"It changed my life." That's what Captain Peter Burkill of British Airways Flight 38 said about the crash of his Boeing 777 in London on January 17, 2008. At four hundred feet on final approach into London Heathrow both of the 777's engines failed without warning or explanation. Listen to Captain Burkill's recount of the crash here. Due to Captain Burkill's proper management of the emergency, there were no fatalities.
Captain Burkill and his family suffered through a difficult year following the accident. Nasty rumors began to spread about Burkill's ineptitude as a captain, and how he "froze" on the flightdeck during the emergency. In fact, British Airways cabin crew trainers were propagating the insulting gossip and talking badly about Captain Burkill during recurrent training sessions. Not long after the accident, Burkill was shocked while cruising over the Atlantic when a couple of his flight attendants informed him of what was being said about him during their annual safety equipment training session. Negative media perceptions were formed of the captain, too.
What a shame. Captain Burkill did everything right, in my opinion. The entire emergency lasted less than one minute before impact. During that short time Burkill remained calm and did everything within his power to to manage the situation. He quickly troubleshot and tried to identify what may've caused a sudden loss of thrust on both engines simultaneously. When it was apparent power could not be restored and there was not enough time to continue further with that effort, Burkill made a smart split-second decision to shed drag by reducing flaps by five degrees. This action alone may have been the difference between life and death for passengers and people on the ground. Burkill was aware that reducing the flaps by five degrees would increase the glide range while not dangerously increasing stall speed. And within seconds before impact he made a mayday call to the tower so that firefighting and rescue equipment could be dispatched immediately.
Burkill may have been criticized for not taking aircraft control from his first officer, who was the pilot flying for the landing. Actually, I think that was one of the best decisions he made that day. Burkill knew his first officer was highly experienced in the 777, almost as experienced as he was. And Burkill knew that time was so limited before impact that he needed to have full, undistracted access to his captain's knowledge and wisdom. I think his decision to let his very capable first officer continue flying was a fine display of crew resource management (CRM). Had he taken the controls so low with so little time, Burkill may not have thought to partially raise the flaps and the accident could've ended in tragedy.
In my opinion, Captain Burkill's handling of that unprecedented and very challenging emergency was a fine display of airmanship. The man deserves respect and recognition for a job well done. Many people could've died that day, but everyone survived. It disappoints me how disrespectfully Captain Burkill was treated after the accident. I personally would like to extend to him my respect and congratulations for his work that day. Well done, Captain Burkill.
