Text 7366, 137 rader
Skriven 2010-04-28 02:30:10 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
   Kommentar till text 7345 av John Guillory (1:396/60)
Ärende: Re: Airports
====================
JG> Hmmm, Imagine landing and hearing "Welcome to Toykeo!" and you saying
JG> "This flight was supposed to land in Paris!" ...
 
Ehr ... this has happened.
 
Very late in the 1990-ies there was a Northwest DC10 en-route from Detroit to
Frankfurt. In the flightplan as alternate airport Brussels was declared.
 
After the uneventful oceanic crossing they called Shanwick and said
"Northwest32, destination Frankfurt, alternate Brussels". And the controller
keyed-in "Destination Brussels, alternate Frankfurt".
 
Now you have no idea what kind of repercussions that has. When I flew along in
the cockpit of a KL 747 to Los Angeles even after the oceanic crossing the
plane largely executed a computer program and only 20 minutes after crossing
Las Vegas did the pilots kick-in. Good ol' navigation? Nope ... the computer
does it for them.
 
So with that error typed-in at Shanwick, there was a message that automatically
appeared at arrival monitors in Frankfurt saying "Diverted to Brussels". And in
Brussels suddenly a NW32 popped-up coming from Detroit. Nobody noticed, nobody
expected a Northwest DC10 in Brussels ... Northwest does not fly there.
 
KL-arrivals, who handle Northwest everywhere saw it and they laughed it away as
an error ... they only dealt with 50-seat Fokker-50's. Not DC10s.
 
So the flight continued on its regular corridor and while over London the air
traffic controllers noticed a DC10 en-route to ... Brussels ... and instructed
to descend to 20,000ft.
 
Way up in the clouds in the dark of a 6am winter the flightcrew had no visual
reference and DC10s had an analog-cockpit, no screens, no GPS so the pilots
fully relied on instructions from controllers. There's no navigation being done
because the system does it for you.
 
Well, you already know where we're heading ... "Wow", the pilots figured "that
was a quick crossing" ... a full hour ahead of schedule. It sometimes happens.
And they were told to contact arrivals on such and such frequency. The arrival
frequency of Frankfurt is the same as Brussels.
 
They were instructed to line-up for runway 25L and catch the ILS (Instrument
Landing System) for a CATIII landing. [CATIII is extreme bad visibility, pilots
see the runway only at the last moment but everything is automatic anyway]
 
Frankfurt has parallel runways 25L and 25R ... you guessed it, Brussels has
parallel runways 25L and 25R too. Both have identical ILS-frequencies.
 
The pilots looked at their charts for Frankfurt and, yup, there's a 25L with
that frequency. They keyed it all in in the flight computer and watched the
scenery.
 
The plane came-out of the clouds touched the runway, auto-thrustreversed and
braked. They took the assigned exit and arrivals said "Welcome to Brussels
Northwest" ... and then the 3 up front started sweating.
 
The lead flightattendant entered the cockpit and said "We're not in Frankfurt,
we're in Brussels, we all saw it on the flight tracker" ... so the passengers
saw it, the flight-attendants knew it, but nobody alerted the cockpit ... you
know ... "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck",
meaning everybody assumed the pilots knew what they were doing.
 
This is unfortunately not the end of the story but the beginning because the
plane simply could not take-off again and continue to Frankfurt. It had to go
to its assigned gate.
 
At that gate the engines were shut and nobody was there. Arrivals called KLM to
tell 'm they had a DC10 waiting but they figured it was a joke.
 
Eventually after 15-20 minutes someone called them and said ... "there really
is a Northwest DC10 sitting there", so they ran to the gate, operated the
jetway to the plane's door, opened it and inside the revolution had already
started. Passengers were ready to assault the cockpit.
 
What was the situation?
 
1) Several people needing connections in Frankfurt which were going to be
foiled
 
2) Prior to being able to take-off again for Frankfurt, a new flight-plan
needed to be made and fuel taken on as what was still on board was not enough
according ICAO-procedures.
 
3) When that was done the crew exceeded their maximum allowed flying time and
would not get clearance to take-off.
 
So, a relief-crew needed to be flown-in from Frankfurt, but the first 2
Lufthansa-flights were full and a crew could only be expected after noon. So
the flight-engineer called Sabena-technics to fix something with an engine.
 
People were allowed to deplane and given some vouchers. When it became obvious
the waittime would be extended, the passengers were taken to the Sheraton hotel
for lunch. In the meantime the relief crew arrived and they went to work.
Pretty soon they were able to get a departure-slot and called the passengers
back ... whom were waiting for the ordered food. The prospect of departing to
Frankfurt was a goodone and they all came ... without their ordered meal.
 
The plane was boarded, doors shut, engines started and the DC10 taxied away to
the departure runway 25R.
 
When it was in the #1 spot for departure already on the runway, Sabena-technics
declared the plane not-airworthy because the flight-engineer had not signed-off
for the work. The plane had to return to the terminal. Engines shut, stair put
in place. The logbook was signed. And the doors closed-again.
 
By that time too much fuel had been burned on the ground and the fuel truck was
called again and the wait started for a new departure slot.
 
Eventually the plane was able to start the engines again, taxi away, take-off
and go to Frankfurt where it docked by about 7pm, 11hrs after scheduled arrival
time ...
 
... all because an operator in Shanwick had made a small error.
 
So, yes, these things do happen.
 
The cockpit-crew?
 
All 3 were suspended with pay while awaiting the inquiry.
 
The flight-engineer was aquitted, the first-officer (co-pilot) received 60 days
suspension wihtout pay. He now flies Boeing-767's for Delta.
 
The captain was fired and the next day hired by Federal Express.
 
In the US it also happens.
 
When the US Prez goes travelling, there's always a press-plane ahead of him
with people to cover the arrival etc.
 
So GWB flew to Dallas Fort-Worth ... the press were flown to Love Field. By
mistake. The DC9 was not allowed to take-off anymore as the airspace around DFW
was closed because the President was on his way.
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 3.54
 * Origin: Many Glacier -- "The Lord of the Pings" (2:292/854)