Qantas pilots stood down over landing gear incident

[Naim 6]

Qantas pilots stood down over landing gear incident

 

CRAIG PLATT AND ROBYN GRACE

November 4, 2009 - 10:12AM

 

Two flights by Qantas-owned airlines are under investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau after separate safety incidents.

 

Two Qantas pilots have been stood down following an incident at Sydney Airport in which they failed to lower their plane's landing gear as it approached the runway.

 

The incident, confirmed by the airline today, occurred on a Melbourne-Sydney flight on October 26.

 

The plane reportedly got as low as 700 feet on its approach to the airport before the pilots realised their error and began "go around" procedures.

 

The pilots also received a audio cockpit alert warning them with the words "gear too low".

 

In a statement, Qantas said it was taking the incident seriously.

 

"The flight crew knew all required procedures but there was a brief communications breakdown," the airline said.

 

"They responded quickly to the situation and instigated a 'go around'. The cockpit alert coincided with their actions. There was no flight-safety issue."

 

Qantas confirmed that the pilots had been stood down and said further action might be taken after investigations by the airline and the ATSB.

 

In a second incident, an international Jetstar flight experienced problems with one of its airspeed indicators - the same instrument that might have contributed to an Air France jet crash over the Atlantic, which killed 228 people in June.

 

Jetstar flight JQ12 was carrying 200 passengers between Tokyo and the Gold Coast last Thursday when there was a momentary fluctuation in one of three airspeed indicators.

 

Jetstar confirmed the incident today, saying the crew remained "in full control" of the Airbus 330-200 at all times and, after consulting Jetstar operations in Melbourne, landed without incident on the Gold Coast.

 

"The technical crew reported a momentary fluctuation of one of the aircraft's three airspeed indicators," a Jetstar spokeswoman said in a statement.

 

"The related indication lasted for a number of seconds and then returned to normal."

 

Passengers would not have been aware of the incident, the spokeswoman said.

 

"Early indications are that a component of the airspeed-sensing system suffered a momentary interruption, after which the aircraft systems returned to normal," she said.

 

"The aircraft systems acted as designed."

 

The aircraft was kept on the Gold Coast overnight where "certain parts" were replaced and detailed checks undertaken, the spokeswoman said. It is now back in service.

 

Investigators into the Air France crash have focused on incorrect speed readings as one potential factor.

 

The European Aviation Safety Agency in August ordered airlines to replace airspeed probes made by the French group Thales on Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft after one provided incoherent readings to the jet on its doomed flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

 

Jetstar planes are not believed to be fitted with the Thales probes.

 

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the JQ12 event did not include any messages associated with aircraft flight control faults.

 

He said the A330 had "multiple back-up systems and these, along with pilot procedures, meant there was no flight safety issue".

 

Jetstar, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau are investigating last week's incident.

 

The airline is also liaising with Airbus on the issue, the spokeswoman said.

 

Source: theage.com.au

 

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-news/qantas-pilots-stood-down-over-landing-gear-incident-20091104-hw6n.html?autostart=1

[Ryan Soh 3]

OMG... I seriously thought incidents like these (not lowering of gears) have been grappled with in CRM courses. Guess I was wrong. During my Human Performance Limitations course in flight school, one of the modules covered was the over reliance of the humans on computers and the gradual "supidifying" of the human brain due to this.

 

Somehow the words of my instructor still rings eerily in my head today because he said "No matter how many procedures you have to fall back on, it is just a matter of when, and not if, should an incident occur because we are only human. Just pray it won't happen on your watch...".

 

I guess luck ran out for these two pilots?

[Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2]

I thought they have to go through a checklist before landing, and still they forget to lower the landing gear? What were they thinking?

[Nik H. 3]

There must be more to it than just 'forgetting' the lowering of the landing gear. 700 feet is still 90 seconds from touchdown. The pilots would not have to be chastised for this, and the fact that the media got hold of this is indicative of other related issues not immediately apparent.

[Radzi 2]

I wonder what aircraft type was involved in the landing gear "incident". I know that when the condition is favorable, the landing gear of the B734 can be lowered at 1200 ft (4 miles) and the aircraft will still be comfortably stabilized by 500 ft.

[Naim 6]

I wonder what aircraft type was involved in the landing gear "incident". I know that when the condition is favorable, the landing gear of the B734 can be lowered at 1200 ft (4 miles) and the aircraft will still be comfortably stabilized by 500 ft.

 

It's a 767.

 

===

 

Qantas pilots forget to lower the wheels in botched landing at Sydney airport

 

By Richard Shears

Last updated at 9:27 AM on 04th November 2009

 

Two Qantas pilots have been suspended after a Boeing 767 came within 700ft of landing at Sydney airport before they realised the wheels had not been lowered.

 

The airline has launched an investigation into the incident and the pilots are due to be interviewed by air safety investigators on Friday.

 

The flight from Melbourne was forced to do a second lap above the airport on October 26 after a cockpit alarm went off as the Boeing prepared to touch down, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.

 

Investigators are understood to be looking at possible human error and a communication breakdown between the first officer and captain about who was lowering the undercarriage, according to The Australian.

 

It quotes a former Boeing 767 pilot as saying that a crew on an instrument approach would normally start lowering the undercarriage when the plane was between 2,000ft and 1,500ft from the ground in order to ensure that the aircraft was stable and configured to land by the time it was down to 1,000ft.

 

In visual conditions, the former pilot said, the aircraft needed to be stable by 500ft, but lowering the gear at 700ft or even at 1,000ft was still far too late.

 

According to the International Air Transport Association, problems with landing gear resulted in 15 per cent of airline 'hull-loss' accidents last year.

 

Qantas said flight safety was never at risk but it had stood the pilots down pending the bureau's inquiry into whether human error was to blame.

 

'This is an extremely rare event, but one we have taken seriously,' the airline said in a statement.

 

'The flight crew knew all required procedures but there was a brief communication breakdown. They responded quickly to the situation... the cockpit alarm coincided with their actions.'

 

The ATSB said: 'Passing 700 feet on approach into Sydney, the crew commenced a missed approach due to the aircraft being incorrectly configured for landing.'

 

The bureau's air safety spokesman Ian Sangston said the 'too low gear' alert sounded because the landing gear had not been lowered, but said it was too early to speculate on the cause.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1225117/Pilots-forced-abort-landing-Sydney-airport-700ft-ground-failed-lower-wheels.html#ixzz0Vu65ZtN3

[Aaron Goh 1]

Well, they reacted to too low gear and went around. Some credits to them there I suppose.

[Ahmad M 1]

A mistake was made but was corrected appropriately, nothing much to get too excited about.

[Naim 6]

You can never be too careful. In hospitals, every doc/nurse carries a card with SOP on how to handle accidental skin puncture by a syringe. Sounds trivial to us commonfolks, but potentially serious matter.

[Cheng Long 0]

Thought lowering the landing gear prior to landing is something that pilots do so often that it should be second nature to them.. Though they have checklist, they should not need any prompting. Unless they are very new or tired..

 

So forgot to lower the landing gear is a serious matter..

[Gavin Andrew David 6]

Well thankfully , the GPWS system worked well !