From The West, 29 June 2017
AirAsia boss super proud of ‘pray’ pilot
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes has lavished praise on the pilot and crew of a flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur after a mid-air drama caused by a major engine malfunction.
Despite widespread condemnation of the captain for telling passengers to pray for their survival as they returned to Perth with the A330 shaking severely, Mr Fernandes said he was “super proud of Captain Ibrahim” .
“AirAsia don’t make engines and all airlines have engine failures,” Mr Fernandes said in a Facebook post. “But when it does happen, it takes great pilots and great leadership in times of crisis. I’m beaming with pride.
“From videos you can see all guests calm, and from the many emails and WhatsApp I got, the captain’s announcements kept everyone calm.”
Mr Fernandes said “if it was a full-service airline the pilot would have been a hero” .
“But because it’s a lowcost carrier, press and so-called experts make wild accusations and forget the heroics of our crew.
“I want to thank the many Australians who have praised AirAsia for all we have done despite all the adverse press.”
Australian and International Pilots Association vice-president Shane Loney said the captain “could have worded things differently” .
“We don’t usually invite our passengers to pray,” Mr Loney, a Qantas A380 pilot, said. “We know the aeroplanes are well built and reliable pieces of kit.”
He said there would be many pilots looking at the AirAsia X incident and how they might handle themselves in a similar situation.
“If we’re in a position like that in the future we might handle it a little better as a result of this incident,” Mr Loney said.
Other pilots questioned Capt. Ibrahim’s training.
“Sounds like the captain should attend a course in how to calm passengers. Prompting them to pray is obviously not the best idea!” wrote Airbus Fan on AvHerald.com.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and AirAsia X are investigating the incident , described as an “engine malfunction” .
Other aviation experts suggested the problems occurred because of a blade ingestion.
Originally Posted by AirbusA320A321
Coming back from Perth with a full plane and heaps of gas on my type (should be obvious) you would be many tonnes overweight. With a cargo fire indication you're not exactly going to hold for an hour to burn off the extra gas!
Compare apples with apples.
You wouldn't be using YFRT as an EDTO alternate. Neville Nobody would be because he has the landing performance. As for a cargo fire, if you're going to crash on landing due to runway length, then that's a problem you'll have to work out. Nothing to do with YFRT per se.