That was the comment from Barry Townley, flight engineer on board a British Airways 747-200 (G-BDXH), when the aircraft unknowingly flew into a volcanic cloud on June 24, 1982, shutting down all four of the Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. What follows below is the account of the pilot in command, Captain Eric Moody, who landed crippled Speedbird 9 in Jakarta. David Learmount interviewed Moody following the incident for the 10 July 1982 issue of Flight International. Air travel in Europe ground to a halt today after the eruption of a volcano in Iceland on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier that sent a cloud of ash east across the Atlantic toward northern Europe. Read the full PDF article.
Also check out the British Airways documentary on the operations of its
747-200 fleet in A Tale of Two Jumbos, which cronicles the global travels
of XH’s sister ships, XG and XE.
747-200 fleet in A Tale of Two Jumbos, which cronicles the global travels
of XH’s sister ships, XG and XE.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.