The aircraft was diverted to Jakarta in the hope that enough engines could be restarted to allow it to land there. Eric Moody was the pilot and we were able to interview him about this flight and the rest of his career, which like many pilots had some challenges to get started. The impact the dust was having on the aircraft itself was detailed by then Capt Moodys flight engineer. 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. 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). "He said, 'Ladies and gentlemen. One of the engines went down. Airmanship may sound old school but former British Airways captain Eric Moody argues it is just as important now as it was when he and his crew struggled to restart all 4 engines on his Boeing 747-200 in 1982.. 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. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Why did the weather radar not detect the ash cloud?? In front of them was the most intense display of St Elmo's fire that any of them had ever seen. Captain Eric Moody is an example of a pilot sounding cool under pressure. Nick Girdler . Amazingly, the plane cleared the bridge by less than 900 feet, which had to be a nice wake-up call to the drivers on the bridge who looked up to see this hulking plane suddenly blotting out the sun. Despite the lack of time, Moody made an announcement to the passengers that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[3]. Interview With Eric Moody. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. And even worse, the windshield was so fogged up that they had to rely on the lights on the tarmac they could only see through a small, clear part of the windshield. One of the passengers, Betty Tootell, wrote a book about the incident, All Four Engines Have Failed. But they also clogged up both engines, and the plane lost all power. If an exceptional speechwriter had spent a week composing the message, he or she couldn't have done better. Photograph: PA archive images All four engines on a Boeing 747 failed at 37,000ft after the plane flew through volcanic ash while passing over Jakarta on 24 . The BA flight has gone down in aviation history. Shortly thereafter, engine three restarted, allowing him to climb slowly. In the past 40 years, several jet-powered commercial airplanes have encountered clouds of volcanic ash and suffered damage as a result.. He was going to have to set the plane down, which meant finding something other than a runway. 3. 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. One of the passengers, Betty Tootell, wrote a book about the incident, All Four Engines Have Failed. All four engines have stopped. Assistant Professor of Biology. Now the story of the 'Gimli Glider' is poised to become a feature film on the silver screen. 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. I'm Captain Eric Moody, a native of coastal Georgia and a full time resident of Jekyll Island for over 25 years with 16 of those years has been spent as a fishing guide. A RETIRED Camberley pilot knows . A normal landing is at 140 knots, Flight 232 was coming in at 240 knots, which is less like landing and more like crashing at an angle. The passenger cabin began to smell of sulfur. On the evening of June 24, 1982, a British Airways Boeing 747-200 with 263 people on board, including 248 passengers and 15 crew members, took off from Kuala Lumpur (SZB), Malaysia. Pilot Alfred Haynes began to pull the throttle to idle, but there was another problem -- the damage to the plane had the throttle stuck on full power. After all four engines had ground to a halt, the flight engineer yelled, "I don't believe it, all four engines have failed! After the flight engineer tried and failed to revive the engine, the autopilot kicked in and tilted the plane 23 degrees to compensate for engine loss. He remained calm during an encounter with a plume of volcanic ash in 1982: "Ladies and . City of Edinburgh, later renamed City of Elgin, continued to fly for British Airways after the accident, before being sold to European Aviation Air Charter. Captain Eric Moody. On the way, the engines started clicking off again. It was at this moment the Captain, Eric Moody, announced over the intercom "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Less than a minute later, at 13:43 UTC (20:43 Jakarta time), engine two surged and flamed out. CAPT Eric "STIC" Thompson is from Las Cruces, New Mexico and is a 2000 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Incident []. But not first officer roger, his mask fell apart in his hand, captain moody now had a tough decision to make. In this case, all they had was the Hudson River. The crew frantically tried to restart the engines in mid-air. Moody swiftly decided to descend at 1,800 m per minute to an altitude where there was enough pressure in the outside atmosphere to breathe almost normally. Following the incident, the crew and passengers formed the Galunggung Gliding Club as a means to keep in contact. Just as the crew was realizing this meant sudden decompression, the floor of the cabin started to collapse into the cargo hold. I trust you are not in too much distress.' It was only after a nearby Garuda Indonesia flight relayed the message to Air Traffic Control that it was correctly understood. [13], The Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday featured Flight 009 in a 2007 episode titled "Falling From the Sky" which featured interviews with the flight crew and passengers, and a dramatization of the flight.[14]. He said: "Volcanic ash is a killer. Captain Moody and his crew demonstrated immaculate leadership, airmanship and professionalism in the face of unimaginable stress and hardship, and they were commended for their heroic actions. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of John Eric Henry Moody (Warrandyte, Victoria), who passed away on April 19, 2020, at the age of 96, leaving to mourn family and friends. It was, in Moody's words, "a bit like negotiating one's way up a badger's arse. This is Captain Eric Moody here. As they came in to land, the crew managed to get the landing gear down and announced to the passengers that they should brace for impact. Although there were guidelines for the water landing procedure, no one had ever tried it in a Boeing 747, nor has anyone since. She notes: "The 28th December 2006 marks the start of our 14th year of honeymoon, and on the 24th June 2007 many passengers and crew will no doubt gather to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our mid-air adventure. 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). 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. 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. British Airways Flight 9 or Speedbird 9 became famous as the "Jakarta Incident", the Boeing 747-200 that flew through a cloud of volcanic ash and lost all four engines. Despite the weather radar showing clear skies, the crew switched on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a precaution. He received his doctorate in Social Psychology and Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Denver in 2007. Times Internet Limited. Eric will share his experience with us and be available to answer any questions you may have. What makes this case different from any on the list is that there would be no limping back to the airport for a hard landing on the runway. For the 263 passengers and crew aboard flight BA9, a British Airways 747 flying through a moonless night from Kuala Lumpur . In 37 short, direct, and simple words, Captain Moody conveyed the following: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. 2. Captain Eric Moody addressed the passengers: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain . Partly because the event occurred at night, obscuring the cloud, the reason for the failure was not immediately apparent to the crew or air traffic control. The aircraft glided out of the ash cloud, and all engines were restarted (although one failed again soon after), allowing the aircraft to land safely at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta. Without engine thrust, a 747-200 has a glide ratio of approximately 15:1, meaning it can glide forward 15 kilometres for every kilometre it drops. At 13,500 feet (4,115 meters), the flight crew was finally able to get one engine restarted and soon after, a second. The engines spun back to life, one by one. He guided the plane to the ground, and gently landed 35 minutes after the windshield failure started the madness. He wrestled the big bastard back under control, the plane finally coming to a rest with two of the three landing gear sitting in the grass off the side of the pavement. They were out of thrust but the instruments still worked. It wasn't until later, when Capt Moody, his crew and the 247 passengers on board the flight, were safely back on the ground, that he discovered the cause of the narrowly averted catastrophe - volcanic ash. British Airways Boeing 747 flight BA 009, flown by Captain Eric Moody, lost thrust from all four engines at 37,000ft. "[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. All four engines have stopped. McCormick fought to level out the plane, and got the wheels to the pavement, only to see the plane go skidding wildly off the runway. See Also. 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. We love you. As the flight progressed, smoke began to accumulate in the passenger cabin of the aircraft; it was first assumed to be cigarette smoke. Capt Moody was piloting a 263-seater British Airways Boeing 747 flight from London to Auckland in June 1982 when he ran into an ash plume erupting from Mount Galunggung in Java, Indonesia. Without engine thrust, a 747-200 has a glide ratio of roughly 15:1, meaning it can glide forward 15 kilometres for every kilometre it drops. The aircraft flew into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung (approximately 180 kilometres (110 mi) south-east of Jakarta, Indonesia), resulting in the failure of all four engines. The incident featured in an episode of the Mayday documentary TV series Air Crash Investigation titled "Falling From the Sky". Captain Moody later said, The airplane seemed to kiss the earth and we were on the ground safely.. 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. As the ash entered the engines, it melted in the combustion chambers and adhered to the inside of the power plant. But it developed into something more than wed ever seen before.. 09 Nov 2017 at 5:00pm. It wasn't going to be easy. As the aircraft approached its target altitude, the St Elmo's fire effect on the windscreen returned. [4] At 13:44 UTC (20:44 Jakarta time), Greaves declared an emergency to the local air traffic control authority, stating that all four engines had failed. Right ahead of the plane was a little obstacle called the George Washington Bridge. It took several minutes to get emergency landing permission from an airport in Southampton, all the while with the pilot still outside the windshield from the knees up, being crushed against the plane at 500 miles per hour, suffering from frostbite and about to lose consciousness due to the thin air. ", "G-BDXH European Aircharter Boeing 747-200", Thunderbirds Indian Springs "Diamond Crash", British Army Gazelle friendly fire incident, Concesionaria de Lneas Areas Subvencionadas, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_Airways_Flight_009&oldid=1132068884, Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by engine failure, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by volcanic events, Aviation accidents and incidents in Indonesia, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from June 2019, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 03:13. 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. Casey Planespotting: https://www.youtube.com/user/transformereviewsCharlest103 Aviation Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/charlest103747 Picture: Richard . So now you're on an out of control bicycle, footless and hurtling downhill with no brakes. 161 likes. The chilling address delivered calmly by Capt. If landing an airliner on a river already sounds like trying to float a boat through an iceberg, well, the situation was actually worse than that. CAPT Thompson has over 2,500 flight hours and more than 500 carrier arrested landings. The flight crew immediately performed the engine shutdown drill, quickly cutting off fuel supply and arming the fire extinguishers. [1] Despite the weather radar showing clear skies, the crew switched on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a precaution. When all four engines on the Boeing 747 being flown by Captain Eric Moody shut down at 37,000ft, he hadn't a clue why. 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. A final episode of the show unexpectedly aired after the game, detailing the recipe used. $\begingroup$ The captain was channeling Eric Moody, captain of BA009, a 747 which had lost all 4 engines after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. It was only after a nearby Garuda Indonesia flight relayed the message to Air Traffic Control that it was correctly understood. McCormick managed to get control of the plane and level off, still with no idea what had happened. 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. [9] G-BDXH's engineless flight entered the Guinness Book of Records as the longest glide in a non-purpose-built aircraft. Eric Moody was born in Greenville, SC. The flight crew quickly determined that the aircraft was capable of gliding for 23 minutes and covering 91 nautical miles (169km) from its flight level of 37,000 feet (11,000m). 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. Captain Eric Moody of British Airways Flight 9 managed to take this to ridiculous levels (probably helped by the good old Stiff Upper Lip), announcing this to his passengers; "Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. Downhill with no brakes managed to get them going again something more than wed ever seen before.. 09 2017. Roger, his mask fell apart in his hand, captain Moody now had tough. 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