Coward, the Courageous Pilot

Coward the Courageous Man

To break away from the madness of the world contained in the seriousness and incredulity of the news I sometimes switch to the make-belief world of cartoons.

One such cartoon is titled Courage the Cowardly Dog – one could not have thought that in real life we would experience nouns and adverbs switch places in what normally ends up in harrowing tragedy. Air crashes.

The irony could not have been lost on anyone who heard of the plane crash at the London Heathrow Airport on Thursday, that everyone walked away alive because of the dogged determination, the consummate professionalism and the courage of co-pilot John Coward, 41.

Effective investigations

For now, we do not know why the plane failed to give thrust when demanded by the auto-pilot and manually by the co-pilot.

The Boeing 777-200ER airliner supposedly has an excellent safety record, but the investigators would still have to determine what went wrong and why – I am pleased that these investigations have excellent follow-through in lessons learnt and effective action to be taken by the airline industry.

Within the joy of survival for which many would be thankful is the cack-handedness of British Airways that left the survivors who did not need hospital treatment without succour and refreshments for hours and they received improper assistance considering their baggage and personal effects which would have been left on the plane.

It would appear the ground staff did not exercise an equivalent level of care and concern as exemplified by the airline crew in bring the plane down “safely” and evacuating the plane with calm efficiency.

Meanwhile, Many Thanks to John Coward, the Courageous Man.