Eric J. Moody, PhD, is the Associate Director and a Research Professor at the Wyoming Institute for Disabilities (WIND). Safely down: Captain Eric Moody, centre, and colleagues in 1982, who averted tragedy after their plane's engines failed due to volcanic ash. The restart attempts failed. It's better to be safe than sorry. British Airways 747 Captain Eric Moody. Moody throttled back; however, engine number two surged again and was shut down. Interview With Eric Moody. as well as other partner offers and accept our. But that alone wasnt enough to cause alarm, Capt Moody said to BBC. Shortly after that, engines one and two successfully restarted as well. WITH unbelievable restraint, Captain Eric Moody addressed British Airways flight 009 as his Boeing 747 drifted inexorably down towards the Indian Ocean. Eric Moody. After skidding further, the other wing came off and the plane ground to a halt, with fire and emergency crews rushing to the scene. The pilot managed to wrestle the aircraft under control with about 20 seconds to spare before it would have splashed down. If an exceptional speechwriter had spent a week composing the message, he or she couldn't have done better. Thats not unusual in high wispy cloud. Despite the weather radar showing clear skies, the crew switched on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a precaution. All four engines have stopped. It was only after a Singapore Airlines 747 was forced to shut down three of its engines while flying through the same area nineteen days later (13 July) that Indonesian authorities closed the airspace permanently and rerouted airways to avoid the area; a watch was set up to monitor clouds of ash. Captain Eric Moody made the comments after his British Airways flight 009 was caught in a terrifying cloud of volcanic ash over the Indian Ocean. John Eric Henry Moody Obituary. At 13,500 feet (4,100m), the crew was approaching the altitude at which they would have to turn over the ocean and attempt a risky ditching. Hero airline captain Eric Moody knows exactly how terrifying it is to fly a passenger jet into a cloud of volcanic ash. Moody throttled back, but engine number two surged again and was shut down. Casey Planespotting: https://www.youtube.com/user/transformereviewsCharlest103 Aviation Videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/charlest103747 Picture: Richard . The BA flight has gone down in aviation history. [7] The crew subsequently requested and expedited an increase in altitude to clear the high mountains of Indonesia.[8]. Engines one, two and three were replaced at Jakarta, as well as the windscreen, and the fuel tanks were cleared of the ash that had entered them through the pressurisation ducts, contaminating the fuel and requiring that it be disposed of. The crew immediately descended and held 12,000 feet (3,700 m). In addition to catching the big fish like shark, goliath grouper and barracuda, you may even spot bottlenose dolphins, sea turtles and other deep-sea . Eric Moody was in command of British Airways Flight 9, a Boeing . About your Captain. [13], The Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday featured Flight 009 in a 2007 episode titled "Falling From the Sky" which featured interviews with the flight crew and passengers, and a dramatization of the flight.[14]. Engines one, two, and three were replaced at Jakarta, as was the windscreen, and the fuel tanks were cleared of the ash that had entered them through the pressurization ducts, contaminating the fuel and requiring that it be discarded. One of the passengers, Betty Tootell, wrote a book about the incident, All Four Engines Have Failed. Pilots today are trained to do what Capt Moody did if faced with that situation. Moody described it as "a bit like negotiating one's way up a badger's arse. . Shortly after 13:40 UTC (20:40 Jakarta time) above the Indian Ocean, south of Java, the flight crew (consisting of Senior First Officer Roger Greaves and Senior Engineer Officer Barry Townley-Freeman while Captain Eric Moody was in the lavatory) first noted an effect on the windscreen similar to St Elmo's fire. "[10], British Airways continued to operate the Flight 9 route from London Heathrow to Sydney; in March 2012 the route was curtailed to Bangkok. Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox! We have a small problem. The cloud sandblasted the windscreen and landing light covers and clogged the engines. The result: a few minor injuries. Eric Moody took over but couldn't stop the bleeding. The aircraft glided out of the ash cloud, and all engines were restarted (although one failed again soon after), allowing the aircraft to land safely at the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta. Despite the weather radar showing clear skies, the crew switched on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a precaution. Captain Eric Moody was later praised for a cabin announcement that was described as "a masterpiece of understatement.". The aircraft was taken out of service in February 2004, and in July 2009, the then-30-year-old aircraft was broken up at a breaking facility at Bournemouth International Airport. Part one of an interview with the Captain of BA9 which suffered a four engine failure over Indonesiain June 1982 after flying in to the ash cloud from the er. Speedbird 9 safely landed with no injuries. Captain Eric Moody gave an interview to the July 2010 edition of Flaps Podcast, where he recounted his experience. ; The Phillies tied it at 4 in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Tomas Perez off Eric Moody. The passenger cabin began to smell of sulfur. Amazing, considering an identical cargo door accident outside Paris resulted in the deaths of everybody on board. A close examination of the plane revealed the damage a plume of these tiny particles can do to an engine the tips of the turbine blades had been ground away. ST. JAMESS PALACE, LONDON S.W.I He glided 80 nautical miles before the jet came out beneath the plume and three engines restarted, saving all on board. Sorry. Times Syndication Service. Ash had clogged the engines, which only restarted when enough of the molten ash solidified and broke off. His personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Strike Flight Air Medals, three . By the time he did, the plane had tipped up on its side, and was falling fast. This episode was repeated a number of times when the Eyjafjallajkull volcano caused a large-scale shutdown of European airspace. He was going to have to set the plane down, which meant finding something other than a runway. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. They were out of thrust but the instruments still worked. When Atchison tried to get on the radio to declare an emergency, he couldn't hear the response due to all the chaos erupting around him. We love you. What the shit? How much did Eric Moody weigh when playing? Photo credit: Richard Silagi via Wikipedia and British Airways. Why did the weather radar not detect the ash cloud?? Eric Henry John MOODY, Captain, British Airways. I trust you are not in too much distress.. At this point, the falling aircraft had about 23 minutes of glide time until it hit the ocean. Shortly thereafter, engine three restarted, allowing him to climb slowly. Many passengers, fearing for their lives, wrote notes to relatives. The plane had flown into a cloud of dust spewed out by an eruption of Mount Galunggung, 110 miles south east of Jakarta. All four engines have stopped. "He said, 'Ladies and gentlemen. Since hydraulic fluid was now leaking at a pretty serious pace, the controls of the plane became weaker and weaker. Because the ash cloud was dry, it did not appear on the weather radar, which was designed to detect the moisture in clouds. The aircraft was diverted to Jakarta in the hope that enough engines could be restarted to allow it to land there. He decided to turn around and go back to Detroit -- which, to be honest, is probably the only good reason to ever go back to Detroit. Passengers witnessed first hand the engines going up in flames and smoke and proceeded to scribble goodbye notes to relatives. At 13,500 feet (4,100 m), the crew was approaching the altitude at which they would have to turn over the ocean and attempt a risky ditching. After being ferried back to London, engine number four was replaced and major work was undertaken to return the aircraft to service. I trust you are not in too much distress.[4][5][6]. Capt Moody was piloting a 263-seater British Airways Boeing 747 flight from London to Auckland in June 1982 when he ran into an ash plume erupting from Mount Galunggung in Java, Indonesia. Plane going down. Captain Eric Moody's announcement to the passengers after losing power has become legendary. All four engines have stopped. 24, 1982 when flight BA 009 took off from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, there had been no hint of trouble: in fact the weather forecast for the five-hour journey for Perth, Australia, was good and the crew were anticipating an uneventful flight. All four engines have stopped. After falling more than 25,000 feet and preparing to ditch in the Indian Ocean, the plane's crew eventually got the engines restarted. That last bit is also important -- the hydraulics maneuver the flaps, rudder, stabilizer and pretty much every critical control of the aircraft, so this would be sort of like your bicycle partially exploding mid-pedal and taking off most of your right foot. The incident featured one of the greatest tannoy announcements by a pilot in the history of aviation. A minute later engine number two also surged and flamed out. Many passengers, fearing for their lives, wrote notes to relatives.[2]. Hey, did we mention that at the time, no plane that lost all hydraulics ever landed safely? Welcome to Eric Moody's Website. But it developed into something more than wed ever seen before.. As they performed the engine restart procedure, engine number four finally started, and at 13:56 UTC (20:56 Jakarta time), Moody used its power to reduce the rate of descent. And here's Wikipedia's description of the incident: British Airways Flight 9, sometimes referred to by its callsign Speedbird 9 or Jakarta incident,[1] was a scheduled British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Auckland, with stops in Bombay, Madras, Kuala Lumpur, Perth, and Melbourne. The event was also remembered for the announcement made by the airliner's remarkably calm captain, Eric Moody. Photograph: PA archive images All four engines on a Boeing 747 failed at 37,000ft after the plane flew through volcanic ash while passing over Jakarta on 24 . Despite the lack of time, Moody made an announcement to the passengers that has been described as "a masterpiece of understatement":[3]. It turned out someone had forgotten to seal the cargo door, and the force of the takeoff had ripped it straight off and tossed it into the tail of the plane, disrupting the engine and the flaps in the back. He wrestled the big bastard back under control, the plane finally coming to a rest with two of the three landing gear sitting in the grass off the side of the pavement. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. Plane going down. The reason for the failure was not immediately apparent to the crew or ground control. Many passengers were largely unaware that anything was wrong while the crew on the flight deck were frantically trying to figure out the cause of this freak failure. Although the crew had guidelines for the water landing procedure, no one had ever tried it in a Boeing 747. A similar situation also appeared in the first episode of The Centimeter of Love, a Chinese drama, produced in 2020. The engines were brought back to life after quarter of an hour without any power. ; Both shots came off Eric Moody ( 0-1 ), making his first major league start. Shortly after 13:40 UTC (20:40 Jakarta time) above the Indian Ocean, south of Java, the crew first noticed an unusual effect on the windscreen similar to St. Elmo's fire, while Moody was heading to the lavatory. The crew was about one minute away from having to make an emergency landing in an ocean with a 747 -- something no one had ever tried. But the flight crew didn't even announce their landing as any kind of emergency to the stunned air traffic controllers. Stay up to date with what you want to know. I'm Captain Eric Moody, a native of coastal Georgia and a full time resident of Jekyll Island for over 25 years with 16 of those years has been spent as a fishing guide. We have a small problem. The flight engineer said Engine failure number 2 which was quikcly followed up by threes gone which was followed up by theyve all gone. We are all doing our damnedest to get them going again. Crew eventually got the engines restarted on engine anti-ice and the passenger seat belt signs as a.. 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