This book is my way of sharing knowledge and experiences, in the hope that they’ll help others. Along with my crew members, I’m not a victim but a survivor, one of the few to have survived such a catastrophic event caused by faulty automation. And I have a voice. I hope my warnings are heard.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
‘There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.’ Adm. William Halsey
A hero is someone admired for their courage, bravery and their personal qualities, and one who has achieved or survived something challenging or life threatening. There were many heroes on 7 October 2008.
It is time to thank the many who came forward and helped the survivors of the QF72 accident.
The pilots and crew were heroes. Even though most were physically injured during the pitch-downs, they continued to function and to lead. Diana Casey, although travelling ‘off duty’, performed incredible acts of courage and initiative after the pitch-downs subsided. She is an amazing heroine and role model.
The passengers onboard QF72, also physically injured and in complete shock at the violence they had endured, remained calm and followed the instructions from the crew. Once we were safely on the ground, I witnessed many acts of compassion and support bestowed upon complete strangers by each and every passenger. We were safe but a long way from home, and I acknowledge each and every one of you for responding to the crew’s direction and guidance, and for remaining patient while awaiting rescue. We were bound by the common purpose of our unique survival situation and the power of the human spirit was shining brightly in the face of this adverse circumstance. That bond continues.
The West Australian Police activated and coordinated the rescue operation from their command centre in Perth. It is a success story, worthy of a movie script, but I can only give you these words of gratitude and thanks for mobilising the support we needed at Learmonth. The constables on the ground at the airport provided us with strength and security, and we even shared some humour in the wake of this cataclysmic emergency.
Medical staff from Exmouth Regional Hospital were activated to assist the injured once we landed. How can so few provide assistance to so many? It was support of biblical proportions, plain and simple; also worthy of a movie script. Regional staff from other medical centres were also mobilised and airlifted in to Learmonth to assist the staff there. Thank you all.
The Royal Flying Doctor Service flew in and out of Learmonth on their flights of mercy. I was awestruck as I watched them arrive and depart as the day turned into night, carrying their precious cargo of the seriously injured onward to larger medical facilities. I know all the crews flew excessive tours of duty that day in support of the rescue mission, and the RFDS Base at Jandakot was buzzing with activity and support. I salute you.
There were airport staff and volunteers at Learmonth who assisted and supported the shell-shocked passengers as best they could. Somehow, food and drink materialised out of thin air to sustain the survivors and I know it was the initiative of these individuals that made this possible. The ham and cheese sandwiches were the best I’ve ever had, even to this day. Thank you.
Melbourne Air Traffic Control cleared the airspace for our arrival into Learmonth. The controller on duty was of exceptional skill and I have benefited from his calm and precise expertise on a previous occasion. Thank you.
The pilots and crew of the two rescue aircraft also performed an extended tour of duty in the process of airlifting the survivors out of Learmonth. Thrust into this unprepared role of support, the crews stepped up and provided safety and compassion to us and delivered us safely to Perth.
Medical staff at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital were activated to provide a triage service at Perth Airport. I observed the compassion and support you bestowed on the surviving passengers in the arrivals terminal. Thank you for the support you provided at the airport and in the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.
Captains John Killingback and Phil Paterson were deployed to Perth to assist the pilots once we arrived and to coordinate our return to Sydney. You were the cavalry I needed, joining the battle at the critical point, after all my energy and ammunition had been expended. You saved my scalp.
Captain Steve Anderson, the Welfare Officer at our pilots’ association, was the first to contact me once we landed safely at Learmonth. His Aussie humour and ‘tender words of concern’ was the tonic I needed to deal with the many challenges that confronted the survivors as we waited for rescue.
Mr Adam Lloyd is a saint and a hero in my mind. He is no longer employed at Qantas and it is the organisation’s loss that he has departed now. He planned and implemented the repatriation of my daughter to Sydney and provided emotional support to her when she needed it most. He was a pillar of compassion and strength as we all struggled to cope with the aftermath of the accident. Thank you Adam.
My friends are a very stout and exceptional group who live around the world. They continue to support me in the face of PTSD, even though it is difficult for all of us to manage. The good news is that most of you are still my friends; some have fallen by the wayside. Thank you for those who are standing next to me as I battle to rebuild my life.
This story is dedicated to my daughter. She doesn’t realise that she has kept me alive. She has had to watch her father suffer over the years since the accident flight, even though he is supposed to be a hero. Her love and devotion cannot be described in words, but all should know that she is my heroine.
This story is real. It happened. I have acknowledged those individuals and organisations who remembered their humanity and extended their compassion to help those in need. I am a human being and I want to help, too.
PTSD is a silent killer and I have been examined and diagnosed with it. It doesn’t go away and it places the sufferer on a slippery slope to potential ruin and possibly death. Identifying with a sufferer is difficult. For many, though, the damage is plain to see: prosthetic limbs and scars mark the trail of their tortuous journeys. For others, they appear whole and undamaged but their behaviour has changed forever. Depression and PTSD are inseparable villains who visit those who have been damaged, tortured and abused by forces outside of their control.
There are charities and organisations that exist to assist PTSD sufferers. I want to support them as they work to support others. A proportion of the royalties of this book will be donated to these groups. I have a list already in mind and your purchase will benefit others. I hope my honesty in relating my struggles with PTSD may help others to find the courage to fight it, rather than succumb to it.
I wish this had never happened but I’ve got no time to cry over spilled milk.
In Memorium: John ‘Breeze’ Martin (USN, Ret.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aviation Safety – General
Air Accidents Investigation Branch (UK), ‘Report of Airbus A330 C-GGWD and Airbus A340 TC-JDN, 2 October 2000’, www.gov.uk/aaib-reports, December 2014.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau, ‘Air Data System Failure Involving Airbus A330-243, A6-EYJ, 21 November 2013’, atsb.gov.au, May 2016.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau, ‘Erratic Speed Indication, Boeing 787-8, VH-VKE, 21 December 2015’, atsb.gov.au, June 2017.
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile (BEA), ‘AF447, F-GZCP, Final Report on Accident of 1 June, 2009’, www.bea.aero, July 2102.
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile (BEA), ‘Air France 471, F-GLZU, Serious Incident on 22 July 2011’, www.bea.aero, May 2012.
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile (BEA), ‘Final Report, Germanwings, D-AIPX, 24 March 2015’, www.bea.aero
Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes (CIAIAC), ‘Technical Report A006/2001, Accident of Aircraft Airbus A320-214, Registration EC-HKJ, at Bilbao Airport, 7 February 2001’, November 2006.
Cro
ft, John, ‘German Investigators Cast Wider Net For Frozen AOA Sensors in Pamplona Dive Incident’, Aviation Daily, March 25 2015.
Dieusaer, Tom, ‘Airbus 330 design flaws under scrutiny in the AF447 court case’, medium.com,
Federal Aviation Authority, ‘Air Carrier Training/ Enhanced Pilot Training and Qualification Requirements’, faa.gov, December 2017.
Federal Aviation Authority, ‘Stall and Stick Pusher Training’, FAA Advisory Circular AC 120-109, 2012.
Flight Safety Foundation, ‘Lufthansa LH-1829, D-AIDP, 5 Nov 2014’, aviation-safety.net
Hepher, Tim, ‘A400M Probe Focuses on Impact of Accidental Data Wipe’, Reuters, 10 June 2015.
Hepher, Tim, ‘Airbus Knew of Software Vulnerability Before A400M Crash’, Reuters, 8 November 2017.
Honeywell Aerospace, ‘Honeywell’s Inertial Navigation System Becomes Standard Equipment on Airbus’, Honeywell Press Release, honeywell.com, 30 April 2010.
Hradecky, Simon, ‘Air France A332 over Tanzania on Feb 12th 2012, Severe Turbulence and Temporary Loss of Control’, The Aviation Herald, www.avherald.com, July 2014
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Krahe, Chris, ‘The Iron Bird’, Airbus Technical Digest: Fast 24, May 1999
Lacagnina, Mark, ‘Ice Blocks A330 Pitot Probes’, flightsafety.org, September 2011.
Langewiesche, William, ‘Should Airplanes be Flying Themselves’, Vanity Fair, October, 2014.
Learmount, David, ‘Details of A330 Angle-Of-Attack Sensor Incident Emerge’, Flight Global, Dec 2012.
Levin, Alan, ‘Lion Air Crash Sheds Light on Cockpit Automation’s Dark Side’, Bloomberg, November 2018.
NASA Safety Center, ‘What’s Happening? The loss of Air France 447’, August 2012.
Reverbel, Pierre-Henri, ‘Blocked AoA Probes/ Temporary Procedure for Aircraft Equipped with Conic Cover Plates’, Airbus via scribd.com, December 2012.
SKYbrary, ‘A320 Vicinity of Perpignan France 2008’, www.skybrary.aero
SKYbrary, ‘Accident and Serious Incidents: Loss of Control/ Non-Normal FBW Flight Control Status’, www.skybrary.aero
Stock, Stephen and Putnam, Julie, ‘FAA Report: Pilots Addicted to Automation’, NBC Bay Area, 22 November 2013.
Thompson, Mark, ‘A Past Flight May Offer Clues to Air France 447’, time.com, June 2009.
Thurber, Matt, ‘Upset Training in the Age of Fly BY Wire’, Business Aviation, May 2016.
Traufetter, Gerald, ‘Doomed Flight AF 447/Questions Raised About Airbus Automated Control System’, Spiegel Online, May 2011.
Traufetter, Gerald, ‘The Computer vs. the Captain, Will Increasing Automation Make Jets Less Safe?’, Speigel Online, July 31, 2009.
Wainwright, William, ‘Airplane Upset Recovery’ Airbus Technical Digest: Fast 24, May 1999
Wise, Jeff, ‘What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447’, Popular Mechanics, 7 December 2011.
Zalagenaite, Zivile, ‘Blame the Pilot! The Case of Air France 447’, aerotime.aero, November 2017.
Automation
Ackerman, Evan, ‘An Autonomous Passenger Drone Seems Like a Terrible Idea’, IEEE Spectrum, February 2107.
Bromey, Nathan, ‘Self Driving Cars Could Kill Hundreds But Save Tens of Thousands, Toyota Executive Says’, USA Today, 29 March 2018.
Charette, Robert N. ‘Automated to Death’, IEEE Spectrum, December 2009.
Elish, Madelaine and Hwang, Tom, ‘Praise the Machine! Punish the Human! The Contradictory History of Accountability in Automated Aviation’, Madeleine Elish and Tim Hwang, Data & Society Research Institute, 24 February 2015.
Elish, Madelaine, ‘Letting Autopilot Off the Hook: Why do we blame humans when automation fails?’, Slate.com, 16 June 2016.
Greenemeier, Larry, ‘Deadly Tesla Crash Exposes Confusion Over Automated Driving’, Scientific American, July 2016.
Hiraki, Hiraki and Warnink, Mike, ‘Automation Bias and Surprise’, Cockpit Aviation Fact Sheet, Luchtvaartfeiten.nl, February 2016.
Marshall, Aarian, ‘Why UBER’s Self-Driving Crash Is Confusing for Humans’, WIRED.com, March 31, 2018.
Merchant, Brian, ‘The Deadly Recklessness of the Self-Driving Car Industry’, Gizmodo.com, December 2018.
Naughton, Keith and Beene, Ryan, ‘The Self-Driving UBER in Fatal Crash Didn’t Have a Vision Problem’, Bloomberg, 22 March 2018.
Wiener, Earl L. and Curry, Renwick, ‘Flight Deck Automation, Promises and Problems’, NASA Technical Memorandum 81206, NASA, June 1980.
Williams, Elliot, ‘Fatalities vs False Positives: The Lessons from the Tesla and UBER Crasher’, hackaday.com, June 2018.
PTSD & Pilot Mental Health
Brooksby, Scott and Alexander, Brian J. ‘What Can Be Done About Pilot Depression, Suicide, and Other Flight Crew Mental Health Issues?’, americanbar.org, November 2017.
Burke, Susan, ‘When Your Mental State Cries MAYDAY’, Air Line Pilot, August 2007.
Grossman, David, ‘Combat Stress Response & Tactical Breathing (Modified for the Combat Aviator)’, On Combat, summary by Rocky Apollo, goflightmedicine.com, May 2014.
Jeffreys, Matt MD, ‘Clinician’s Guide to Medications for PTSD’, Veterans Affairs and National Center for PTSD, 2017.
Kulish, Nichols and Clark, Nicola, ‘Germanwings Crash Exposes History of Denial on Risk of Pilot Suicide’, New York Times, 18 April 2105.
Notyce, Corina, ‘Tips to Help Kick Start Your Emotions’, Defence Center of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, February 2012.
Nutt, D.J., ‘The Psychobiology of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2000.
PTSDUnited.org, ‘PTSD Statistics’.
Royal College of Psychiatrists, ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’, rcpsych. ac.uk, April 2013.
Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association, ‘Pilots Helping Pilots: Mental Health for Pilots and Their Families’, swapafamily.org
Military
CV NATOPS Manual, NAVAIR 00-80T-105, Naval Air Systems Command, 21 October, 1999.
NATOPS Landing Signal Officer Manual, NAVAIR 00-80T-104, May 2009.
‘Out of Control Flight/ T-45 Strike’, Flight Training Instruction, CNATRA P-1216 (Rev. 5-12), Naval Air Training Command, 2012.
QF72
Albright, James, ‘QF 72 Case Study’, code7700.com
Australian Transport Safety Bureau, ‘Investigation AO-2008-070, VH-QPA’, Preliminary, Interim, Final Reports of QF72, atsb.gov.au.
Aviation International News, ‘Fly By Wire Failure’ and ‘Tales From the Flight Deck’, Episodes 7 and 8, podcast, ainonline.com
Carroll, Joanne, ‘Hurt Kiwi Fighting On’, The New Zealand Herald, 24 February 2013.
Coulthart, Ross ‘Airbus Transcript’, Yahoo 7, 20 October 2009.
‘Mid-Air Terror as QF72 Plunges’, News.Com.au, 31 August 2009.
National Geographic, Air Crash Investigation/Mayday, ‘Free Fall’, Season 18 Episode 7.
O’Sullivan, Matt, ‘The Untold Story of QF72: What Happens When ‘Psycho’ Automation Leaves Pilots Powerless?’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 May 2017.
Ramachandran, Arjun, ‘Ex-Fighter Pilot Saved QF72’, Sydney Morning Herald, October 15, 2008.
Squair, Matthew, ‘QF72 and Sense-Making in the Cockpit’, CriticalUncertanties.com, 13 May 2017
Thompson, Mark, ‘A Past Flight May Offer Clues to AF 447’, TIME, 3 June 2009.
PHOTO SECTION
The ‘glass cockpit’ of an Airbus A330. (Norbert Michalke/Alamy)
1control sidestick
2rudder and brake pedals
3primary flight display
4master caution and master warning lights
5navigation display
6park brake
&n
bsp; 7flight management computer 1
8aircraft systems control panels
9speed brake
10flight management computer 3
11trim wheel
12aircraft systems display
13speed, heading and altutude controls including autopilot
14engine thrust levers
15engine/warning display
16flaps lever
17flight management computer 2
The ‘transparent’ interface between the aircraft’s external sensors, ADIRUs and the flight control computers. There’s a lot going on between those units and the lines connecting them.
September 1977, Training Squadron 6, NAS Whiting Field, Florida. A young Ensign Sullivan starts his path to earning his wings. A new flight suit, my first helmet with my lucky shamrocks and full of motivation. (author collection)
Wings Day, September 1978. A proud mother has pinned Navy Wings of Gold on her son’s chest. NAS Chase Field, Beeville, Texas. (author collection)
Coming aboard the ‘Lady Lex’ (CVT-16) as viewed from the back seat of a T-2C Buckeye. (author collection)
Manning up for a morning launch on board USS America (CV 66). On work-ups prior to first deployment with fighter squadron VF-114, January 1981. (author collection)
Returning from a dawn patrol in the northern Sea of Japan. (author collection)
Transit of the Suez Canal, October 1981. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat had been assassinated days prior and the USS America was on full alert for a potential terrorist attack. This was the America’s second transit of the Suez. (US Navy)
Fighter Squadron VF-114 ‘Fighting Aardvarks’ on board USS Enterprise (CVN 65), 1982. Our orange flight suits match our squadron mascot ‘Zot’. (US Navy)
My radar intercept officer, ‘Breeze’, took this shot of a Tupolev TU-95 ‘Bear’ in the vicinity of USS Enterprise. Escorting nosey Soviet aircraft was a routine occurrence for a Tomcat driver during the Cold War. (US Navy)
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