Emirates airliner 'centimetres' from disaster - paper

Posted by: j Saturday, 30 May 2009 2:25 PM[UAE] - uae

As an active airline pilot, I find many of the comments on here extremely ill informed. That's somewhat understandable, given many peoples need to 'guess' what went wrong in order to re-assure themselves about flying. It's a highly complicated job, involving the management of expensive machinery, many people from many cultures, time pressures, and of course lives. Whatever the cause is found to be, the pilots did a superb job of getting an injured aircraft back on the ground with not even an injury. Comments like those from Marwa (regarding the aircraft 'diving' from the sky, then refusing to get on a subsequent flight, due to no 'proof' of it being another aircraft) show an astonishing ignorance!! Firstly, despite the movie industry's typical depiction, aircraft don't 'dive' from the sky after suffering an engine failure! They are designed, certified, and the crews thoroughly trained to fly with an engine inoperative. Not to mention that a professional aircrew would never jeopardize thier own lives, licence, or the lives of the passengers by accepting to fly an unsafe aircraft! We value our own lives as much as, or more than, the passengers - remember that our own self-preservation is a powerful driving force. Please keep in mind that there are hundreds of things that can go wrong on any flight. It's the professionalism of manufacturers, engineers, dispatchers, cabin crew, and pilots, that keep it such a safe form of transportation. Emirates crews are sourced from countries around the world, mainly western europe, the americas, and australia. They uphold the utmost highest standards and come to Emirates, each with thousands of hours of prior experience and training. Please bear all this in mind before jumping to conclusions!

Posted by: Vishal Tuesday, 21 April 2009 6:30 PM[UAE] - UAE

Sorry to say, but that's what it is....I've had better service experiences on Etihad and, most recently, BA. Of course no airline comes close to Gulf Air in terms of poor quality of service.

Posted by: Mike Friday, 17 April 2009 7:04 PM[UAE]

We were booked to Manila a couple of years back. Got to the check in line 3 hours before our flight. By the time we got near the counter, they announced that the counter was closed and we had to come back the next day and try to get the next day flight. Obviously the flight was over booked as there was still 45 minutes before the flight. Many people left. I and a couple of others started screaming. That's right, screaming! Long story short, free stay at the Meridien Airport, free meals, Free tickets for the three of us redeemable for a year, and a booked flight for the next day. But we still give EK a miss if we can. Qatar Air is my favorite by far.

Posted by: Abdul M. Ismail Tuesday, 14 April 2009 10:55 AM[UAE] - UK

If the Captain and First Officer resigned, then this is premature. They should have been grounded pending the result of the investigation. There are numerous factors that no one yet knows which could have led to the tail strike. Yet, the majority of critical comments here seem to come from arm chair pilots who have no idea about flying and aircraft engineering. The A340 should have taken off well before the point of "nose-up" so my guess (without having any facts) is the the engines weren't operating properly. The airspeed however was too high and the aircraft too far down the runway to abort the take-off so the only solution would be to attempt a steep climb in order to avoid the end-of-runway fence. If so, then tail strike or no tail strike, the pilots should be commended for their actions. We would have known by now if both Captain or First Officer were under the influence so that rules that out. We will have to wait and see. As a regular flyer, I'm very impressed with Emirates and I try not to fly with anyone else.

Posted by: Skyobserver Tuesday, 14 April 2009 10:30 AM[UAE] - UK

Sorry Marwa...Correction! The decision to return was made by the Skipper who knew the circumstances of the situation. If there was any risk then he would have made a divestion to the nearest available operational field (which might not have been DOH or DXB). The skipper has his own life to think of as well as the reposnsibility for the pax behind him. It is not a company decision to return to Dubai but the ultimate call of Captain of the flight. Whilst I have many axes to grind with EK, the decision of the Captain should not be confused with company policy. This is true for all Skippers in commercial aviation.