Originally Posted by
TineeTim
...... Why is YPLM automatically considered by many as nearest suitable? ......
Indeed, it would not have been an easy decision for the crew.
But, just taking a few of your comments:
It's isolated. - No, its remote, not isolated.
Limited RFF - OK. Not as good as Perth.
Limited hospital facilities - OK again, Definitely less than Perth
Limited ATC - do you mean eyes in the tower? Not too much of that around these days.
- But it is a military air base, albeit little-used. Still, it can't be too bad.
- countered by "Limited traffic to contend with (make that zero traffic)".
Customs - not sure what's available. But nobody's going to want to wander off too far at Exmouth.
Hotels - yes limited, but back up transport (road or air) from Perth or even another aircraft out of Malaysia would be relatively simple.
Maintenance - yep, everything would need to be brought in. Very inconvenient.
The aeroplane is perfectly capable of flying on one engine - hmmm, I would not have used the word "perfectly".
But on the other hand you do have:
Proximiity - 165 nm vs 465 nm. 30 minutes vs 1:50. All of it in descent from 24,000. He MAY have had to lose some fuel.
10,000 ft x 150 ft runway - let's not compare it to a dirt strip in the Philipines, eh.
- U.S. B-52's use this airbase when necessary.
It IS the primary alternate for Perth for flights out of SE Asia and for flights to Sydney, Melbourne, etc coming in from M-E.
It would not have been the first diversion of a heavy to Learmonth. As with Iqualuvit, 300 people unexpectedly arriving in the middle of the night would be a challenge, but not insurmountable.
As for "Take this scenario ......." - No thanks. Not comparable.