Richard de Crespigny Was The Captain Of The A380 Which Suffered An Uncontained Engine Failure

In Australia, he's often referred to as "Captain Fantastic", but his book detailing the account of Qantas flight QF32 is having difficulty reaching an audience beyond the shores of the continent nation.

"Captain Fantastic" is Richard de Crespigny, who is described as that country's version of Capt. "Sully" Sullenberger. He was the captain of the Qantas Airbus A380 which suffered an uncontained engine failure shortly after takeoff from Changi Airport in Singapore. One of the Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines on the plane sent shards of metal through the airplane's left wing when it failed.

Describing the landing in the book, de Crespigny writes:

"We were going to be coming in too fast and landing an aircraft that was way too heavy, out of balance, with damaged wings, little rolling capacity and broken wheel brakes, speed brakes and an inoperative engine reverser. Perhaps all these failures would add up to be an impossible mix."

Fortunately, as we all know, the flight landed safely, but that was not a forgone conclusion as the airplane returned to Singapore. The Huffington Post describes the book as one that deserves to be read not only by aviation safety professionals and pilots, but the general public as well. It was published by Pan Macmillan Australia and is available outside Australia online.

(Image courtesy of the Australian Transportation Safety Board)

FMI: www.QF32.aero