On exchange with the RAAF’s No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit. We were in transit to Darwin and have dropped into Alice Springs for fuel. My wingman and I pose with ‘pistolas’ drawn while we refuel. (author collection)
My final flight in a fast jet. I reflect on my career and my lost comrades, reluctant to leave the cockpit of my Mirage 3. Speed Is Life and I will miss it. RAAF Base Williamtown, New South Wales. (author collection)
First Officer Sullivan (fifth from left) with the Qantas technical team, picking up a new 747-400 (VH-OJJ) from the Boeing factory on a wet day, February 1991. (author collection)
Operating a 767 as a first officer, heading north to an exotic Asian destination. We still need to use our charts to check our navigation system. (author collection)
VH-QPA in quieter times. (CC-BY-SA-2.0 Masakatsu Ukon)
QF72 on the parking area at Learmonth Airfield after the pitch downs and emergency landing. We were lucky the external stairs were available for our disembarkation. (Kristin Anderson/AAP)
My operational debrief to the crew on the ground at Learmonth; trying to explain the unexplainable. They were all so heroic. (F/A Rory)
The West Australian police have asked the crew to vacate the aircraft. CSM Lisa asks for clarification while the crew look on. (F/A Rory)
The first of the severely injured are flown out of Learmonth to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service. The medical response of the RFDS and medical teams at Exmouth was phenomenal. (F/A Rory)
The Hulk visits the cabin of QF72. The violent pitch-downs generated negative g forces that propelled passengers into the ceiling. The forces were severe enough for a person’s head to break through the plastic ceiling above their seats and to dislodge panels exposing the aircraft’s internal ducting. They were also sufficient to uproot the occupied toilet assemblies from their mounts. (F/A Tasha)
More broken panels, causing more broken bodies. (F/A Tasha)
The rear galley where the negative g forces were highest. Note the deformed stainless steel bar on the left side of the counter. This was caused by flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava’s body as he was slammed off the ceiling during the computer’s first pitch-down manoeuvre. (F/A Tasha)
Fuzzy is loaded into an ambulance in Perth after being airlifted from Learmonth by the RFDS. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)
A tired but uninjured QF72 passenger decsribes the pitch-downs to awaiting media at Perth Airport. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Fuzzy Maiava struggles to repair his broken body and broken life. His right knee bears the scars of his knee reconstruction. He has difficulty managing chronic pain, PTSD and extensive soft tissue damage caused by his injuries. (Chris Skelton/Stuff)
Air Transport Safety Bureau director of Air Safety Investigation Julian Walsh holds the flight recorder from VH-QPA during a press conference in Canberra. (Alan Porritt/AAP)
My last day at Qantas Airways. I lost my battle with PTSD and was medically terminated. Captain Matt Hicks, the hero pilot of QF32 (when an uncontained engine failure crippled an A380 flying out of Singapore), congratulates me on completing my commercial flying career. (author collection)
A pensive portrait from Fairfax Media in support of their article entitled ‘The Untold Story of QF72: What happens when “psycho” automation leaves pilots powerless’. (Louie Douvis/SMH)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Captain KEVIN ‘SULLY’ SULLIVAN has made flying his passion and his life for the past 40 years. He graduated in 1977 from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and earned his FAA Private Pilot Licence there before pursuing a career in the United States Navy. Designated a Naval Aviator in 1978, he was transferred to Naval Air Station Miramar (Fightertown) to fly the F-14 Tomcat in 1980. He was deployed to the Indian Ocean onboard USS America and USS Enterprise while assigned to Fighter Squadron 114 (VF-114 Fighting Aardvarks), and was chosen to attend the Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOP GUN).
In 1983 he was selected as the first US Navy Exchange Pilot to the Royal Australian Air Force, in the role of a Fighter Combat Instructor flying the Mirage 3. He joined Qantas Airways in 1986 and flew the Boeing 747 and 767 before transitioning to the Airbus A330 in 2004.
As Captain of Qantas Flight 72 (QF72) between Singapore and Perth, Western Australia, on 7 October 2008, he narrowly averted a horrific air disaster when a fault in the plane’s automation caused the plane to suddenly pitch down twice. He was medically retired in 2016.
COPYRIGHT
The ABC ‘Wave’ device is a trademark of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.
First published in Australia in 2019
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Kevin Sullivan 2019
The right of Kevin Sullivan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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ISBN: 978 0 7333 3974 5 (paperback)
ISBN: 978 1 4607 1090 6 (ebook)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of Australia
Cover design by HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover image by Louie Douvis/Fairfax Syndication
No Man's Land Page 26