How does a pilot's career change after a crash landing

 It can be devastating, even if it’s not their fault.

This was the aftermath of the crash of BA 38, a Boeing 777 which crashed short of the runway at Heathrow Airport on 17th January 2008.

The cause of the crash was a previously unknown type of icing in the engines fuel-filters which prevented them from running at greater than idle power. When the engines were commanded to increase power, as is usual, during the approach to landing, they did not respond.

The crew did the best they could under the circumstances. In particular, the Captain made the decision to retract the flaps from the 30 degree setting to 25. His thinking was that, while he wanted to reduce drag, he was worried that retracting to flap 20 might induce a stall.

It turned out to be a life-saving decision.

Later analysis showed that had the flaps been left at 30, the aircraft would have touched down short of the boundary fence. If he had retracted to flap 20, they would have made the runway.

Instead, they crashed in the grass inside the boundary, but short of the runway.

And this saved lives.

Impact on the grass was much more forgiving than either the tarmac runway or the roadway before the boundary, not also counting the possible third-party injuries that might have happened had the aircraft not made the airport boundary.

As it was there were zero fatalities.

SO, job well done and the guys were heroes? Kind of…

While initially lauded, the Captain became convinced there was a “whisper” campaign from within the company that he had somehow messed up. In particular, he had anecdotal evidence some trainers in the flight-attendant department were telling recruit F/As that he has “frozen” in the incident.

True or not, it lead him to a sufficient state of mind to resign from BA.

He was unemployed for two years.

Many Asian airlines have a rock-solid policy that they will not employ pilots with “a history of accidents or incidents”. Note:- not just incidents that are THEIR FAULT, but incidents of any nature, so he was instantly disqualified from these carriers.

At the time, I was actually a B777 instructor with Emirates.

My immediate superior, the Chief Instructor Boeing, was a personal friend of the Captain. HE stated that no amount of effort on his part would convince the airline to hire the Captain, as they feared he brought too much publicity along with him.

Eventually, with the co-operation of the Pilots Union, he was re-employed by BA in his old rank.

Being in a major incident can lead to life-long hardship, even when your actions are entirely correct and save lives.