Postby mcshame » Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:55 am
This story keeps coming to mind every time I think of this thread. I relate the two, you may not see the parallel but it is the way my mind works with risk and heroism/celebrity.
There was an A330 Air Transat aircraft flying to Europe and lost it's fuel due to a leak in a fuel line and had to make an emergency landing in the Azores Island well off of spain. The pilot was a hero, he landed an aircraft having lost both engines, publicity, the works. He was trained in emergency landings, certified to fly and perform the procedures.
What may not be common knowledge (but is published in the investigative report), that his actions contributed to the failure that caused the significant emergency situation of loosing both engines and having to land the plane, requiring the heroics. He lost an engine due to no fuel in the engine. He then followed procedure and open the valves to bypass the fuel from the good engine fuel tanks to the other to balance the fuel load. In doing so, all the remaining fuel was lost thru the leak and he now had no fuel and no engine power. He then heroically landed the aircraft saving all lives on board.
Subsequently, the procedures were revised to account for this failure mode however, it was commonly stated in the Flight Operations space that following procedures or instructions is not an excuse to disengage the brain. He never should had done anything to compromise the performance of that good engine as a one engine landing is routine while a no engine landing is very dangerous.
He is not a hero, a hero would have done the smart thing, landed the plane without incident and with few people even knowing of his heroism.
Am I risk adverse? Yes, I work in the airline industry and I'm an engineer by education. I take risks but I measure them. If it's personal risk, I will likely go for it. If it can affect another, I consider it carefully. That is why when I look at acts of ego that can affect others, I'm inclined to react in a certain way.
To be honest, the more I read about her story, she's likely just a freak of nature and gifted with good genes and excellent fitness. Most mortals wouldn't be capable of doing what she did and as my wife told me, her uterus would have most surely fallen out. Experiment of one I guess, but for me personally, I would never role the dice with a life to deliver. Women who deliver babies are heros without the fanfare except for those closest to them. Running a marathon prior to giving birth, a hero? Not for me, all she had to do was bring that baby in for a smooth landing.
Last edited by
mcshame on Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.