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Questions for the Captain! 👨✈️
🕑 Added 2023-06-28 23:24:41 +0000 UTCHi all. In a few days I'll be interviewing a very special guest for the channel. Kevin Sullivan was the captain of Qantas flight 72, an Airbus A330 which lost control over the Indian Ocean in 2008 as a result of a severe computer malfunction.
His actions on that day, and those of his crew, saved the lives of all 315 people.
Kevin has written a fantastic book about the incident, titled No Man's Land (which I'd encourage you to read if you're interested, it's both fascinating and harrowing).
He was a Top Gun pilot with the US Navy, before joining Qantas in the 1980s, where he flew the 747 and 767, and then the A330.
I'll be releasing an episode on this incident here on Patreon this weekend, and then doing a full interview with the captain, which I will upload in its entirety only on Patreon.
I'm really excited to get the opportunity to talk to Kevin, and I'd love to get your questions for him.
Fire away in the comments!
Wiki about the incident here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qantas_Flight_72
Comments
Good point. Perhaps there should be an “automation kill switch.”
Julie Peasley
When the first sudden pitch-down incident happened at 12:42, what did he initially think was wrong with the plane, like what was his first gut reaction of what was going on with it?
What changes should be made to these complex avionics/control systems to allow a human to “fly the plane” when everything goes wrong as this captain experienced? (Quick ways of reverting to unassisted flight laws? Other changes?)
