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In the month the glide scope had been under repair, there had been something like 1,500 safe landings at Guam airport.
在“跑道射灯”进行修理的那个月里，已经有1500架飞机都安全着陆在关岛机场。
It was a small thing-an inconvenience, really, that make the task of landing a plane just a little bit more difficult.
这只是个小问题——不方便而已，真的只会给降落增加了一点困难。
"The second complication was the weather," Brenner continued. "Normally in the South Pacific, you've got these brief weather situations.
博瑞纳继续说道:“第二个因素是天气问题，通常在南太平洋，这样的天气你会收到天气预报。
But they go back quickly. You don't have storms. It's a tropical paradise.
而且天气变化很快，一般都不会有暴风雨，这里是热带气候的天堂。
But that night, there was some little cells, and it just happens that that evening, they were going to be flying into one of those little cells, a few miles from the airport.
但是那天晚上，上空有云层，而且也就只有那天晚上有，当时，他们就在距机场几英里以外的地方，刚刚就要进入云层地带。”
So the captain has to decide.What exactly is my procedure for landing?
因此，机长此刻必须决定，究竟需要采取哪种程序来进行着陆。
Well，they were cleared for what's called a VOR/DME approach. It's complicated.It's a pain in the ass.
他们接到指令使用航路全向信标／测距仪（VOR/DME）下降程序。这很复杂，很难处理。
It takes a lot of coordination to set it up. You have to calm down in steps.
这需要很多协调工作进行跟进，你必须按步骤执行，
But then, as it happens, from miles out, the captain sees the lights of Guam. So he relaxes.
但是，当机长在几英里外看到关岛的灯光时，他感到很放松。
And he says, 'We're doing a visual approach.'"
并且他说：“我们进行目测着陆。”
The VOR is a beacon that sends out a signal that allows the pilots to calculate their altitude as they approach an airport.
当飞行员接近机场时，可以依靠VOR发送信号的灯光，帮助他们计算距离地面的高度。
It's what pilots would rely on before the invention of the glide scope.
在跑道射灯没有发明以前，飞行员就是依靠这个来计算高度的。
The captain's strategy was to use the VOR to get the plane close, and then once he could see the lights of the runway, to land the plane visually.
机长的策略是先使用VOR让飞机接近机场，然后一旦看见跑道的灯光，就使用目测着陆。
Pilots do visual landings all the time. It seemed to make sense.
这看来很可行，飞行员经常做目测着陆。
But every time a pilot chooses a plane, he is supposed to prepare a backup in case things go awry.And this captain didn't.
而且每次飞行员采用一种计划时，都应该同时还有一种备选计划，以防止意外情况发生。但这位机长没有这样做。
"They should have been coordinating.You should have been briefing for the (DME) step-downs," Brenner went on."But he doesn't talk about that.
“驾驶舱内应该进行协调，机长应该告知大家将DME放慢，但是他没有讲。”班瑞纳继续说道，
The storm cells are all around them, and what the captain seems to be doing is assuming that at some point he's going to break out of the clouds and see the airport.
“暴风雨天气正包围着他们，看起来机长认为他可以穿越云层而且已看到机场，
And if he doesn't see it, by 560 feet, he'll just go around. Now, that would work, except for one thing.
如果他在560英尺的高度依然看不见，他就会复飞，现在那看起来比较可行，除了另一件事，
The VOR on which he's basing his strategy is not at the airport.It's 2.5 miles away on Nimitz Hill.
机长使用的VOR程序定位并不是在机场内，而是在2.5英里以外的尼米兹山上。
