Madam, - On retiring as a pilot after 42 years flying, I was asked what was my best memory. My answer was that I had flown with Tommy Hanly and Andy Woods.
Tommy was the most meticulous and safest pilot I have ever known and facing a nightmare situation performed a superb feat of airmanship. At 5,000 feet over Birmingham, with cloud base at 600 feet, visibility below cloud 1,000 yards, and sparse landing aids, one engine of his DC3 failed. Some minutes later the second engine stopped.
With no engine power, Hanly flew the aircraft on instruments until he broke cloud at about 300 feet. With about one-and-a-half minutes left before crashing, he made an emergency landing in a field clear of buildings. While Tommy flew the aircraft, First Officer Paddy Whyte performed his emergency co-pilot duties while calmly maintaining voice radio contact with Birmingham.
Twenty-five people on board were uninjured, except for Paddy Whyte, who suffered four fractures of the spine and head and arm injuries.
Taxpayers' money was wasted on two inquiries into the Birmingham crash, one in 1953, the other in 2002. Both found that "as a matter of probability fuel mismanagement caused the crash".
Yet DC3 fuel management on Dublin-Birmingham flights was simple. The left main fuel tank fed the left engine and the right main tank the right engine. Four times during flight, an obligatory "check list" was used to inspect essential items. These times were (1) Before take-off; (2) on climb; (3) during cruise; and (4) before descent. The position of fuel tank selectors and fuel tank contents were checked at these times.
To accept the inquiries' findings one must accept that, during a short flight, two very experienced pilots individually (ignoring the instincts and training of a flying lifetime) made the same serious mistake on four separate occasions, when each failed to see that one main fuel tank had been selected to the two engines. When an engine fails, any pilot, even a student pilot, knows the immediate action - "Check ignition, check fuel". Accepting the inquiries' findings, one must also accept that, when the first engine failed, both these experienced pilots, again individually, neglected to check ignition and fuel.
The actual cause of this crash may never be known. Excess water in the fuel, which froze and blocked fuel delivery pipes, is a prime suspect. One thing is obvious: it was not caused by fuel mismanagement.
Fifty years on, the good names of two heroic men should be restored. - Yours, etc.,
BRENDAN FLANAGAN,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.