shrimp_42

ATC checking in. I was 4 months into my training at Heathrow as a young trainee ATC when I walked back upstairs from a break and was greeted to the sight of the BAW 777 coming over the fence and crashing. I probably had the best view of anyone of your near death experience! Up in the tower at first we thought the pilot was being a smart arse and trying to do a short landing to come off at one of the early exits, then it dawned on the controller in charge of that runway that shit was about to get real. There’s a good YouTube video of the ATC tape of my former colleague doing a fantastic job of co-ordinating the emergency. In it you will even hear the pilot calling the mayday and uses the incorrect call sign, he used the call sign BA use in their simulator when they PRACTICE emergencies, so they literally went into “auto pilot” mode.

It actually was a blessing that the plane landed short of the runway and in the grass, which was soft from the perpetual English rain, as it’s believed the runway surface may have caused a fire on impact. Having low amounts of jet fuel left in the tanks after a long flight also probably decreased the likelihood of fire.

10 years later, I have never seen anything like it in my career as an ATC, and I don’t wish to. The whole tower staff on duty were deeply affected for days afterwards but everyone involved from ATC, pilots, crew, ground staff, emergency services did an amazing job and turned a potential disaster into a Very British Plane Crash which caused some minor disruption, some grumbling about delays, and was mostly forgotten by the media in a matter of days.

How did it affect you afterwards? I see your sense of humour is still intact but did you have any PTSD or similar? I’m sure I’m not alone as an ATC/Pilot that has dreams about crashes or emergencies, some of which are based on my memories of your crash.

Thanks for doing this AMA

Ah it’s all good

I was so traumatised by what I saw on that fateful day, that I decided to move to Australia. I now get traumatised watching planes here but with nicer weather

Haha I have listened to it, he’s very good.

The distinct lack of fireball and carnage, while good for everyone involved, actually took the worlds attention away from the fact that a large passenger aircraft had crashed at one of the worlds busiest airports. Everyone remembers Sully and his amazing landing, and I think it’s a credit to pilots everywhere that these British Airways guys managed something as difficult as this, without any fatalities. The flying public really are in good hands. I believe some people hadn’t even realised they had been in a plane crash. Glad you can look back on it with dry humour, thanks again

https://youtu.be/qcGA3vRwzuE

That’s the feed from the ground radar with the tapes played at the same time. The controller did a fantastic job and he is one of the nicest guys around