A natural reaction
This was an understandable course of action, but it doesn't make it right. The thought of a tug heaving away on the nose gear is not good. Using engine thrust sounds a lot better. In this case it appears this crew wanted to go flying after being in the grass. But the problem with this is you have now been somewhere that has not been inspected and may have damaged your tyres, so you will need at least a quick once-over. But what do you write in the book? Assign you write down what has happened you will not be going flying. I can imagine a few phone calls between the engineers and the manufacturer and the "special" one-off inspections (to cover people's bums). The problem of our modern world and one I'll not miss when I retire.
The current regime under which most of us fly means that that we will not be rewarded for using common sense. The "system" would probably prefers us to fly legally into a mountain than illegally save our lives. But I'm guessing in this case engineers were close by, this was not a war zone and it was not a life-or-death situation so the best thing would have been to have thrown in the towel earlier.
In reality, aircraft are pretty tough and I doubt if any damage was done.
ps. I liked the pathetic request of the cabin crew for people to stop taking pictures. What is the point?
Last edited by Piltdown Man; 4th Jan 2017 at 07:45.
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