Originally Posted by
28isGreat
I don't dispute that this is something worthy of serious investigation. But you've accused AC and/or the pilots of not just negligence, but deliberate behaviour to cover up. I'm not here to defend AC's honour, but an objective investigation requires, well, objectivity.
I'm trying to find out what "reportable incident" means in law, and the closest I can find is
this description of incidents requiring immediate reporting. My reading of it? This doesn't apply, though just by a whisker. Had they actually landed on an empty taxiway, it clearly would have applied. (Had they landed on the taxiway in this case, it probably would have been an
accident, and no mere incident.)
Don't get me wrong; I'm appalled at what happened in the air, and very disappointed that the pilots
didn't do better to preserve the CVR. I just find it far more likely this happened due to inattention rather than malice.
Edit: can the tapes actually be "saved" more than 9 minutes after stopping at the gate, in the hours that follow, as you suggest? Does CVR stop recording for any reason
other than its circuit breaker being pulled, or its electrical supply otherwise being interrupted by an accident?
Some interesting points. I'll clarify. I was not accusing the pilots of failing to preserve the CVR. I agree with you that they had other things on their minds and possibility didn't think about it.
I think everything on the CVR until the pilots left the plane that night is useful data (I bet they were discussing the incident during the go-around and the 2nd landing attempt). I am assuming that the CVR stopped recording when the pilots shut down the plane and therefore the data remained intact overnight and was over-written when the plane flew the next day. Based on that, I'm suggesting that AC management knew what they were doing when they allowed the plane to fly the next day.
If it turns out that the CVR recorded continuously overnight and the useful data was gone by the time the pilots got to their hotel room, then I am wrong. Management would not have had a reasonable opportunity to intervene. In that case, I'd agree with you that it was negligent, but not necessarily malicious.