The flight crew quickly determined that the aircraft was capable of gliding for 23 minutes and covering 91 nautical miles (169 km) from its flight level of 37,000 feet (11,000 m). Mrs Pat Moody with Rupert & Ollie! Release date: 31 March 2013. The airplane went through it with no problem at first. Captain Moody later said, The airplane seemed to kiss the earth and we were on the ground safely.. Needing time to calmly consider his options, Capt Moody used autopilot to put the plane into a gentle descent, and instructed his first officer to issue a mayday call. But they weren't out of the woods. For more on the world of piloting, check out 6 WWI Fighter Pilots Whose Balls Deserve Their Own Monument and 7 Planes Perfectly Designed (To Kill The People Flying Them). If that sounds like a fairly important part of a jet engine, you're right -- the result was the engine blew out, damaging the tail fins and sending shrapnel into the plane's hydraulic lines. As pressure within the cabin fell, oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling an automatic emergency measure to make up for the lack of air. With a plan in place they began their engine restart attempts, were they in the ideal situation for an engine restart? We told you, the Chinese didn't give a single fuck. Despite the lack of time, Moody made an announcement to the passengers that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[3]. At 13,500 feet (4,100m), the crew was approaching the altitude at which they would have to turn over the ocean and attempt a risky ditching. Captain Eric Moody Several respondants used the example of a near-disaster in 1982. Although the airspace around Mount Galunggung was closed temporarily after the incident, it was reopened days later. And here's where one Mr. Alastair Atchison stepped up to the goddamned plate. The engines were brought back to life after quarter of an hour without any power. The airliner, flown by Captain Eric Moody, lost thrust from all four engines at 37,000ft. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. At 13,500 feet (4,100 m), the crew was approaching the altitude at which they would have to turn over the ocean and attempt a risky ditching. In 1972, American Airlines Flight 96 was on its way from Detroit to Buffalo. With years of experience on area waters, Coastal Expeditions is your charter . Captain Eric Moody made the following announcement to the passengers: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. in the Air. Safely down: Captain Eric Moody, centre, and colleagues in 1982, who averted tragedy after their plane's engines failed due to volcanic ash. After falling more than 25,000 feet and preparing to ditch in the Indian Ocean, the plane's crew eventually got the engines restarted. Then, simultaneously, engines one and three failed as well. Owing to the high Indonesian mountains on the south coast of the island of Java, an altitude of at least 11,500 feet (3,500m) was required to cross the coast safely. British Airways Flight 009, sometimes referred to by its callsign Speedbird 9 or as the Jakarta incident,[1] was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. . What the shit? In trouble. Now the story of the 'Gimli Glider' is poised to become a feature film on the silver screen. The landing gear was now stuck down, and the drag that it was causing meant they wouldn't have enough fuel to get to Los Angeles. The dust in the cloud deprived the engines of sufficient oxygen from the atmosphere to maintain combustion, sandblasted the windscreen and landing-light covers, and clogged the engines. According to BBC, on the evening of Jun. Passengers who had a view of the aircraft's engines through the window noted that they were unusually bright blue, with light shining forward through the fan blades and producing a stroboscopic effect. The crew members of the incident segment had boarded the aircraft in Kuala Lumpur, while many of the passengers had been aboard since the flight began in London.[2]. Because the ash cloud was dry, it did not appear on the weather radar, which was designed to detect the moisture in clouds. 1000s of new photos added daily. Eric Moody weighed 185 lbs (83 kg) when playing. It was later determined thatthewindshieldwas completely sandblasted bythevolcanic dust. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! And even they'll tell you that airliners pretty much fly themselves. here's Wikipedia's description of the incident: Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, Paytm makes single click payments possible with UPI LITE you can now make UPI payments up to 200 without pin, Internet hails Paytm's lightning-fast payments with UPI LITE here's how you can use it, A business class airline passenger who ordered vegan food says it was insulting to be served one banana along with a pair of chopsticks, Vivo V27 Pro Review: Capable camera performance in a sleek form factor, Divgi TorqTransfer Systems IPO subscribed 12% on day 1, Investing is an art and the ultra rich are showing us how, Adani Power to supply nearly 16 pc less power to two Haryana discoms, India's super-rich gear up for a better year ahead: Knight Frank, The crew's intense focus on the problem (without false assurances that they could fix it), Concern for the well-being of the passengers (without being patronizing). Improvising, Haynes and crew had to manually rev the remaining engines up and down to try to manipulate the rudderless aircraft and get it back to something close to level. And here's Wikipedia's description of the incident: British Airways Flight 9, sometimes referred to by its callsign Speedbird 9 or Jakarta incident,[1] was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Madras, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. He is the Founder and Editor of The Aviation Geek Club one of the worlds most read military aviation blogs. Plane going down. Speedbird 9 safely landed with no injuries. Shortly thereafter, engine three restarted, allowing him to climb slowly. Despite the crew "squawking" the emergency transponder setting of 7700, the aeroplane could not be located by Air Traffic Control on their radar screens. No lives were lost, but in the captain's own hilarious words, it was "a bit like negotiating one's way up a badger's arse.". In the past 40 years, several jet-powered commercial airplanes have encountered clouds of volcanic ash and suffered damage as a result.. 24 June 1982. The crew received various awards, including the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air and medals from the British Air Line Pilots Association. The result: a few minor injuries. About your Captain. 1 talking about this. It was on the 24th of June 1982 that a 747-200, British Airways flight BA009, better known as Speedbird Nine, became a glider over Jakarta. With a crash landing possibly only minutes away, the pilot, Captain Eric Moody, made a breathtaking announcement over the PA: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. In the past 40 years, several jet-powered commercial airplanes have encountered clouds of volcanic ash and suffered damage as a result.. But it didn't stop at 23 degrees. Although there were guidelines for the water landing procedure, no one had ever tried it in a Boeing 747, nor has anyone since. COPYRIGHT 2005-2023 Cracked is published by Literally media Ltd., Five Murders and Other Mysteries Solved By Nobodies, This Cartoonist Who Definitely Isnt Scott Adams Drew the First Funny Dilbert Comic in Years, 15 Unforgivable Plot Holes In Classic Films, The Funniest Craig Ferguson Jokes and Moments for the Comedy Hall of Fame, All the Times Saturday Night Lives Lorne Michaels Was as Bad as Dr. Shortly after 13:40 UTC (20:40 Jakarta time) above the Indian Ocean, south of Java, the flight crew (consisting of Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Engineer Officer Barry Townley-Freeman while Captain Eric Moody was in the lavatory) first noted an effect on the windscreen similar to St Elmo's fire. He decided to turn around and go back to Detroit -- which, to be honest, is probably the only good reason to ever go back to Detroit. The British are masters of the art, with the result that their communications often leave the rest of us quite bewildered. Whether you're looking for an action-packed day of fishing, taking in a dolphin or sightseeing cruise or a combination of all three, then you came to the right place! The crew received various awards, including the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air for Moody,[11] and medals from the British Airline Pilots' Association. Moody swiftly decided to descend at 1,800m per minute to an altitude where there was enough pressure in the outside atmosphere to breathe almost normally. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. Then, in between bouts of frenzied cursing and pants-inflating bowel explosions, Moody and his crew tried one more time to restart the engines and it worked. The crew began engine restart drills, despite being well above the recommended maximum engine in-flight start envelope altitude of 28,000 feet (8,500 m). Einer der wichtigsten Piloten aller Zeiten. Finally it slammed into the river at about 150 miles per hour, crashing into the waves with an impact that inside the plane must have sounded like the goddamned world was ending. We have a small problem. An electrical anomaly known as St. Elmo's fire suddenly erupted on the windshield. British Airways Boeing 747 flight BA 009, flown by Captain Eric Moody, lost thrust from all four engines at 37,000ft. Captain Eric Moody is an example of a pilot sounding cool under pressure. This is your captain speaking. So the story had a happy ending. In 1982, when Mount Galunggung volcano, Indonesia, erupted, several Boeing 747s encountered ash from this eruption. If an exceptional speechwriter had spent a week composing the message, he or she couldn't have done better. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I trust you are not in too much distress. The flight crew members had boarded the aircraft at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Kuala Lumpur and were due to pilot the 747 from the Malaysia to Perth Airport leg. Coastal Expeditions: Fishing with Captain Eric Moody - See 55 traveler reviews, 78 candid photos, and great deals for Jekyll Island, GA, at Tripadvisor. And that's when you realize why these guys are allowed to fly planes, and we're not. Understatement is an expression of lesser strength than what the speaker or writer actually means or than what is normally expected. 24 June 1982. After landing, the flight crew found taxiing impossible, due to glare from apron floodlights, which made the already sandblasted windscreen opaque. I am old enough to remember this incident, but I had forgotten something important about it: What the plane's captain said to the passengers the moment after the engines failed. GEOL 1408 Assignment 2: Due Tuesday, 2/20/18 Down to a Sunless Sea: The anatomy of an incident WORK INDEPENDANTLY!!!! If an exceptional speechwriter had spent a week composing the message, he or she couldn't have done better. I trust you are not in too much distress. Eric Moody over 30 years ago has become the greatest airline passenger announcement of all time and is brought back to life by the eruption of yet another Indonesian volcano. How much did Eric Moody weigh when playing? We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. "[1] Although the runway lights could be made out through a small strip of the windscreen, the landing lights on the aircraft seemed to be inoperable. Did the Weasley twins never see Peter Pettigrew with their brother on the Marauders Map? Will do best for boys. Supplement to the London Gazette, Supplement 49375, Saturday, 11th June 1983, at Page B28. It turned out someone had forgotten to seal the cargo door, and the force of the takeoff had ripped it straight off and tossed it into the tail of the plane, disrupting the engine and the flaps in the back. Displaying the stiff-upper-lip spirit that built an empire, he uttered the words that are every air passenger's worst nightmare: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. "[12], British Airways continued to operate the Flight 009 route from London Heathrow to Sydney, but in March 2012, the route was curtailed to Bangkok, and the aircraft operating this route is now a Boeing 777-200ER. Within seconds, and almost simultaneously, engines one and three flamed out, prompting the flight engineer to exclaim, "I don't believe itall four engines have failed!"[4]. Moody throttled back, but engine number two surged again and was shut down. G-BDXG was repaired and flown back to London, where it underwent further, more extensive repairs. The 747 had 248 passengers and 15 crew members on board. It took two days to the investigators to confirm that volcanic ash had been responsible for the near disaster. After the aircraft was ferried back to London, engine number four was replaced and major work was undertaken to return the 747 to service. Pilots today are trained to do what Capt Moody did if faced with that situation. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Owing to the high Indonesian mountains on the south coast of the island of Java, an altitude of at least 11,500 feet (3,500m) was required to cross the coast safely. Interview With Eric Moody. As they cruised at 37000 feet, tiny pin pricks of light popping up on the windscreen this was accompanied by acrid smoke coming in from the vents, Captain Moody was brought back to the flight deck. At 13,500 feet (4,100m), the crew was approaching the altitude at which they would have to turn over the ocean and attempt a risky ditching. Sorry. With no thrust they were falling and they needed to land somewhere, but in their path lay the mountains on the island of Java, they needed to be have at least 11500 feet in altitude to cross the mountain range safely, so the crew decided that, if they were not able to maintain 12000 feet by the time they got to the mountain range they'd turn around and ditch the plane in the indian ocean. . In 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 had just taken off from London on its way to Spain. It was clear. Many passengers, fearing for their lives, wrote notes to relatives. The events around one British Airways Boeing 747 flight BA 009 reveal the potential dangers of this sort of dust. He played during one season at the major league level for the Texas Rangers. Only after a Singapore Airlines 747 was forced to shut down three of its engines while flying through the same area 19 days later (13 July) did Indonesian authorities close the airspace permanently and reroute airways to avoid the area; a watch was set up to monitor clouds of ash. Shortly after that, engines one and two successfully restarted as well. "[1] Although the runway lights could be made out through a small strip of the windscreen, the landing lights on the aircraft seemed to be inoperable. The airliner was under the command of Captain Eric H. J. Moody, with Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Flight Engineer Barry Townley-Freeman on the flight deck. We have a small problem. Moody. SIMPLY PUT - where we join the dots to inform and inspire you. In 1982, Captain Eric Moody was piloting a British Airways jet over Indonesia when he unexpectedly flew into an ash cloud. The incident featured in an episode of the Mayday documentary TV series Air Crash Investigation titled "Falling From the Sky". "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Eric Moody. The aircraft was diverted to Jakarta in the hope that enough engines could be restarted to allow it to land there. We have a small problem. . Post-flight investigation revealed that City of Edinburgh's problems had been caused by flying through a cloud of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Galunggung. With no hydraulics, they were unable to control the speed at which the plane could land. The crew noticed the front of the engines were glowing as if lit inside when they looked out the side windows of the cockpit. All four engines have stopped. Copyright 2023. Heard by few, it said: "Ladies and gentlemen. Captain Eric Moody. Within seconds, and almost simultaneously, engines one and three flamed out, prompting the flight engineer to exclaim, "I don't believe itall four engines have failed!"[3]. ; Eric Moody pitched 4 2 / 3 innings in relief, but lost on an unearned run. The tags, bearing the campaign's logo, were worn as necklaces or bracelets and used to raise awareness of 10:10's work: the organisation aimed to persuade individuals, organizations and businesses to reduce their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.[11]. CAPT Eric "STIC" Thompson is from Las Cruces, New Mexico and is a 2000 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Something went wrong, please try again later. The crew decided to fly the ILS (Instrument Landing System); however, the glide slope (vertical guidance) system was inoperative, so they were forced to fly with only the localizer (lateral guidance) as the first officer monitored the airport's DME (Distance Measuring Equipment). Born in Savannah, Ga and growing up in Hinesville, I was always close to saltwater. A nearly identical incident occurred on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a Boeing 747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail due to compressor stall. The crew was about one minute away from having to make an emergency landing in an ocean with a 747 -- something no one had ever tried. The crew received various awards, including the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air and medals from the British Air Line Pilots Association. He received his doctorate in Social Psychology and Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Denver in 2007. Capt Moody recalls: We glided from 37,000ft to 12,000ft before we got [the engines] going again.. One of the highlights of this incredible story is also the cockpit announcement made by the 41-year-old Captain, Eric Moody, right after not only all the engines have failed, but the initial restart attempts have failed as well, and the plane has already . The same engine had failed twice on previous flights but restarted shortly after going out both times -- which, according to traditional aircraft maintenance guidelines, is totally just as good as actually working (you'll find out as this entry goes on that back then, Chinese airlines apparently just did not give a fuck). At this point, the falling aircraft had about 23 minutes of glide time until it hit the ocean. Host Scott Simon talks to the retired pilot about the current cloud of volcanic ash drifting across Europe, and how . here's Wikipedia's description of the incident: Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, The crew's intense focus on the problem (without false assurances that they could fix it), Concern for the well-being of the passengers (without being patronizing). He was drafted by the Rangers in the 24th round of the 1993 amateur draft. It was only after a Singapore Airlines 747 was forced to shut down three of its engines while flying through the same area nineteen days later (13 July) that Indonesian authorities closed the airspace permanently and rerouted airways to avoid the area; a watch was set up to monitor clouds of ash. It happens to span the Hudson River right across the spot where Sullenburger's plane was going to make its descent. 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