BA 747 - LHR narrowly misses hotel - Nov 1989
 

Can anyone point me in the right direction for more details of this incident back in 1989. Perhaps some web pages or published reports etc.

"BA Boeing 747 narrowly misses crashing into the Penta hotel on approach at Heathrow, 21st Nov 1989"

Thanks

Jamie, there was thread on "Spectators Balcony" about it - or mentioning it - a while back.

It was known as the November Oscar incident (G-AWNO). There was an excellent article in Pilot about it several years later by Stephan Wilkinson. If ever I find the issue in the loft I will pass on the details...

Well, Googling for 747 Heathrow 1989 returns http://aviation-safety.net/database/...1121-1&lang=en

I researched this item some time ago and could not find anything of note on the web. Another Ppruner scanned and sent me the "Pilot" article and if you want to PM with your email will do likewise for you.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=penta
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...ighlight=penta

Wasnt there also a case of an Air Canada 747 lining up with the lighting on the A4 early one morning? Cant remember much more - but seem to recall hundreds of car alarms were activated as the aircraft went round...

Care may be reqd here; the Captain may have taken his own life afterwards.

Which is partly the reason for my links at Post #5.....................which are there to be read.

The story of the NO incident. BA's handling of the human issues surrounding it. The CAA Enforcement Branches dogged pursuit of the Captain, his conviction and his ultimate suicide makes sombre reading.

An oft used phrase but; there for the grace..........





RIP Capt Glen-Stewart






Sir George Cayley

Amen Sir. :sad:

I remember this well, there is plenty of coverage in of it in newspapers if you want to dig out their archives - I suggest the Daily Telegraph. it came so low that car alarms were set off in the car park and he did commit suicide up in a lonely spot in Fife I think. I felt for him. At the end of the day we all make mistakes and nobody was hurt.

Speaking from a personal point of view, there were many aspects of this incident which were farcical to say the least.It was not only the jury that was flummoxed by the intricacys of the case..the judge halted the proceedings at the end of the second week, to ask 'excuse me, but where does the co-pilot sit?'.
There were also aspects imperitive to Captain Stewarts defence which were deemed to be unimportant and therefore were not mentioned-for example,the fact that the same defect with the autopilot had occured in the same aircraft previously.When Captain Stewart informed British Airways on landing that the autopilot had failed,the aircraft was in the air, unchecked, within hours.
British Airways did indeed offer Captain Stewart a position as a co-pilot after he was found guilty,strangely, of the charge of endangering people on the ground yet not guilty of endangering people in the air.Yet after paying his fine, a paltry sum, Captain Stewart did not accept their kind offer,as he did not believe he deserved demotion, though he did agree with the judges summing up that his reactions,when realising the autopilot was not funtionning correctly 'were a millisecond too slow'.
Captain Stewart took full responsibility for his crews actions as he was a proud and honourable man and it was his pride that made him take his life. He lived for flying, he lived for the camaraderie, he lived for the travel that flying afforded him. British Airways alone were not responsible for his death, neither was the CAA, the jury, the legal system, the judge,his defence team or the press,they all contributed equally.