Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

The Captain in the recent Southwest 737 incident is being hailed as a hero. She certainly did a great job, but this incident was far from the worst thing ever faced by pilots. It got me thinking:
Of major survivable airline incidents in the last 50 years, what crew do you think handled their situation with the most competence and heroism?
I've nominated a few of them.
It's a tough call.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

I mean some situations are more dire than others, like a double engine fail at low altitude with no near airports vs a single engine out at higher altitude with many nearby diversion airports. But in general, pilots who did what they supposed to do are all great.

in this case, this plane went into a 41 degree left bank when the left engine uncontained failure happened. it wasn't far from a inverted rollover which given the one engine out could very well leads to an unrecoverable crash. so yeah, a split second correct decision is all it takes sometimes...

Am I the only one wondering if there is something going on with these CFM engines? this is not the first time it happened to a CFM engine either...

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

A tough choice but UAL 232 got my vote.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Garuda Indonesia Flight 421, hands down

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

I didn't know about the 41 degree bank. Yeah, I agree it would have been bad if it rolled over further.

Yes, supposedly the manufacturer either required or suggested yearly ultrasonic inspections of the fan blades a while back and now the news is reporting that "airline regulators" are requiring inspections. I guess they mean the FAA, but the news is so dumbed-down these days its hard to tell what they mean.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Ah yes, one I didn't think of. There are a lot of these. I just did the ones I could think of

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

How soon we forget... 1980 Ted Striker who with the help of flight attendant Elaine Dickenson landed a full plane of passengers (Trans America 707) after both pilots fell ill to food poisoning.

That garnishes my vote...

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

My vote was for UA 232, no disrespect to any of the others on this list.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

There was a time back in 2004 when I was taking a group of French tourists into Goulding’s private airstrip, Monument Valley, Utah-UT25. After a hard night of partying the night before, as well as consuming a questionable gas station breakfast burrito that morning, I departed KGCN for the one hour, 10 minute flight in my trusty C-208 Caravan. After 30 minutes of flying, I developed a bad gas of the Meat sweats that soon turned into the worst case I’d ever know.

On descent into UT25, it got so bad that I was afraid to make radio calls as any jarring to to my mid section might cause a catastrophic chain of events that may lead to a full-blown hazmat situation. Luckily, the caravan has proverse, instead of adverse yaw due to spoilerons on the downgoing wing, creating little need to coordinate my turn with rudders. This would prove crucial to the eventual outcome as using my legs to manipulate the rudder pedals was out of the question, lest I cause the aircraft to be written off due to toxic contamination.

Due to the severe upslope of the landing runway 16, I was able to use my Sully-like flying skills to land, roll out uphill, and coast to parking with almost imperceptible rudder/brake pedal pushing.

Shut down, and with the prop still spinning down, I opened the door, threw down the ladder, and Quasimodo-walked to the bank of port-a-potties on the edge of the dirt ramp. Once inside, I exorcised the demon from my soul in a manner that would make Harry Dunne’s epic Colon Blow scent from Dumb and Dumber look tame.

And THAT, ladies, is the most heroic action by a pilot. Ever.

9 people went home to their familiar lies that night and the ‘van continues in service to this day.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

If I recall correctly, it was a big, pretty, white plane with red stripes, curtains in the window, and wheels....it looks like a big Tylenol!

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Absolutely! Your on your game..

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

I believe you are referring to Trans American flight 209....they made a documentary on it...

Seriously, had a great opening airport theme song (after the Jaws bit), on par with the opening of Airport. I could listen to both for hours.

UA232 for me.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

I don't know whether to applaud or throw up! great story...

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

What a strange vote or discussion. I think all are hard to compare and they all show great skills of the respective People involved.

What about for example BA9 ? Flying a 747 in gliding mode and landing it without visibility through the Windows ?

What about LO16 ? Landing a full 767 on the belly safely without ripping the plane apart is also a great airmanship....

Alrosa Flight 514 also comes to my mind....all people survived that emergency landing and the Crew proved amazing skills.

So I think all in all, everyone of these cases is special and amazing, be it Gimli Glider, Capt Sully on the Hudson, United DC10 or the BA BAC1-11. I am thankful to have hopefully great Crews while flying almost every week and handing over my fate in someone elses Hands.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Bizarre thread, but how about discounting incidents in which the crew displayed apalling airmanship by getting themselves into a corner, before "heroically" saving the day? So that's the "Gimli Glider" out for a start.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Alright, I know its kind of a weird, morbid topic but I explained why the news coverage of the "hero pilot" of Southwest got me thinking about this. I don't need to explain it again.

And yes, there are many more that I could have listed. The point is we've come to expect a certain level of excellence from pilots and these were cases where their skills were truly tested. I was thinking about the big picture of how these crews handled extreme adversity. Some of these situations are similar to others, but none are the same. They all have different mechanical, geographic/environmental, and psychological factors that they had to overcome to make a survivable landing for the passengers. Obviously UA 232 had the worst outcome. They had the fortune of landing during good weather, in daylight, but they also dealt with some of the worst mechanical factors of any crew on this list. And I think that's why so many people voted for them.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

All of them required great skill,to ensure a positive outcome. That Northwest hard over rudder was pretty crazy. I saw that episode not long ago. Sadly,UAL 232 lost people. If it wasn't for tremendous crew skill,they would have lost everybody.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

It handled "lugish light a wet sponge." "Its a damn good thing he doesn't know how much I hate his guts."

Good one Elaine.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Just yesterday, a small twin landed on a three lane road in Calgary.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

Now that’s what I call heroic. Any pilot who can put down without any skid marks is worthy of a porcelain throne!

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

LOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOL:D:D:DLOLLOL:D:D:DLOLLOLLOLLO LLOL
hahahaa

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

You're god damn right it was.

Re: Most Heroic Actions by Pilots
 

I hope you don’t mind, but I posted this over on the buzz.