Final Descent: Channel 5

[FL390]

Well, I just watched 'Fianl Descent' on Channle 5. I turned on and thought that it would be some tacky drama about aircraft accidents and how bad they were and how often they occurred or something. However, I decided to stick with it for a while and then realised that I had actually read the book behind the story!

Well, they managed to get the detail right to a certain extent, except that major flaw; the tailplane was supposed to break away from the fuselage because of the heavy landing! The nose wheel shouldn't have collapsed. Mind you, I suppose it is a little too much to expect Channel 5 to get it right, but there we are!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I just KNEW it was a documentary, especially when the controller who'd arranged the accident was put back in ("It was my blip, Jack"... all his years of experience were needed to say the magic words "cleared straight in". Wow, what a hero..

Of course, for the pilots it was all a doddle as they practice that sort of thing daily on simulators. Q: How long does it take to dry out the sim after filling it with 10,000 gallons of water?

Thought the dame did very well - recovering from rigor mortis in time to fly that hairy approach! 4,800 ft at 4 miles, eh? Could be a good view from the Tower! And if the crew needed "arctic suits" to survive how come the pax didn't?

Back to the real world...