly only a big deal in someone's mind, and an excuse to have a go at a contractor.
Of course the event would have been avoided had they religiously set the FMS to the next waypoint to be landed at, something we did as a matter of course in Bristow because we all know how easy it is to get sucked into thinking a destination is the destination when in fact it isn't. And that really is all there is to be said about it.
However if one is going to go to the trouble of writing a detailed report, one might as well consider all the contributory factors and not just pick the ones to suit. So in fact the crew error was compounded by the incessant waffling on the radio, miscommunication, mistakes and changes of mind by the oil company's personnel. But of course although that is mentioned, it doesn't form part of the reason why the "accident" happened according to the report, but in reality it was of course a large part of the reason. "Accidents" rarely occur from one cause in isolation and usually the accident could have been prevented by removing just one of the several contributory causes.
But of course such an argument wouldn't serve the political aims of the report. Disturb the status quo? Not a chance!