Richard Champion de Crespigny flew with the RAAF for 11 years, before flying Qantas jets for three and a half decades. In 2010, he famously helped save the lives of 469 passengers and crew when an engine exploded on the Airbus A380 he was in command of. I spoke to him on Friday.
Fitz: Richard, the news this week is that – as a cost-saving exercise – regulators and a number of airlines around the globe are pushing towards just one pilot in the cockpit. We’ll get to that. But first, tell me the story of flight QF32 from Singapore to Sydney on November 4, 2010, while we reflect on how you would have gone if you were alone. Please start in the traditional manner for all disasters, with “First, I heard a loud bang...”
Richard de Crespigny helped save the lives of 469 passengers and crew on board an Airbus A380.
RDC: First I heard two loud bangs. The first one was an engine surge, or backfire of Engine No.2. The second was the sound of the turbine exploding into three pieces that exited the engine at over two and a half times the speed of sound.
Fitz: Captain, my captain, I’m with you in the cockpit, and we’re in trouble. What’s the damage?
RDC: It’s like a cluster-bomb. Shrapnel has hit the fuselage in over 400 locations, with 200 impacts on the fuselage, 200 on the wing, even 20 to the top of the eight-story high tail fin. 650 wires are cut, and half the networks fail. Twenty one of the aircraft’s 22 systems are degraded.
Fitz: Captain, I wish to report that, to use the technical term, we are in deep shit! What now?
QF32’s crippled engine after touchdown in Singapore.Credit:AAP
RDC: Stay calm. When things go wrong unexpectedly, the fear response of “fight, flight or freeze” kicks in and...
Fitz: And I choose flight! Let’s keep this kite in the air!
One-pilot cockpits? Here’s what QF32 hero and ‘Sully’ Sullenberger think
Richard Champion de Crespigny flew with the RAAF for 11 years, before flying Qantas jets for three and a half decades. In 2010, he famously helped save the lives of 469 passengers and crew when an engine exploded on the Airbus A380 he was in command of. I spoke to him on Friday.
Fitz: Richard, the news this week is that – as a cost-saving exercise – regulators and a number of airlines around the globe are pushing towards just one pilot in the........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Yara Hawari
Patrick Gathara
Andrew Mitrovica
Marwan Bishara
Tafi Mhaka
Julie Bindel
Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi
Jan Egeland
Hipolitus Wangge
Fisayo Soyombo
