Originally Posted by
Uplinker
I still wonder if they had a compass/heading malfunction, because I find it hard to believe that a longhaul B777 crew would ignore such basic instructions otherwise.
I doubt it. It looks to me more likely that they were about a third of the way through the original left turn to 180 deg when they were told to reverse the direction of turn, which they began, only to be told to reverse the direction yet again (and head 270 deg), which they began, and then told to head southbound to which they tried to query the controller about the direction of turn and got no answer. It is only during that last part that they maintained their present heading (which happened to be north-ish as a result of the previous maneuvers) while they tried to obtain clarification about the direction of turn. After all, it was the controller getting her left and right mixed up that started the whole mess, so they figured direction of turn was important. Had they maintained heading and queried the controller for that first turn, all of this would be averted, so they were just a bit late in doing the right thing.
Anyway, it wasn't their compass, but rather the timing of the controller's instructions that got them going north.