Well, I had not seen that video before, probably because I am on the other side of the pond. But after watching it, I did vaguely recall reading about that particular crash a long time ago. What triggered my memory was the graffiti scrawled on the tray table by the co-pilots.
Nigelb : the official report ( there was a very long public inquiry into this accident) found as a fact that the graffito had been there before the flight on that day and thus was not written by any of the pilots on that flight. Thus the "poisonous atmosphere" referred to in the clip was also found not to exist. The inquiry found that the proximate cause of this tragedy was in fact a cardiac bleed suffered by Captain Key at a crucial moment when he was accompanied only by very inexperienced co-pilots
Pilots learn an alot from other peoples mishaps and it is important that we continue to do so, but media hype serves no one but those with ghoulish tendancies.
As a direct result of the Staines accident, cockpit voice recorders became mandatory.
As many a pilot has said 'there but for the grace of god go I'.
I personally have tried things in the air that have killed others and having seen the results of their efforts, it stopped me from doing it again!
cstorey wrote:Nigelb : the official report ( there was a very long public inquiry into this accident) found as a fact that the graffito had been there before the flight on that day and thus was not written by any of the pilots on that flight. Thus the "poisonous atmosphere" referred to in the clip was also found not to exist. The inquiry found that the proximate cause of this tragedy was in fact a cardiac bleed suffered by Captain Key at a crucial moment when he was accompanied only by very inexperienced co-pilots
Thanks for setting me straight. Judging the cause of any accident is, I suppose, somewhat subjective and with the media propensity to "Hollywood" the story, I can understand the resulting distortion of the facts. In this case, i would lend far more credence to the official report than the story I read or the clip on YouTube.
As I said, I had read about that accident a long, long time ago and I can't even recall where I read it. Old age creeping up I guess. :-(