Nickodell
Donation Time
Rick: We were just discussing the fatal mental compulsion to land when a more prudent action would be to do a go-around, or divert to a more suitable landing area.
Seems that is what caused the Polish airliner crash. What is a fact is that the airfield they were approaching, Smolensk, repeatedly advised the captain that they were under thick fog and had severely limited visibility, that the flight should divert to a different airport, such as Moscow, and they had no precision radar landing system, so the flight would essentially be landing VFR with no exact info. to tell if they were above or below the glideslope. Nevertheless, the captain elected to continue the approach, misjudged and hit trees short of the runway.
What is speculation, but seems to have much credibility, is that the Polish President quite likely pressured the captain to land against his better judgement. A couple of years before, the same President pressured the same captain to land in rather similar circumstances at a different airfield, and when he (capt.) refused, and diverted to a more suitable airport, the Pres. gave him hell, with the result that the captain suffered from depression.
The smart money is on the Pres. wanting to land at the original airfield, Smolensk, which was close to the Katyn Forest site where they would be attending a ceremony for the 20,000 Polish officers murdered by Stalin, and not at a distant one, and the captain complied rather than have his ass chewed out again. His mental state would have affected his judgement, too.
Landing short is (IIRC) the #1 cause of airliner crashes. "Get There-itis" has claimed many lives, both general aviation and airline.
This "disease" was the cause of one of the only three times I was ever really scared in my RAF career. The captain was a "press-on" type, and decided to land at the scheduled station, RAF Coningsby, even though the field's ILS was on the blink, instead of diverting to one of the alternates. True, it was clear, but at night. On the approach the First Officer was muttering about something, but at about the right time said "I can see the flarepath, about 30 degrees to starboard" Captain dutifully banked right, said "OK, I've got it now," and started to let down. Since in the rear of the cabin you couldn't see out in front, this was always a "pucker time" ("biting buttons off the seat," in RAF lingo) until the mainwheels contact terra firma.
About fifteen seconds later the engines suddenly spooled up, the Captain yelled "hold the throttle levers full thrust!" and up we went again. The "flarepath" was the streetlights of the town of Bourne, Lincolnshire, about 12 miles from the airfield and almost in a direct line. Coningsby approach control queried "934, what are your intentions?" Long story short, we all kept quiet about it, and the Captain probably made up some BS to explain the strange roller coaster approach they saw on radar.
(Note: There was a spate of airliners landing at RAF Northolt, instead of Heathrow, in the 1950s, as it was in direct line for the latter's main runway. In the end they painted a huge N on top of a gasholder next to Northolt airfield, and this eliminated the problem except for the occasional foreign airliner, until Northolt finally became an industrial estate. It still happens occasionally in the US as well as in other countries, but I don't think anyone ever landed in a town's main street, although one came close to doing so in Kingston, Jamaica in 1955).
Seems that is what caused the Polish airliner crash. What is a fact is that the airfield they were approaching, Smolensk, repeatedly advised the captain that they were under thick fog and had severely limited visibility, that the flight should divert to a different airport, such as Moscow, and they had no precision radar landing system, so the flight would essentially be landing VFR with no exact info. to tell if they were above or below the glideslope. Nevertheless, the captain elected to continue the approach, misjudged and hit trees short of the runway.
What is speculation, but seems to have much credibility, is that the Polish President quite likely pressured the captain to land against his better judgement. A couple of years before, the same President pressured the same captain to land in rather similar circumstances at a different airfield, and when he (capt.) refused, and diverted to a more suitable airport, the Pres. gave him hell, with the result that the captain suffered from depression.
The smart money is on the Pres. wanting to land at the original airfield, Smolensk, which was close to the Katyn Forest site where they would be attending a ceremony for the 20,000 Polish officers murdered by Stalin, and not at a distant one, and the captain complied rather than have his ass chewed out again. His mental state would have affected his judgement, too.
Landing short is (IIRC) the #1 cause of airliner crashes. "Get There-itis" has claimed many lives, both general aviation and airline.
This "disease" was the cause of one of the only three times I was ever really scared in my RAF career. The captain was a "press-on" type, and decided to land at the scheduled station, RAF Coningsby, even though the field's ILS was on the blink, instead of diverting to one of the alternates. True, it was clear, but at night. On the approach the First Officer was muttering about something, but at about the right time said "I can see the flarepath, about 30 degrees to starboard" Captain dutifully banked right, said "OK, I've got it now," and started to let down. Since in the rear of the cabin you couldn't see out in front, this was always a "pucker time" ("biting buttons off the seat," in RAF lingo) until the mainwheels contact terra firma.
About fifteen seconds later the engines suddenly spooled up, the Captain yelled "hold the throttle levers full thrust!" and up we went again. The "flarepath" was the streetlights of the town of Bourne, Lincolnshire, about 12 miles from the airfield and almost in a direct line. Coningsby approach control queried "934, what are your intentions?" Long story short, we all kept quiet about it, and the Captain probably made up some BS to explain the strange roller coaster approach they saw on radar.
(Note: There was a spate of airliners landing at RAF Northolt, instead of Heathrow, in the 1950s, as it was in direct line for the latter's main runway. In the end they painted a huge N on top of a gasholder next to Northolt airfield, and this eliminated the problem except for the occasional foreign airliner, until Northolt finally became an industrial estate. It still happens occasionally in the US as well as in other countries, but I don't think anyone ever landed in a town's main street, although one came close to doing so in Kingston, Jamaica in 1955).
