Landing a Jet in Japan during earthquake...wow!

[True Earthling]

very harrowing account...

I did not see this topic covered by CNN but when the Earthquake hit Japan there were dozens of Aircraft approaching who were refused permission to land because of the condition of the airports and runways. Here is a report on the situation in a delta 767.

Written by a Delta pilot attempting to land following the earthquake:

I'm currently still in one piece, writing from my room in the Narita
crew hotel. It's 8am.

This is my inaugural trans-pacific trip as a brand new, recently checked out, international 767 Captain and it has been interesting, to say the least, so far. I've crossed the Atlantic three times so far so the ocean crossing procedures were familiar.

http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=435230&cat_id=65

[Poll_Blind]

1. Incredible account. I can't imagine how horrifying that would have felt.

Especially knowing you have dozens and dozens of lives relying on you.

PB

[FLPanhandle]

2. I got nervous just reading that

I espcecially groaned at the nine hour delay after landing to get a staircase to the plane. After a trans-Pacific flight the crew and passengers must have had almost 24 hours on the plane.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Very interesting!

[Peace Patriot]

4. Wow! He's right. Not a thing in the news about this. What a story!

All that confusion alone amidst heavy air traffic could easily have caused accidents. Amazing work by pilots and ground crew to get all those planes safely down.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. There was very little likelihood of accidents due to traffic --

All large airplanes have a device called TCAS (Traffic and Collision Avoidance System) which warns pilots of nearby traffic and directs them to take evasive action (climb or descend). So even if the air traffic controllers were busy with a lot of planes the probability of a collision was very small. The real problem was as this pilot described: running out of fuel. Airplanes always carry more fuel than they expect to need, but because NRT had closed and there were a lot of planes looking for alternate airports, finding an airport that wasn't already full was the concern here. This pilot did the smart thing and declared an emergency, meaning the air traffic controller had to let him land rather than make him go off and hold somewhere.

[Peace Patriot]

10. I didn't say collisions of big planes. I said accidents. I was thinking more of...

big plane/small plane collisions--in all that confusion, with multiple rapid change of flight plans occurring, overpacked landing patterns and landings, no margin for error, etc., happening at so many airports, many with lots of small craft traffic. I was also thinking of the human error that can be caused by anxiety/stress--uncertainty, fear, earthquakes, aftershocks, big tsunami, disrupted communications, etc.--multiplied by thousands of air traffic controllers, pilots of big and small aircraft, ground crew. Just think of the problems of unexpected aircraft coming in needing fuel. Serious accidents can happen on the ground as well--that could affect incoming traffic on an overpacked schedule. And even a safety feature like the one you describe (TCAS) can fail due to human error, mechanical failure or unexpected circumstances. (Think of all those water system backups and reduncancies that failed at Fukushima! "The best laid plans o' mice and men ...".) I am just amazed that it all went so smoothly--a credit to all involved.

And thanks for the info on TCAS. I knew big planes had something like that but didn't know what it was called.

[KeepItReal]

6. "Negative Ghost-Rider, the Pattern is full"

Way to have a sense of humor through it all.

Sounds like a top-notch pilot.

:-)

[angstlessk]

7. Truly amazing that no planes crashed as a result...cool heads prevailed! n/t

[joshcryer]

8. OMG, they effectively forced him to declare an emergency (not being negative)...

...that's really some desperation there. I wonder how many planes were kept in holding patterns until an emergency was declared. Extremely interesting report.

Thanks for posting it.

[petronius]

9. Fascinating - I hadn't even thought of all the jets heading toward Japan at the time

And every other industry was probably dealing with its own cascade of failures (albeit perhaps not with as spectacular potential outcomes as jetliners falling from the sky).

Pretty amazing job by the airlines and ATC - I wonder if they'll start incorporating the possibility of multiple and sequential airport closures in their contingency planning...

[hedgehog]

11. I wonder if those planes could have been diverted promptly to South Korea and China?

[TahitiNut]

12. How fortunate was he that Japan moved 13' closer to the US? (Saved fuel.)

:dunce:

[SidDithers]

13. K&R. Thanks for posting. Really interesting read...

and all credit to the airline staff and ATCs for getting everyone on the ground safely.

Sid

[Snoutport]

14. wow