GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
ERIC MOODY

I was always brought up to expect the aeroplane might break any minute.

Eric Moody

British Airways 747 captain, reflecting on his famous 1982 event, losing all four engines, at night, over mountains. Interview in a 2022 Flight Safety Australia article.

Ladies and gentleman, 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

PA to passengers, British Airways Flight 009, Boeing 747 City of Edinburgh, after flying through volcanic ash near Java, 24 June 1982. Wording varies slightly in later accounts, but this is the quote by Betty Tootell in her 1985 book All Four Engines Have Failed: The True and Triumphant Story of Flight BA 009 and the Jakarta Incident. She describes it as “a masterpiece of dramatic understatment”. When next he spoke to the cabin, it was with better news:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Captain speaking. We seem to have overcome that problem and have managed to start all the engines. We are diverting to Jakarta and expect to land in about fifteen minutes.”.