derry

The colour blindness issue is conjecture. When I was enrolling in a Commercial Licence course I had to go to the Central Medical Establishment for a full medical. Fail any part of it and I wouldn't have been able to start the course. This was in spite of passing the RAF aircrew initial medical previously. Tillotson was previously on a CPL course which he didn't complete. I can't see how he got that far if he was colour blind but he might have been. What seems to be fact, he had a PPL but did not have a night rating which again is strange as it only requires 5 hours night flying and 5 hours ground study. What is criminal. is that the passenger was totally misled, probably thinking that it was a professional organisation and a professional pilot. Whatever anyone says I will never believe that the pilot didn't know he wasn't allowed to do the flight, at night in an unauthorised aircraft over water. The footballer was the innocent abroad. All the others involved will get theirs in due course. We have yet to hear anything about or from David Henderson who according to his videos has been operating the aircraft for some time. The authorities will be following this trail. The only ones to come out covered in roses are the insurance companies who can wash their hands of any claims.

It looks like there was negligence with the organisation of flights. There was incompetence in the understanding of what constituted a commercial flight. All flights that are paid for are commercial flights. They were mixed up regarding scheduled and unscheduled charter flights. It has been reported that the flights were mostly by the same type of aircraft which was unsuitable for over water flights whether crewed correctly or not. I'd be very surprised if the insurance issue isn't dead in the water.

That was an interesting read. Firstly there are significant system differences in the new aircraft, secondly for operators with more than one marque of 737 pilots can be expected to fly both marques. Interestingly it looks like the QRH (check list) has a simple drill where this is treated as a stabiliser trim runaway. Hold the column, electric trim, disconnect autopilot and auto-throttle. If no result, hold trim wheel and operate both stab trim cut-out switches then manually trim (good luck with that). That should give back control of sorts. As I remember all the Boeings had a similar drill but the 737 (I never flew the 727 or 747) was the only one with a trim wheel that flew backwards and forwards as the electric trim was operated. I would have expected a competent crew to deal with a runaway trim, not easy but not difficult either. The key is the exposure to the failure in the simulator and familiarity with the QRH. My company had a three year cycle so that every failure was covered in the simulator. Every flight I scanned drills in the QRH and did a touch drill that gave a comfortable familiarity. I also committed to memory the pitch angle against power settings to give basic climb/descent level flight if no speed indication. I once had a full nose down trim command on a Q400 which is computer controlled. The column load took both pilots to hold in the cruise. It was better lower and slower but made the approach interesting. I ended up fixing it on the phone to engineering by going to the computer cabinet and doing what I was told by the engineer then doing a maintenance check on the flight computer which showed the problem fixed. I then flew the aircraft back to base with no problems. Engineering found it ok. What price a computer controlled car. Not for me.

Showing through thin cloud. It was then covered by cloud not long after the start.

I think Lloris won the toss and played towards the Northam because the sun was out over the Chapel end.

Yoshida stood off Lukaku for the last goal, If he had got closer he could have blocked him. It was disappointing in a way but we did well. It won't do us any harm standing up to good teams even if like today the result goes against us. It will help to raise our performance next time out. Play well against Spurs and we can carry that forward. I do think we backed off too much in the last twenty minutes. I do feel we should have packed in front of them and pressed the ball in the last ten minutes. We probably played too well in the last ten minutes and left ourselves too open. We gave them the space to get at our back line.

There will be an inquest in front of a directed Jury. It was touch and go whether the Kegworth jury would bring in an unlawful killing verdict. In the event it was accidental death. The Chief Pilot of BM when cross examined stated that despite the pilots having little conversion training on the 737-400 the company had a right to expect that they would carry out their duties. That evening we had a visit from BM's QC who spoke to Patrick Phillips QC, BALPA's QC and told him that because of the CP's testimony, if the jury brought in an unlawful killing verdict they would be withdrawing their cover from the company. In the event it didn't happen. If the jury find that it is an unlawful killing then there will be hell to pay from all quarters. David Henderson hasn't surfaced yet and he is supposed to be the one who managed the aircraft.

I've got a season ticket but I didn't use it. I watched the game at home while watching a great cricket match 808 runs, 16 wickets, God knows how many sixes. They know how many didn't use their tickets as the computer will tell them how many were swiped at the turnstiles. Not enough heads have rolled, a few scapegoats but one of the biggest culprits is hanging on.

McKay is quoted saying that it was not a cost sharing agreement as "Emi wasn't paying anything" and that he was going to pay "whatever Dave (Henderson) was going to charge" That pretty much sums up what was thought. An unqualified private pilot was flying a commercial flight in an aeroplane that wasn't approved to fly commercial flights. What a **** up. I can't see how an insurance company would ever pay out as this was a criminal act.

The thing about Gibraltar is the runway length. The sea at both ends. I wouldn't want to lose an engine or burst a tyre just below V1, stopping is hairy. A lot of people practicing just that with a fully loaded aircraft on the simulator didn't make it until well practiced. Taking off I was ready for anything.

What is not generally known is that the pilot's approach charts have a diagram which shows wind angle and strength on the rock. This chart shows quadrants that close the runway if the wind exceeds given speeds from some directions. I wouldn't call it dangerous. We used the simulator to prepare for the approach etc and the actual flights proved pretty routine in spite of the rotor effect which needs to be understood in advance so that the right actions are carried out.The approach and engine out escape route at Innsbruck is interesting.

The effects of flying through cloud cells vary enormously. The frontal weather which generated the weather cells was in normal circumstances perfectly safely flown through by properly equipped aircraft crewed by professionals. The first ten years of my flying career was operating schedules in and out of Jersey and Guernsey and I've experienced that type of weather during climb and descents in that area without problems. On the other hand I've experienced enormous thunderstorm cells over Africa, Asia, Europe and the US which would be absolutely tempting fate to fly into. The only way is stay out of them and carry enough fuel to deviate around them.

I've operated into Gibraltar on many occasions. On my initial trip we had to go to the control tower to view the wind tunnel tests done by the RAF. The photographs graphically show the rotor affect of the winds coming off the rock from certain directions. The rock because of it's shape in effect generates what can only be described as wing vortex. I've experienced the rotor effect on the approach which providing it is appreciated can be coped with satisfactorily. I've seen the video and this aircraft looks too high to be within the area that the rock induced vortex would affect aircraft on the approach. The wind effect I've experienced was in the latter stages of the approach.

You know what! Despite a season ticket I personally have had it with the incompetent clowns that are dragging us down. The same players time after time making the same mistakes through stupidity or arrogance, mostly Bentley class cars and millionaires, I just don't want to see another game with the unnecessary disappointment of the last three games. I don't think I'll even bother going. A bad result against Fulham I don't need. I get it, some of those ****s are doing their own thing despite the manager emphasising clearing out of the danger zone.

This report pretty much confirms that an unqualified pilot for the conditions faced, flew a single engine aircraft into conditions neither he or the aircraft were equipped for. The aircraft had a de-icing system but was it working and more importantly did the pilot know how to operate it. Just looking at the altitude and track time line it looks like control was lost through a combination of turbulence, cloud, icing and a pilot without the training, experience and qualifications to carry out that flight. A weather radar was vital to navigate clear of the weather. A commercially qualified crew in a twin engine aircraft with anti-icing plus a weather radar to fly around the cells which would show up clearly would be the absolute minimum requirement. I'm pretty sure any experienced professional pilot wouldn't have attempted that flight in that way in that aircraft in those conditions.

Just before both goals Stephens had the ball under no pressure and with the team moving forward, he strolled forward and was dispossessed then Arsenal counterattacked and scored with us light at the back. Stephens losing the ball as he did against Cardiff led to both goals. He learnt nothing from the Cardiff game. I watched the whole game not just the highlights.

The negatives, STEPHENS, not getting the ball forward quickly, JWP poor delivery, poor shooting and nowhere near quick enough or strong enough, Elyanoussi, the manager is wrong on this one and the fans are right, offers nothing, Sims????. Positives, Gunn made some last ditch saves, Bednarek and Vestergaard better than a three, The pressing was so much better. Valery much better attacking down the line and defensively, Targett was ok, is Bertrand not match fit yet? Hojbjerg and Romeu strong but Romeu needs to win it and give it quickly. Obefemi lasted ten minutes before he pulled up. IMO JWP should have gone at half time not Armstrong who is faster and a better player. Redmond was ok but found it difficult to get free. Either give Austin early balls into the box or don't play him. Elyanoussi gives less than nothing. £15m ? did nobody watch him, he is as slow as Targett and JWP. I remembered Long's cross to Austin in the last game, that's where we should play him and or Sims if Austin plays.

Qbefemi lasted ten minutes then another five before he went down. I thought apart from being undone by Stephen's unsuccessful impression of VVD, getting dispossessed when we are in no trouble then immediately conceding two goals is unforgiveable. With the momentum of early goals we were on the back foot against a rampant Arsenal. I thought this was one of our best games so far when it came to pressing the ball but we were too slow to move it forward. We looked better when we made the change to four at the back. JWP is still lightweight, he had a good share of the ball and gave a great service to the centre backs. His delivery was poor from dead ball situations and his shooting was poor. Elyanoussi had yet another forgettable game summed up with, was it a shot or a back pass at the end. Gunn was fine and saved a couple of certainties. Valery is improving all the time, showed much more willingness to run at defenders out wide.. Target had a decent game, denied by a good save. Bednarek and Vestergaard were better as a two without Stephens. Romeu was ok but two remarks, he needs to sit in font of the back four, left too much space, has a tendency to be indecisive if given too long on the ball, just win it and give it. Austin needs the balls into the box but we did everything but. It's hard to believe we were trying to score. Redmond was lively but ran out of ideas with that great chance just before Arsenal scored. Armstrong worked hard and was unlucky to be sacrificed unlike Stephens. I was hoping it would be JWP not Armstrong. JWP just bounces off and misses too many chances to tackle for me. Hasenhuttl made the right changes but one has to question Elyanoussi on the bench and why Yoshida didn't replace Stephens. Targett had a decent game but I'm wondering about Bertrand's match fitness.

FFS week after week Stephens makes massive goal bearing mistakes. Burnley, Cardiff now today he comes strolling out of defence like VVD then loses the ball and again two goals. The problem is he thinks he's really good on the ball. He needs to act like a defender, take no chances and get the ball out wide in the opponents half. We are going down if this bloke plays. If he does he needs one instruction, stop ****ing around and put your foot through it. He doesn't even like heading the ball.

I think there has to be just cause, besides the pilot's unions wouldn't take kindly to a heavy hand. I once laid it on the line to our very good MD (Who I played golf with) that he was looking at a bunch of long haul aircraft stranded around the world due to pilot sickness when some management tried it on.

That's pretty much the no brainer. Additionally a lot of pilots have a fair drive in to work. I developed a habit, if driving or flying, no drinking, ever.

I knew Bryn pretty well when he was at Stoneham. He was a really nice friendly person. I remember him at Saints with a half back line of McLaughlin, Parker, Elliott. RIP Bryn one of life's nice people.

Because nearly all pilots are careful about consuming alcohol too close to flying. It's usually the crew that pick up on the bad apple and thinking about self preservation do something about it. The limit for crews is a quarter of the driving limit. Random testing isn't acceptable any more than having a test before leaving a restaurant or pub etc.