British Airways 009 | The Full Story Of The Jakarta Incident

A Boeing 747-200 is cruising along at 37000 feet over the eastern Indian ocean when its suddenly engulfed in a huge ball of light. Seconds later the engines start failing, one after the other and the pilots have to desperately try to re-light them to avoid a ditching in the sea in complete darkness.
This is the increadible story of British Airways flight 009 and for this video I have invited captain Eric Moody himself (!!) to explain some details from the flight. Only here on the Mentour Pilot channel.

Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.

Brief Room: @ Airbus

St Elmos Fire: @ baron494

Trace Fire: @ Anadolu Ajansi & Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri

747 Sim: @Las Vegas 747 Simulator

Volcano: @ NASA

Volcano 2: @ NASA

Volcano Lightning: @ Martin Bernetti/Getty Images


Crew: @ britishairwaysflightstousa

Engine Damage: @ UNKNOWN

European 747: @ Ken Fielding

Angle of Attack Vane: @ Burkhard Domke

Air Con Duct: @ A380spotter

Mask on: @ Lowell Sannes


Iceland Volcano: @ Boaworm

Image Iceland: @ Jeff Schmaltz - NASA

BA 747: @ Richard Silagi

VAAC Article: @ Met Office

00:00 - Intro
01:28 - Chapter 1: Flight Overview
01:50 - Chapter 2: Souls on Board
02:17 - Chapter 3: The Flight Crew
02:45 - Chapter 4: Initial Briefing
03:59 - Chapter 5: Volcanic Activity
05:12 - Chapter 6: First Sign of Problems
06:49 - Chapter 7: St Elmo’s Fire
08:46 - Chapter 8: A Glowing Aircraft
10:14 - Chapter 9: Engine Failures
11:18 - Chapter 10: About Turn
13:22 - Chapter 11: Mayday, Mayday
17:14 - Chapter 12: The Problem With Ash
20:08 - Chapter 13: Restart Attempts
21:31 - Chapter 14: Conflicting Instruments
23:08 - Chapter 15: Between A Rock and A Hard Place
24:39 - Chapter 16: A Legendary Passenger Address
26:43 - Chapter 17: Possible Water Landing
29:25 - Chapter 18: Climbing Again
30:54 - Chapter 19: Jakarta Bound
32:05 - Chapter 20: Visual Problems
32:44 - Chapter 21: Localiser Approach
34:20 - Chapter 22: The Aftermath
36:34 - Chapter 23: Commendations
37:09 - Final Chapter: Future Training
39:18 - Outro

[musicmanfelipe]

“We have a small problem, all four engines have stopped.” British understatement at its finest.

[SorbusAucubaria]

"A small problem in that all our four engines have failed". Oh, man, that is quite an understatement.

[bgezal]

The unsung hero in this incident is captain Moody's bladder.

[michaelscott]

R.I.P Captain Eric Moody, your bravery and airmanship will never be forgotten.

[ZenoDovahkiin]

Absolutely brilliant crew.
"A small problem insofar as all our engines have failed."

[anadubar]

"I trust you are not too distressed about this."
This was so British.
Also the old WW2 veteran who was not impressed and immediately tried to top this story with his own.

[thiswasnoboakingaccident]

In an interview with some of the crew, a question was asked about legendary British courage and keeping a "stiff upper lip" during the ordeal. One answered; "The upper lip may have been stiff but the knees were definitely knocking".

[FLT]

R.I.P Captain Moody. You and your crew did an outstanding job getting everyone down safely.

[hannapaulava]

Omg I thought the parts with Captain were from some news article but you actually had a chance to talk to the Captain for this video. He seems to be a lovely person and a great Captain

[PercyPruneMHDOIFandBars]

My favourite tale about this incident is that Capt Moody said that everyone on the aircraft was now an honorary member of his Jakarta gliding ciub! What a guy! Leader of an exemplary team!!

[Sezfluffy]

I was an air hostess in 2005 and flew with Captain Moody at BA. We saw this incident on training but I didn't realise it was him at the time.

[philstuf]

Flight 9 is just an example of diligence and pure skill out of the pilots and engineer. "Never give up. Never surrender." They pulled it off. They saved the plane and the passengers.

[johnl]

The best part of this particular event discussion is that you had Captain Moody online with you giving you real time information. So many of your incident reports cannot include a member of the flight crew, but this was a refreshing additional component. Anytime you can do this, please add it to your outstanding videos.

[peterelder]

Hi, I remember this incident well! At the time I was an Avionics Apprentice working for British Airways. I was one of the ground crew who worked on this aircraft once it returned to LHR. It required a lot of work to get it airworthy again. The plane still had a sulphurous smell to it when we were repairing it. All the pitot and static heads were replaced, every piece of piping from them was disconnected and blown clean and a whole lot more. I also remember cleaning and repacking the 400 odd passenger oxygen masks. It was in our hanger for many days, then went to the paint shop for a new coat of paint. The flight crew certainly earned thier money that night.

[steveparker]

In the late 80's I used to work at Rolls Royce in Derby and this flight was still talked about. The story I heard was that when those engines came back for inspection and repairs the engineers were amazed he even got one restarted let alone all 4 the damage on them was that great having said that RB211 engines were known for being over engineered (as I would hope all Jet engines are) and could run in some amazing conditions.

[Jonoridge]

I have to say coming from your Air France Flight 447 video to this one it's like night and day comparing the competency of the crew and how the situation was handled. The composure, teamwork and just sheer competency of this crew is a sight to behold. A great story and video.

[Nufsed]

I had the honour, many years ago to be flown in a glider by Capt Moody. We were towed up on the first attempt by a winch line which broke at 1000 ft, much too low for a safe flight. Capt Moody banked right and circled in to a perfect landing, I was about 15 at the time and shaking like a leaf. I looked at him and said something like, "that was a quick reaction and a great landing, you must fly these a lot", he just smiled and said "Oh yes, but not as many hours as the 747"! We re-attached the winch and I had the best glider flight of my life.

[roman_air]

I was a flight attendant for Continental Airlines and was flying to London when the volcano eruption was happening in Iceland in 2010. It was a crazy sight to see from a distance and of course we were a bit nervous once we got closer. Once we landed in London they shut the airport down. We were the last airplane they allowed to land because of the ash. We were like omg well ok lol. We were grounded for a few days because we couldn’t take off and the day we were given the thumbs up to leave we were told that they just cleared aircraft to takeoff for the day. So, we were going to be the first to leave lol. Once in the air the pilots found out they closed the airport right after we took off because it got bad again. It was crazy. We felt like the guinea pigs to check how the skies were for the rest of the flights lol
Thankfully we made it in and out of London safely. But it was a tad unsettling and a bit scary.

[slimyelow]

The team work on landing with sand blasted windshields plus the communication amongst the crew during the crisis were outstanding. I have followed many disaster stories where these traits would have been of absolute life saving value.

[pierzing.glintsh]

How the miracle on the Hudson was made into a movie but this wasn't boggles the mind. A tonne more material to work with aswell I dare say. What a story!