Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: Pilots fear bombs and ground collisions, sure, but what are the other scenarios that fill them with dread?

On Jan. 17, a British Airways Boeing 777 arriving from Beijing landed short of the runway -- crashed, if you prefer -- at London's Heathrow <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/airports/">airport.</a> It was the first serious accident involving a 777 since the type entered service 13 years ago. Reportedly -- and this is far from a known fact -- the plane lost power in both engines while maneuvering on approach. The crew made an immediate turn toward the runway and managed to glide to a semi-intact touchdown just inside the airport boundary. It could have been much, much worse. <P>Before getting to the how and why, allow me a moment to critique the <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/media/">media</a>'s handling of the event. <P>Coverage was more or less as expected, which is to say misleading at best and embarrassing at worst. The networks trundled out their "aviation experts," while the newspapers did their usual hatchet job, garbling facts and turning a complicated incident into a silly caricature. (Alan Levin's analysis for USA Today tops a short list of decent efforts.) The Associated Press peppered its stories with gratuitous quotes from passengers, including a fellow who had this to say following the evacuation of all 152 people from the badly damaged plane: "I didn't speak to the pilot, but I saw him, and he looked very pale." <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/222655487" height="1" width="1"/>

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