Originally Posted by
mad_rich
There was an easyJet Airbus that lost a lot of electrical power, including all comms IIRC, a few years ago.
There was no other emergency (although disappearing flight instruments sounds pretty scary to me), so it just continued on its flight to BRS broadcasting its intentions blind. Landed safe enough.
I don't believe there was any wing-waggling, but I could be wrong.
http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-245009.html
The AAIB report is
here, if anyone fancies a gander.
Some snippets from the narrative:
They were concerned that they might be intercepted by military aircraft, because of the loss of radio communications and that, given the aircraft’s degraded status, they might not be able to follow an interceptor or land at another airfield. Furthermore, they were concerned that if they deviated from the flight-planned route to divert to an en route airfield it might be considered a hostile action, which could lead to offensive measures being taken against their aircraft.
The commander made several attempts to contact ATC by mobile telephone, using two different handsets, but this was unsuccessful, even at a fairly low altitude.
No mention of wing-waggling, though!
Bristol ATC first became aware of the emergency traffic inbound at 1110 hrs when they were called by ATC at West Drayton, who advised that EZY6074 was over the south coast of England in a descent, but not in radio contact.
Bristol ATC took action to notify all the responsible authorities to ensure the airport was prepared to accept the emergency aircraft. A full emergency was declared by the airport at 1116 hrs. All air traffic movements at Bristol Airport were suspended as the aircraft approached. When the aircraft was established on final approach, the tower controller broadcasted blind transmissions giving landing clearance and surface wind information.