BA 777 LHR crash - Captain forced on welfare
 

This is both disturbing and sad;

Daily Mirror

Mail On Line News

http://peterburkill.com/blog.html 'Must Read'

http://peterburkill.com/upcoming-book.html

AAIB final report on accident.

Air Accidents Investigation: G-YMMM Report Sections

Unbelievable

Seems like he applied for voluntary furlough.

While BA's actions are typical for some airlines, could this Captain be the author of his own misfortune? There are options other than taking leave. The best action might be to either get back on the horse, or seek counseling for PTSD.

Sometimes a guy's just got to press on, even in the face of inaccurate or disparaging rumors.

I heard some of the vicious rumours, and refused to believe them. First, the tabloid media in UK frequently gets it wrong, but second, cabin staff are almost never reliable.

I really feel bad for this chap. Handed a really bad situation, I think it turned out better than it could have. Good luck, Peter.

Barring any underlying events that have not been made public, there are 777 jobs available in Asia.

I wish him and his family good luck during these hard times.

Most jobs here require an accident free history. Doesn't matter if it is your fault or not, generally any accident is a show stopper.

I've read report conclusions and still have some questions.

Was this:
A freak accident due to a unique set of circumstances
A design problem with the aircraft fuel systems
A crew issue for not monitoring fuel temps/airspeed/throttle positions?
All of the above?

If the captain "froze" (no pun intended) during the event, wouldn't the flap retraction and/or CVR disavow that rumor?

Thanks

So to use the other end of the spectrum.....you're saying that even Sully couldn't get a job in Asia because he was involved in a mishap and was in no way found to be causal? That is some pretty tough criteria.

USMCFLYR

afraid so. There's isn't any flexibily in Asia. The requirements are followed to the letter without any consideration for special circumstances.

That is not always the case, I had to ditch a C-172 back in 92 due to an oil pump failure and disclosed it along with the NTSB report when I applied here in Japan, they asked me about it briefly during the interview and that was it.


About this particular case there is a LOT more than we don't know about since you don't walk away from a captain's position at an airline like BA (one of the best salaries in the world) unless there is a lot more than just some people talking nonsense

USMCFLYR

Over the last seven months Peter Burkill has applied to the following airlines, in some cases as a first officer as well as a captain:

• Aerologic
• Air India
• Amiri
• Asiana
• Blink
• Emirates
• Eastern Airlines
• Etihad
• Korean
• Qatar
• Royal Brunei
• Turkish
• Vietnam

He is still looking for a job.

His applications generally seem to find favour at Chief Pilot level, but once passed higher up the chain, he is rarely called for interview.

The official reason given for his lack of a job offer varies from airline to airline, but the unofficial feedback is nearly always the same.

Exactly as Lost in Asia and Controlled Rest have said, being involved in any sort of serious incident is a show stopper in many parts of the world, particularly Asia and the Far East.


The Dominican

It certainly appears that there is a lot you don't know about this case, but, speaking as someone who does, may I suggest you confine your baseless and rather perjorative comments to topics about which you do know something?

Best Regards

Bellerophon

Does this mean that if a crew has a mishap, regardless of circumstances or severity, that they are fired?

USMCFLYR

I'm sorry you took my comments as being "perjorative" that is not certainty the way I meant them and I do feel bad for this captain because I don't think that he deserves the way that his career has turned out. My case is not unique, I have another good friend of mine that is employed as a 737 captain in China and also was involved in an accident (gear collapsed) some years ago. But you have to see this from an interviewers point of view, Why he left his job at BA? there is no apparent reason, no logical or apparent explanation, that is a red flag in an interviewers perspective and take a guess as to what he is going to do next? call BA and ask, you don't know what is BA saying when they call and inquire about this, wouldn't you call and ask if you were about to interview this individual? Like I said, there is more to this than only the accident history because there are people that have gotten jobs in Asia with accidents in their records.

" His applications generally seem to find favour at Chief Pilot level, but once passed higher up the chain, he is rarely called for interview."


You just gave a clue that supports my suspicions, he is being turned down at the HR level, not the operational side of things. My recommendation is that he try to make good with BA and find out what they are saying when this calls are coming in, I believe in my heart that this is what is trumping his career

There are certainly examples of this. The Emirates' Melbourne guys being asked to resign comes to mind. As does the expat Korean airlines captain many years ago. Whether or not this is the norm, I don't know. Fortunately there haven't been very many examples of contract/expat pilots having accidents or incidents.

Is that the crew that put in the wrong info and barely got off the ground?

USMCFLYR

Here's to hoping that all my flights will be free of mechanical failures... No matter how well you handle it, you may just be farked for life...
Really feel sorry for the guy, and I wonder what asses were handing out the rumors at the training sessions @ BA... tools

Yes, the crew in Melbourne never verified the numbers on the Performance page of the FMC.

As far as the BA captain's situation is concerned... there were probably other issues between him and the company that prompted is resignation/termination from BA which goes beyond the so-called co-ed party scandal.

What I'd like to know is why he gave a rats @#& about what the flight attendants had to say about it. I had a run in with one because I tried to stop them ruining perfectly good press coffee.

There is no doubt that he had all the backing in the world from his peers. . . right? Did ALPA back him? Why didn't he take leave instead of redundancy? Perhaps he'd had a mit full at BA, but it seams rather rash. Somebody, one of his friends perhaps, should have sat him down and told him to relax for a few months. BA would have to have given him extended leave after that nightmare, or one would have thought.

I find myself agreeing with my Dominican friend; his actions, and the reactions of the company, and can I assume the lack of reaction from ALPA, make no sense.

By the by, he could easily come to China, and I'm sure MU Cargo would be quite happy to have him (777's on the way). The hiring is very flight-ops centric here so he'd need only have good comments from pilot management. I'm assuming that after the Heathrow incident that would not be a problem.

If he's B744 qualified tell him to call GWL (somebody here appears to be pretty familiar with him). We're looking, guys are great, flyings great, pays pretty good really and Shanghai's a gas.

He still has to get by the Chinese DGCA.

Why doesent Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic offer Peter Burkill a job as he offered Sully after 1549? My heart goes out to this guy and his family...

I still dont really get why he felt he had to leave BA...