Originally posted by Chris K
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Evan started this topic, and I tried to find the source which he mentioned a few months ago. And well, this is the BBC, they don't simply delete something. The link is still active.
They published a map which contains all three airports,
1. London City airport, the scheduled departure.
2. Edinburgh airport, the airport which nobody expected.
3. And finally DUS. The scheduled arr.
I still wonder what happened in that BAe 146 cockpit. And again the codes which I had used for this flight:
dep EGLC (London City)
arr EDDL (Düsseldorf International).
That's it. Now I could describe what happens if you use a 747 fmc. Somewhen during the preflight procedure, the fmc tells you, aha, I have found the departure, i.e.
that's the airport where you and your aircraft is at, now. You can add more detail, e.g. gate number, and if it is a major airport, the fmc shows you the global position for this gate,
N51°30'19 E0°3'19 .
What would I do then is, compare this position with the on board gps. If you see major deviations, then either you've mistyped the four letter code for the departure,
or that airport has changed its global position.
To make it short. I still don't see a chance to not only feed the fmc which alot of crap like Edinburgh instead of Düsseldorf, but after all you say 'activate', and then you say 'execute'. So, you feed the fmc with crap and you confirm it twice before you take off? Impossible, in my eyes, to stay polite.
I should mention the EDDL data, so please, DO NOT CONFUSE THIS with Edinburgh.
Airport name: Düsseldorf International airport, also called Lohausen.
ICAO-Code: EDDL
IATA-Code: DUS
Global Position: N51°16'51 E006°45'26 .
As far as I can remember, nobody has really confused that with Edinburgh, at least not before a full BBC report. Edinburgh:
Global Position: N55°57'0 et cetera..
You can't confuse that, if you'd ask me. But nobody was injured. So let's say the two pilots had a bad hair day.
PS: There is only 1 option how something stupid like that could have happened. If we talk about Randazzo's B744 simulator, then there is something in that B744 fmc which
1. gives you the data for the return flight, i.e. when you complete the EGLC - EDDL route, the fmc assumes that you like to fly back to EGLC, and so EGLC appears as the new dep. But nothing happens before you confirm it!
2. What if the BAe 146 on that day was on a flight like EGLC (London City) - EGPH (Edinburgh) - EGLC (London City), before EDDL was on the schedule. Then the fmc assumed that you again like to fly to EGPH. And boom, the shit happens.
But nothing happens before you confirm it twice. So again, no excuse. Bad hair day.
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