British Airways Flight 009

Introduction
British Airways Flight 009 was a passenger flight from London Heathrow to Auckland with multiple stops across the Indian Ocean. The aircraft accidentally flew into an ash cloud which lead to a quadruple engine failure.

Pilots
Captain Eric Moody, First Officer Roger Greaves and Flight Engineer Barry Townley-Freeman flew the aircraft during the encounter, and they had gotten on the flight on the second stopover.

The Incident
The flight is heading to it's 3rd stopover, Perth. The plane is currently flying from Kuala Lumpur, and is crossing the Indian Ocean. Captain Moody gets out of his seat to go to the bathroom, but while he does that, something strange happens. A haze, almost resembling smoke, enters the cabin.

Not As It Seems
Most passengers are asleep, and do not notice it. It is still legal to smoke on-board a passenger flight in 1982, so those who are awake shrug it off. But the cabin crew notice that the smoke is thicker than usual. They believe a fire may have broken out on the airplane. They search bathrooms and other areas to make sure there is no fire. But in the cockpit, something even stranger is taking place.

Whilst Moody is in the bathroom, strange pricks of light begin to flash up outside the plane. These resemble St. Elmo's Fire, a phenomenon that occurs when flying through thunderclouds. But the radar in the cockpit shows there are no thunderclouds, and this concerns the pilots. They turn their landing lights on so they can see better, and they see a thin cloud outside their window. They turn the seat-belt sign on, and hope the captain comes back into the cockpit.

A passenger at the back of the plane looks out of the window to see a strange blue light on the edge of the wing. The smoke in the cabin is now getting thicker and the passengers are starting to notice it. Many can now see it coming from the vents of the aircraft, and are wondering what is going on.

In the cockpit, a smell of sulphur and electrics has filled the room. The captain returns, and the other flight crew explains to him what happened. First Officer Greaves, looking out his window, exclaims 'Oh my lord, look at engine 4!' The rest of flight crew looks out the window to see the blue haze circulating the engine, almost as if it was on fire. He asks Captain Moody to check his side, and he sees the same effect appearing on engine 1. Flight Engineer Freeman can smell the smoke from the cabin, but none of his instruments show signs of a fire. But in the cabin, it's a different story.

Passengers look out their windows to see engines with flames extending behind it for 20 ft. In the cockpit, there's more panic. Engine 4 has just stopped functioning, and they shut it down. There is no fire warning, meaning the crew still have no idea about the flames extending behind the jet. Flight attendants are placing any loose items into cabinets in case the plane enters a dive, and everyone is preparing for the worst. Then, the worst happens. In the cockpit, they discover engine 2 has failed, and then, at almost the exact same time, engine 3 and 1 fail. All four engines are no longer running.

All Four Engines
The four non-functioning engines are shut down, and the passengers notice this. They realise that there is nothing keeping them in the sky expect momentum. With the engines gone, power to the plane decreases rapidly, and the First Officer declares an emergency. But the message is not getting through. As well as this, the nose of the aircraft pitches down, and the plane is now relying on gravity to keep them in the air. Eventually, another plane pipes in and tells the controller whats going on. But if the crew don't get their engines restarted, they'll be in the sea.

The pilots were trained for a quadruple engine failure, but the situation they're in was far from what happened in the simulator. They try to restart the engines, but nothing happens. They try again and again and again. They begin to turn their aircraft around to the nearest airport, Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, which is in Jakarta. Upon asking to turn back, they discover that ATC cannot see them on radar. They continue to turn despite this, and also discover that their speed instrument is no longer functioning. To restart engines, your plane has to be at a specific speed. Without knowing what speed you're on, restarting engines is going to be difficult.They move the nose of the aircraft up and down to increase and decrease their speed, as they were trying to find the correct speed purely blind. This worries the passengers, as they think he sudden movement is the plane entering more danger.

The passengers are also finding it hard to breathe as not only is there smoke, the pressurisation in the cabin is beginning to decrease. This is because the engines help with the pressurisation, and none of them are working. The crew put their oxygen masks on, but First Officer Greaves' mask is not working, so they take the risky move of descending down to a breathable altitude. The oxygen masks in the cabin also come down, but some of the masks separate from the plane, similar to Greaves' mask. But most passengers are still finding it harder to breathe, even though the oxygen masks look fine. The speaker system in the airplane is also no longer functioning, so the lead flight attendant announces how to use the oxygen masks using a megaphone.

First Officer Greaves manages to fix his mask, and the crew begin to try and restart the engines again. They try again and again, as that's the only thing that can save their plane. Captain Moody is also faced with a difficult task, as Soekarno–Hatta International Airport has a mountain range in front of it, and if they don't restart their engines soon they won't make it over. He begins to think they might have to ditch the aircraft. He distracts himself from this thought by finally announcing to the passengers and addressing the issue. By this point, not many chances were left of the engines restarting before they have to turn around, but they don't give up. They try again and, out of the blue, engine 4 starts back up again.

Almost Out of Trouble
Passengers and crew are delighted to hear the low rumbling noise of an engine startup, but they haven't cleared all of their problems. One engine cannot take them over the mountain range, meaning the other engines have to get started up as soon as possible. Then, engine 3 comes back online. Followed shortly by engine 2 and 1. A plane running on no engine power, heading for a mountain range, is running again. ATC can now hear them clearly, and the strange light on the windshield and engines is gone. With passengers applauding and everything looking fine, Captain Moody climbs back up to get over the mountain range. But just as he does, the pricks of light return. Engine 2 soon fails, and they shut it down. But they are soon able to descend back beneath the strange effect, which is then followed by another.

A strange mist has built up on the windshield, and so they try every mechanism the plane is equipped with to get it off. None of them work. It was almost as if the glass itself had been damaged, but not all of it. Captain Moody spots that a strip at the edge of his window is still transparent, and he can see the city of Jakarta through it. As well as this, the landing system that helps pilots get on the ground is not working. To fix this, First Officer Greaves calls out the the altitude and speed that the flight is supposed to be at during this point of the descent. The aircraft nears closer and closer to the ground, and lands on the runway.

Passengers applaud the bravery and perseverance of the pilots, and the aircraft slows to a stop. The pilots were happy too, and were laughing and talking once it stopped. Passengers hug each other in relief and happiness, and the flight crew hands out cups of Champagne to celebrate the miraculous landing. The pilots check through the paperwork, as they worry they were at fault for the accident. After getting out, passengers see that paint has been stripped off of the aircraft in a strange way. The glass was also damaged to a similar extent, but what caused it?

Aftermath
The strange effect and what it caused was due to the nearby eruption of Mount Galunggung, and the ash that spewed out of the volcano glided into the path of Flight 9. This ash caused the engines to flame out, created the strange effect, caused difficulty in communication and was the smoke-like substance in the cabin. A Singapore Airlines jet was also effected by the ash, but not as seriously. After the accident, pilots were trained to recognise the signs of volcanic ash, and geologists studying the volcano now have contact with airports and ATC, allowing planes to divert around the ash. The crew of the flight were showered with awards and praise after they saved all 263 lives on-board.

Betty Tootell, a passenger on the flight, wrote a book, titled 'All Four Engines Have Failed' and the incident was covered in S4 E2 of 'Air Crash Investigation'. The incident also formed the 'Galunggung Gliding Club', a club that all 263 people on-board were part of.

This incident will be forever remembered as one of the most life-changing events in aviation history.