BA777 Accident Final Report

I finally got to read the report. It makes for some interesting reading.

From the gist of what I have read - despite the knowledge of the dangers of ice in fuel tanks - it had not been deemed enough of a risk for anyone to worry about. Guess again.

I believe that this shows that just about any entity can be subject to a failure in their system of quality. What needs to be done now is to pay close attention to the accident recommendations and swift implementation.

The risk of the issue makes the possibility of a repeat accident greater than was previously imagined. Purity of the fuel and processes for dealing with it should be a hot topic of debate.

With the number of accidents continuing to fall but the resulting survivability of any accident not really changing - one can only imagine the horror of a fully loaded widebody coming down in a residential area close to an airport. In Africa this has actually happened. The last time an aircraft was destroyed in an accident at LHR was G-ARWE the B707 in April 1986 with 5 Fatalities.

We cannot let our vigilance drop

Cheers