Qualla: The Glide Over Java https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:27 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Glide Over Java https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009 The Glide Over Java: Introduction https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit G B_NZ, CC BY-SA 2.0. "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 going again. I trust you are not in too much distress." Captain Eric Moody's announcement to the 248 passengers aboard British Airways Flight 009 on the night of June 24, 1982, has become aviation's most celebrated understatement. Somewhere over the Indian Ocean, south of Java, a Boeing 747 had just become the world's largest glider -- and nobody on board understood why.

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Image: G B_NZ | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Glide Over Java: Fire on the Windscreen https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit Nova13, CC BY-SA 3.0. The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Perth was routine until around 13:40 UTC, when First Officer Roger Greaves noticed something strange through the cockpit windows. A pale, ghostly light was crawling across the windscreen -- St. Elmo's fire, the eerie electrical discharge that sailo...

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Image: Nova13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-fire-on-the-windscreen.mp3 0:06 2 full The Glide Over Java: Sixteen Minutes of Silence https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit Nova13, CC BY-SA 3.0. Senior Flight Engineer Barry Townley-Freeman worked through the restart checklist repeatedly while Moody and Greaves held the aircraft in a controlled descent. A 747 without engines glides at roughly a 15:1 ratio -- for every mile of altitude lost, it covers fifteen miles forward...

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Image: Nova13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-sixteen-minutes-of-silence.mp3 0:06 3 full The Glide Over Java: The Invisible Enemy https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit Nova13, CC BY-SA 3.0. What the crew could not know, and what no pilot in history had ever encountered at cruise altitude, was that they had flown into a cloud of volcanic ash ejected by Mount Galunggung, an active stratovolcano 150 kilometers to the north. The ash was dry and invisible to weather rada...

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Image: Nova13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-the-invisible-enemy.mp3 0:06 4 full The Glide Over Java: A Badger's Arse and a Safe Landing https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit Nova13, CC BY-SA 3.0. At approximately 13,500 feet, having descended out of the ash cloud, engine number four coughed back to life. As the aircraft dropped below the altitude where ash had accumulated inside the turbines, the cooled slag cracked and broke away, allowing air to flow again. Engine three...

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Image: Nova13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-a-badgers-arse-and-a-safe-landing.mp3 0:06 5 full The Glide Over Java: What the Ash Cloud Changed https://qualla.com/british-airways-flight-009/ Photo credit Nova13, CC BY-SA 3.0. Indonesian authorities closed the airspace around Galunggung -- then reopened it days later. It took a second incident, when a Singapore Airlines 747 lost three engines in the same ash cloud on July 13, to close the airspace permanently. The near-disaster forced the aviation worl...

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Image: Nova13 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/q/s/y/british-airways-flight-009-wp/qqsy-the-glide-over-java-what-the-ash-cloud-changed.mp3 0:06 6 full