The Anonymous Widower

The Jumbo Jet on Top Gear

I have been curious about the 747 Jumbo, that appears in the background of many of the scenes on Top Gear. I just wondered how it got there and I found the story of G-BDXJ on Wikipedia. It was originally called City of Birmingham.

Now, I had thought that a 747 of this name had been involved in the Jakarta Incident, where the aircraft lost all power because of volcanic dust from Mount Gulunggung.  But it was actually called City of Edinburgh and the story of the flight is one of my favourite books, called All Four Engines Have Failed by Betty Toothill, who had been a passenger on the flight. It is a marvellous study of adversity and how to come through it unscathed.

The captain of the aircraft, Eric Moody, will go down in history as giving the most understated  instructions as a disaster was unfolding.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.

We would all hope we could be so cool under pressure.

There is also a happy ending to the story, in that nobody was killed or even hurt. But also the author of the book, Betty Toothill got married to a fellow passenger.

This surely, is a story that deserves to be made into a film.

Sadly, I have lost my copy of the book.

February 13, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Flying