In a previous Monday morning quarterback argument:

"He abdicated complete personal responsibility for any kind of
contingency plan or consideration of how he was going to get back with
limited fuel."

Bruce Hamilton

And what the hell else do you expect them to say????

Jerry:
You have stretched this about as far as possible. Your logic is flawed and
you are coming across as just plane silly.
Jimmy


Pac sez:

Well Guys, I think Jerry actually has a valid point. Government
agencies frequently dig in their heels when a public acusation of
unreasonablness is levied at them. Ever been over a pole? I bet only
one percent of the readers here have.

Infrequently, Polar track flights would have to venture that far North
due to congestion. But comming from Frankfurt, Sonderstrom and Bodo
FIR's would not allow you to proceed into the Polar track system (PTS)
unless you had broke into busy HF well prior to approaching the PTS
gateway and patiently waited for that essential clearance. Poor
planning or Sunspot activity? Tough situation. The Europe H/Lchart
stated in boldface you were to not to proceed past that point without
that clearance.(means: go into holding and burn up your fuel reserve.)
We kept trucking one day without it, (too heavy, no gas
to screw around with) and were told 80 miles into the Polar track,
when we finally raised them, that we were head-to-head with a
Northwest 74 out of PANC at that future altitude. We had to stay at
280 and 290 most of the way and landed with iffy fuel in Anc! We were
not popular! But luckily, they didn't turn us in. Poor planning?
Irresponsible? Yes, I guess it was. Next time I'll hire a fortune
teller to predict those sunspots and ship in 200,000 pounds of fuel
inside the arctic cirle somewhere! ;-)

The "Asia direct" flying (as it was called) was challenging but fun.
Many flights started over 800,000 lbs. Diverting into any old
slippery field under 10,000 feet long risked running off the end.

And if you turn back every time something goes wrong with the
government system, you'll just never get anywhere.

No, I say Jon Johanson did all right. Buy that man a Foster's!

happy holidays,

pacplyer

(Ever venture too far in your airplane?)