Little importance given to pilot incapacitation

I have been following most of the television interviews of various experts of different channels, and am astonished that little or no importance has been given to ‘Pilot Incapacitation’. It would be interesting to know, that, in my 40 years of flying experience including the 777, a great amount of emphasis has been given, especially during simulator sessions, on pilot incapacitation. When the ‘Flying’ pilot is incapacitated, a procedure must be followed , wherein “non flying ” takes over. If both, the Captain and first officer are incapacitated, it would be a different matter all together.

In my opinion, one possible explanation to this bizzare event that has taken place on MH370 maybe that the batteries in the cargo compartment might have caught fire as theorised by many. A warning signal would have been received in the cockpit, smoke/fumes probably entered the cockpit simultaneously. In the 777, taking a turn or hanging altitude is done by first setting the required heading or the altitude in the counter on the panel in front of the pilot called MCP (manual control panel) and then executing it. My presumption is that on getting the warning ,the captain probably set his heading and put the altitude if indeed he wanted to descend and executed it. His intention was probably to land the aircraft at the nearest suitable airport.

By this time, both pilots may have got incapacitated due to inhalation of carbon monoxide or lack of oxygen, creating asphyxiation, hence being unable to give any distress call (Mayday/PAN). But, the aircraft would have continued to follow the inputs set by the pilot. After completion of the inputs, the aircraft would have continued on the heading and altitude after reaching it.

Now, a 777 in this condition, known as a ‘ghost plane’ would continue flying without any change in its heading or altitude on autopilot till the fuel is exhausted, after which, ditching into the ocean is inevitable.
Many comparisons can be made with Helios Airways flight 522 on Aug 14, 2005. It was carrying 150 passengers and a crew of six from Lamaca, Cyprus to Prague via Athens. It crashed into a mountain, at 12.04pm EEST, north of Marathon and Varnavas, Greece. A lack of oxygen incapacitated the crew, leading to the aircraft’s eventual crash after running out of fuel. The rescue teams located the wreckage near the community of Grammatiko, 40km from Athens. All 115 passengers and six crew on board the aircraft were killed.

My sympathies are with all on board MH370, and their relatives. But we must also remember and appreciate the efforts put in by all the authorities. This is an unenviable situation to be in, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, with the whole world tuned in to the happenings of March 8, 2014.

The government of Malaysia and MAS have handled the situation as best as they can, and as the Australian authorities said, “everyone in the world is searching for a needle in the haystack, but they don’t know where the haystack is.”

By Capt Girish Kaushik, a retired pilot
First published in FMT