Crash Landing in London Heathrow | British Airways Flight 38

[@MoteofVolition]

The pilots did admirably considering how low the plane was. Thanks for covering this one! Your style and format is going from strength to strength :)

[@hayleyxyz]

Pretty much the definition of a freak accident - nobody could've predicted or prevented it. Good job on the pilots thinking quick and increasing the glide at such a low altitude and little time to analyse the situation

[@CallumAtwal]

BA treated these pilots so badly afterwards despite them being the hero's of this story. The British press also berated the captain for letting the First Officer fly the plane in the last moments, even though it was the captain's decision to bring the flaps up one notch

[@bernardhusbands544]

Typically, the ignorant press reinforce the general public's belief that first officers are not 'proper' pilots.

[@hayleyxyz]

Unsurprising really. The press in this country is awful; they write stories that makes their readership as angry as possible. The Daily Mail for example has cultivated many witch-hunts against people who have later been exonorated.

[@Nabeelco]

Wow, I had no idea the pilot was treated so badly before the report even came out. That's disgraceful.

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

Good ole corporate aviation

[@scaramonga]

Most are, and in this profession, you are 'guilty' until proven 'innocent', unfortunately, with most not here to defend themselves ;)

[@brotakig1531]

@@scaramonga Isn't that the sad truth, it's all in personality as well. Had I been the Captain, and I knew I did everything to the best of my ability I would not give to craps what someone else thought, but I know not everyone can have thick skin and it must be hard when your colleagues blame you.

[@scaramonga]

@@brotakig1531 Yes indeed. One only has to turn back to 'Sully', the 'Miracle on the Hudson' incident, where outstanding professionalism and great pilots, teamwork, and just utter brilliance, and luck, shows the metal of these men and women who fly us all every day, and despite said incident, they were determined to lay the blame @ Sully & co-pilot, before one knew the facts. It is a sad truth, but also a result of big corporations not wanting to lose big bucks, and are prepared for even the most skilled to take the rap in doing so, no matter what the outcome may be. Now if one ain't here, one cant defend oneself, and this makes it a lot easier to blame those who ain't ;)

[@V1RT8]

Pilots are ALWAYS called guilty of something, in order clear or at least to minimize the faults of the manufacturers, the airlines and aviation authorities.

[@CAROLUSPRIMA]

That’s the thing that differentiates this channel: Despite how much one knows about an incident he is likely to learn something new. Although I’m sure that many reading this were familiar with the problems this captain encountered I for one was unaware of this. Glad it worked out for him.

[@sdaiwepm]

Thank you for including the final details about the captain.

[@grahamstevenson1740]

A minor correction. The heat exchanger design was by Rolls-Royce. They modified it. IIRC, there were actually 2 heat exchangers per engine, a high pressure and low pressure. In the R-R design the slushy fuel hit the low pressure FOHE first and clogged it. In other engine fits the fuel went first through a high pressure FOHE so the problem was overcome due to fuel pressure.

[@AirspaceVideos]

Correct, I think. Thanks!

[@nyanbinary1717]

I normally don’t trust videos published on April 1st, so it was refreshing to remember this one was real. 😂

[@tessiepinkman]

You've done an outstanding job on this, and all of your other videos. You, Mentour Pilot (who's Swedish like me), Disaster Breakdown and a few more channels are my favourites when it comes to Aviation channels. You all do amazing work. I always wanted to become a pilot, but a few terrible things happened to me by *horrible* men that made me struggle with my psyche, and that pretty much made me realize that my dream was dead. But I still am as big an Aviation geek as ever! So thank you for your vid's! I love them!

[@brotakig1531]

I always wanted to be a Pilot until I realized how bad vertigo can be on a Pilot that didn't know they had it. I know I have it so best bet is to not put people in that situation. but I watch the same channels as you, these guys really are informative and it makes me love aviation even more.

[@Bretil]

Care to share those "other channels"?

[@californiahiker9616]

I find it very distressing when a pilot is being blamed for a mishap without there being sufficient supporting evidence. I watch and read plenty of crime type shows and books, mysteries, etc. Often times the lead detective reminds his team to “go where the evidence leads us”, or he reminds the press that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Yet too many cases are tried in the press before they ever get to court. Sheer speculation has cost many people their livelihood, and sometimes their lives. We really need to guard against making snap judgements! All things considered, I’m glad this ended well. Great job on the narrative and the graphics! Mach weiter so!

[@AirspaceVideos]

Thank you! Yes, it's sad. Every pilot who finds himself in a crash but survives is grounded (see sully for example). Most really wait anxiously for the final report to tell the world that they did the best they could. In the meantime, the aircraft manufacturer and the airline often try to blame the pilot, because it's the easy way out for them. To me, it sounds like "guilty until proven otherwise" - which is quite terrible.

[@peteconrad2077]

He wasn’t blamed.

[@dknowles60]

You know things like that is the reason the Us had 7/4/1776

[@domt6802]

@@dknowles60 what? same thing happened to sully (from the us) so its not a British thing

[@aaronlopez3585]

The old saying is still true, any landing you can walk away from or 'hobble' is a good landing. Thank you for the incident/accident review.

[@Anthony-gq7dk]

Super video, so well explained in such a short space and with no filler or padding. The crew saved many lives, on board as well as those on the ground. They saved the insurance companies many millions if not a billion in compensation as well as loss of reputation for BA. The time frame they had for reactions and quick thinking would test even the best and most experienced pilots. The Swiss cheese effect made for a perfect storm but was trumped by great airmanship. Keep making these great videos.

[@davidclement7537]

Thank you from South Africa, great video, subscribed 👍

[@andrewpinner3181]

Thanks again Airspace, l always enjoy your channel.

[@slypear]

Thank you for this well done breakdown, especially in light of the numerous other accounts of this incident that I've seen. Living in Beijing now - as then - I shudder to think how this flight could have been a tragedy for many I know here. As others have commented, your mention of the captain's absolvement is truly appreciated. (Love your channel, BTW)

[@apackwestbound5946]

Another exceptional production/reproduction. You are becoming the standard that aviation channels should be compared to-bravo!

[@AirspaceVideos]

thank you!

[@RealScarKnight]

The pilots did a remarkable job and sometimes mistakes happen as we are humans and in this kind of situation it’s common for a human being to get a little tense

[@selinalavanya9556]

Love your videos, captain!!

[@PavlosPapageorgiou]

Great video and beautiful visuals!

[@scofab]

Well done once again, thank you.

[@gerardleahy6946]

I had heard that Capt Burkhill had difficulty getting a new job. I am happy that it worked out well for him and his name was cleared

[@crashtestrc4446]

Seen this accident covered by many channels but still interesting and bravo very well made video

[@mikethecabbie8476]

At the time, a friend of mine was a senior manager within the engineering teams of British Airways at Heathrow. Naturally, he and I discussed it after church the following Sunday; he said he'd seen the data transmitted from the plane - and it was obvious to him that there was ice in the fuel pipes to cause a blockage. Now we know how it got there...

[@bigdmac33]

Excellent presentation - clear, precise information.

[@euancheyne6012]

The best aviation content 👏👏👏

[@deino117]

Great video!

[@barrydysert2974]

Excellent. Thank you !:-) 🙏

[@rationalbacon5872]

Funny you mention it, but I did find myself pushing my vehicle accelerator mid drive and getting very low power from it. Turns out, the air intake hose had separated from the intercooler. Thankfully I was safely on the ground already.

[@AirspaceVideos]

huh, see! :)

[@EinkOLED]

Like driving down a hill at idle to trying not to annoy the neighbours, and then releasing you're unable to accelerate when the hill levels out.

[@domt6802]

so why did the first officer land not the captain?

[@Dracogame]

5:45 lmao that airbus soul burning inside you

[@thatguyalex2835]

I like both planes roughly equally, but Airbus is a bit better IMO, since they don't put random parts inside the fuel tanks, and didn't make the 737 Max. Airbus > Boeing

[@slypear]

@@thatguyalex2835 😅

[@pissant145]

I'm angry with BA how they treated the Captain. British press is also completely vile and disgusting. Those two pilots made an astounding effort to save hundreds of lives by their excellent teamwork, where they trusted eachothers competence. May they always be remembered as heroes!

[@Relkond]

I can understand why the pilot was criticized following the crash… he rode a “perfectly good” plane into the ground - the plane had nothing wrong with it… and the NTSB took 2 years to release their report. That’s a long time to hang onto a pilot that crashed a good plane. Not the pilot’s fault at all, but it took years for the report stating ‘not pilot error’.

[@peteconrad2077]

That’s absolute nonsense. They had a fault that stopped them getting approach thrust. The pilots were in no way at fault. You’re just trolling because you little better to do.

[@Relkond]

@@peteconrad2077 if you’re hunting for trolls, try a mirror. The crash was January 2008, the NTSB report came out in Feb 2010. In Feb 2008, mechanical defects and bird ingestion were ruled out, as was fuel contamination. By May, they’d ruled out further things. Late 2008 had the first of 2 similar incidents, but it took months to link it and even when it happened it was too late to save the pilot from rumors. By May 2008, one of the facts supporting those rumors is ‘there was nothing wrong with the plane’. He flew a “good plane” into the ground… “must be pilot error,” even if they can’t point to the mistake he made. I’m not saying it’s proper, just saying it’s how people are, especially in groups. It’s not nice, it’s not right, but it’s people being people. There is a book out there - ‘Thirty Seconds to Impact’ written by the pilot, where he speaks of how British Airways treated him after the accident. Might be worth a read. Might not - trolls arn’t big on understanding subtlety.

[@peteconrad2077]

@@Relkond I’ve read it and I know the pilot personally. He was never blamed for it. Troll on.

[@Relkond]

@@peteconrad2077 So he wasn’t pensively waiting for the investigators to find the fault that crashed the plane? And he had no issues with BA? Huh.

[@peteconrad2077]

@@Relkond that’s not what I said, troll.

[@CallumAtwal]

The fuel heat exchanger surface modification was actually by making the pipes different sizes such that the ice never blocks the whole surface

[@AirspaceVideos]

oh really? Can I look that up somewhere? Never heard about that

[@CallumAtwal]

@@AirspaceVideos my apologies, it's actually the other way round! I had in my mind a picture of an animation of the pipe's being different sizes. But nope, they made the pipes flush with the top surface so ice can't adhere to anything (which makes much more sense). I believe you covered that in a video a while ago!

[@PrincessPeaFeet]

I was a cabin crew member for 9 years with British Airways and their bullying culture is well known within its ranks. Disgusting behaviour towards a pilot who was made a scapegoat instead of a hero.

[@phileasschulhof3159]

I liked the remake, it shows how far you've come! Keep them coming :) Poor captain tho... from the outside it feels disgraceful to judge a pilot this hard even before the final report has been published...

[@AirspaceVideos]

Thank you :) Yes indeed, it always seems like "guilty until proven otherwise" to me...

[@rilmar2137]

No, the fuel lines are not a good place to store your slushie

[@TugAndThugComputing]

I've seen an array of emergency landings and emergencies at LHR over the past few years now. Imagine seeing this today though!

[@tobiasschmalzer4417]

What did you mean when you said "but on really cold winter flights or flights at high altitude near the equator, sometimes a descent to a lower altitude with warmer air is necessary" (1:35)? Why is the outside temperature at cruising altitude lower when near the equator?

[@AirspaceVideos]

It's been a while since I had meteo class, but I'll try: Temperature falls quite linearly as a relation to feets of altitude. The higher you go, the colder it gets. That holds true until your hit the tropopause, where the temperature will no longer fall but remain constant until you hit the next layer above (stratosphere I believe). At the equator, the tropopause can be as high as 60'000ft, as opposed to only 20'000ft at the poles. This is due to multiple reasons: The equator is warmer, and earth is wider here, so the force of gravity is less here. The centrifugal force caused by earth's rotation also helps to "stretch the atmosphere" to higher altitudes. So: Higher tropopause = temperature can go lower because you can go higher, and for every 1000ft you climb, the colder it gets. If someone with a meteorology degree wants to correct mey feel free 😄

[@tobiasschmalzer4417]

@@AirspaceVideos wow that's fascinating! I appreciate the detailed answer by the way:)

[@thatguyalex2835]

@@tobiasschmalzer4417 Yep, I was gonna say the same thing. At temperate latitudes (45 deg N, or 45 deg S), the stratosphere begins at ~36,000 ft, so the temperature gets down to -70 F, and no colder. For equatorial latitudes, if the plane has a maximum cruising altitude of 41,000 ft, the temperature can dip below -85 F. This also depends on the air currents, cos temperature can drop below -90 F in certain instances.

[@cassandrakarpinski9416]

Ahhhh icing. One of aviation's biggest enemies.

[@flyingcat8160]

Is it possible to find the outro music? It's just so good that I want to search for it haha. Great video as always, short and full of information.

[@AirspaceVideos]

It's called "There's something in the air" (how fitting) by Michael Rothery. I use it off epidemicsound. And - thanks :)

[@takers786]

poor pilot, those spreading rumours should be ashamed

[@capitanar8362]

I can see the problem at 1:46 when they fly with apu on and the engine off.

[@AirspaceVideos]

yeah that's a weird bug by the fllight sim 😄

[@capitanar8362]

Thanks for the video Airspace ,you did such a great job .

[@UV0023]

Some conspiracy theorists say that the real reason is that they ran out of fuel, they didn't want to declare a low fuel emergency in order not to get caught that they missed up fuel calculations & so they were hopping that the airplane would reach the airport and the stand and it'll all go unnoticed I don't subscribe to that theory, but I'd like to get some opinions of its merits

[@AirspaceVideos]

This is easily disproven - the fuel was still in the tanks when investigators arrived.

[@peteconrad2077]

It’s absolute nonsense. The investigation would have easily uncovered this.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

They went into the hold for ten minutes, why would you hold if you didn’t have enough fuel?

[@bigdmac33]

It seems to be an English trait that when someone like Burkhill, for example, saves lives or does other heroic or beneficial things they get punished for doing good.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

Despite the technical marvel that is a 777 - and the intricacies of what caused this accident - by far the most interesting thing about it is how ready BA was to flip off one of it's own Captains. How terribly - and typically - corporate and, I regret to say, terribly and typically English. We are a nation who spent most of the 14th and 15th centuries smashing the French to bits - on their home turf - and now we're a craven, cowardly bunch of risk averse bully boys who can talk the talk but who definitely no longer walk the walk..... I was embarrassed watching Boris' speech in Ukraine earlier today. He's no Churchill that's for sure. Ughhhhh, this story makes me puke.

[@Jawst]

5:44 😂🙉 I do hope you come back to making videos in the future❤

[@mozsab]

Ahhh this seemed familiar!

[@wassollderscheiss33]

I already knew this story from another channel. There they added that the plane has some switch in the cockpit, maybe called "ideal glide" or something similar. Had it been pressed, the plane would have made it to the runway. To me as a layman (I have a paragliding license, though ;-) ) that sounds like a button configuring the plane for the longest possible glide. Ever since I heard about it, I wonder if that switch is exactly for the circumstances the plane was in or if it's used for something different. Maybe you can clear that up?

[@AirspaceVideos]

Hmm I am no boeing pilot, but I've never heard of such a switch. I really can't think of what they could have meant, sorry!

[@wassollderscheiss33]

@@AirspaceVideos Thank you anyway 😊 Should I come across that info again, I'll write it here.

[@peteconrad2077]

I haven’t seen that. I have access to the FCOM and there’s nothing like it mentioned.

[@pissant145]

@@peteconrad2077 Is is possible to ping Mentour Pilot in this thread? He flies the 737 so he should know?

[@peteconrad2077]

@@pissant145 I have a friend who’s a 777 skipper. I’ll ask him and get back to you.

[@barrysteven5964]

I'm not sure if Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport anymore. I think it's been overtaken by a few others. In fact for 2021 wiki has it down in 8th place.

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

I think this accident is the most talked about after the missing malaysian.

[@minxythemerciless]

6:25 ice couldn't form at +5C The number should probably be -5C

[@Exotic4M3]

1 minutes ago? say no more

[@5thdawg917]

I live in London. How comes I never heard of this till now..

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

It was all over the TV and news papers

[@fluffy-fluffy5996]

As I knew of the crash before, I was more surprised the flight to Beijing from Amsterdam would be at least an hour short, barely 6h-6,5h. Makes it much more attractive to actually do go to China someday or rather Việt Nam, a few hours more. Flying to Beijing is actually quite shorter than Orlando… never knew that!

[@patagard8253]

Glad to hear the captain was exonerated!!!

[@russellnixon9981]

They were lucky to make the air field and not brake up on landing.

[@pibbles-a-plenty1105]

The hell with the career altering politics. I want to know why only British Airways had the ice build up problem on their 777's.

[@dknowles60]

because Rolls Royce is not a good jet engine

[@SimonWallwork]

If this had happened in 1998, before all this 'stabilised approach' stuff came in, they would have had a few knots up their sleeves, and might have made the runway.

[@Random0890_]

Music: Epidemic Sounds Wow so helpful

[@PavlosPapageorgiou]

Fine every passenger who takes luggage out £10,000

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

Why? Haven’t they already been through enough?

[@feelincrispy7053]

Good video but I’d try and steer clear of stories already done from mentor pilot and others.. being that all the major air crash channels have done the story already it kinda wrecks the story forming. Put your effort into trying to find obscure stories. They don’t even need to be major accidents. I think all of us appreciate any aircraft problem story no matter the craaazy reasoning. Just an opinion, but none the less keep up the good work

[@DsYkX]

It's gaming luck but on a whole new level. A lot of things were done well, it is a really really stressful moment, so I get why a few things were done incorrectly. In a perfect world, the pilots would be able to touchdown just before the runway threshold, and they should have redirected. I believe it's possible for this to end differently, but highly unlikely. Who in the right mind would climb back up an emergency slide for a SUITCASE.

[@robert_costello]

In your closing statement, you said that he could’ve done more and shouldn’t have handed the controls to his copilot. I couldn’t agree more. That’s when his experience should have come into play. That’s when he should have told his first officer to handle the clerical work, radio, and what not. I’m not saying it was his fault, but he should have taken charge of the situation and not rely on those with less experience. Especially, so many lives hanging in the balance.

[@grahamstevenson1740]

Au contraire mon ami ! The Captain let the FO (there are NO 'co-pilots' it's an old term and highly inaccurate) fly the plane i.e. AVIATE so that he could concentrate on whatever problem solving was possible. You don't concern yourself with clerical work when the plane's at risk !

[@robert_costello]

@@grahamstevenson1740 The guy sitting on the right is the copilot and the women serving food are stewardesses. So please, stop it!!!

[@grahamstevenson1740]

@@robert_costello Your thinking is about 30 years out of date. There are TWO PILOTS. The PILOT FLYING and The PILOT MONITORING Either the Captain OR the First Officer can do either task. They confer and decide who will do which task for the majority of whatever phase of flight. If either sees a problem of any description where they feel the need to assume command, they can do so and will say "MY PLANE" or similar. There is no longer the strict hierarchy of many decades ago. Stop referring to 'co-pilots'. THERE ARE NONE !

[@AirspaceVideos]

I said that was what the rumors stated. I do not agree with them at all.

[@robert_costello]

@@grahamstevenson1740 I noticed you didn’t see anything about the flight attendance 😂

[@OffendingTheOffendable]

We all know how great Boeing is🙄🙄🙄

[@tihspidtherekciltilc5469]

Much like court cases here in the US where political figures and media find someone guilty before a jury and the evidence finds them innocent with a miniscule amount, if any, positive coverage of the truth.

[@thedave1771]

“Europe’s busiest airport” - Not anymore!

[@AirspaceVideos]

true

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

It is now

[@thedave1771]

@@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549 Nope. Thanks to Brexit, quite possibly never again.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

Heathrow is currently the busiest airport in Europe

[@cycklist]

The UK does not have 'gas stations'. That's an American phrase.

[@claireobscur247]

*0:33**: "... Chanawree..." where the FUCK lays Chanawree?*

[@roamingirl]

He says “on” January… not “in” like he does in the other video where you left a similar comment. Can you not think of something original for each video? Or are you just unwilling to put that much effort forth to pick on people for absolutely no reason?

[@antonimalachowski5262]

Were they able to reproduce cavitation marks in the laboratory tests? Were these marks also found in the other boing 777 that suffered a similar issue? Finally, why was the RR oil/fuel heat exchanger blamed? Shouldn't the buildup of slush in the fuel lines be prevented at all costs? Usually I find the reports on Airspace crystal-clear and convincing. But in this one he seems to be repeating the official story rather than the usual logical flow from cause to effect, as if he was not entirely confident about the outcome of the investigation.

[@AirspaceVideos]

What cavitation marks are you referring to? This was an icing problem (which could be reporduced in a lab). Check the final report for more details.

[@antonimalachowski5262]

@@AirspaceVideos Hello Airspace! Thanks a lot for producing these high quality videos! I am referring to the cavitation marks on the high pressure pump. The investigators found that the high pressure pump has some unusual signs of wear, and they sent it to the manufacturer for consultation. They in turn concluded that this is caused by cavitation, suggesting that there was under-pressure in the HP pump. This would be caused by low pressure in the fuel upstream of the HP pump, and that's what brought them to the fuel oil heat exchanger. They found that icing can occur inside of the fuel line, and when released it would obstruct the FOHE resulting in insufficient flow to the HP pump. My question is: shouldn't build-up of ice inside the fuel line be considered the main issue here? Altering the FOHE seems to be kind of preventative measure rather than addressing the larger issue of ice build-up. I have also read a comment on another online forum suggesting that the ratio of water/fuel used in the lab tests did not reflect the concentration of water/fuel resulting in the accident. And also, they did not report whether cavitation was found in a similar case of reduced power in another aircraft which was travelling at unusually low temperatures. To me, this suggests that really just wanted to wrap up the investigation at that point, and pin the blame on some easy-to-fix system. But what do I know? :o)

[@AirspaceVideos]

Hmm a very interesting point there. Maybe fixing the FOHE was just the easiest thing to do? I really don't know, though!

[@simple_mind085]

Didn’t you already do a video on this

[@kjolm4864]

where UA232

[@WadersIsBack]

Sorry I took me long to realize but You already did this story before in the begin of this playlist.

[@slehar]

They should have raised the flaps sooner, and more than they did too late. The first few notches of flaps increase the lift, but the last notches increase the drag a lot.

[@peteconrad2077]

More than 25 would have taken them into the back of the curve. One stage was just right.

[@neetuverma4403]

chad

[@dknowles60]

When is Ba Going to do the right thing and buy back the Captans house he had to sell

[@paulkita]

Im just wondering why no one tried to increase the thrust. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason, but I can't think of one.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

They did

[@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714]

For the love of god dont use farenheit, cant watch podcast style because of it.

[@bradjohnson482]

Selfish people have to put their belongings before passenger safety by getting their carry-on. Make a law and charge those that break it. 5-10 years in prison outta put a damper on it happening as much as it does now. Somehow lock the overhead bins and make sure everyone knows it before the flight. Make everyone sign that they will abide by it when purchasing a ticket.

[@kickedinthecalfbyacow7549]

No one died

[@cycklist]

The UK does not have 'gas stations'. That's an American phrase.

[@californiahiker9616]

Yup. And I bet there are a lot more of us Americans watching this channel than people from the UK….. just because of statistical likelihood. Maybe we could call it “Tankstelle”. The word doesn’t mention gas, petrol, or Benzin. It’s just a fill ‘er up place! 😉