SIA pilots blamed in NZ airport mishap
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SIA pilots blamed in NZ airport mishap
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/lat...25486,00.html?
December 15 2003
SIA pilots blamed in NZ airport mishap
WELLINGTON -- A series of basic pilot errors led to a Singapore Airlines 747 dragging its tail about 500m along an Auckland Airport runway during a take-off, a safety investigation has found.
The aircraft was then forced to circle for about 20 minutes before making an emergency landing. None of the 369 passengers, 17 cabin crew, or three pilots was injured in the accident, but the tail of the plane was extensively damaged.
A Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report, released early Tuesday, said the three pilots on flight SQ286 to Singapore were almost completely to blame for the strike, which occurred when the captain tried to take off at too slow a speed .
The investigation found the aircraft also veered, coming within 4.5m of the right hand side of the runway. It said the accident could have been far worse if the aircraft had gone off the runway.
SIA said it accepted the report's findings in full and all the pilots were reprimanded. The captain was also demoted and had since left the airline.
'Singapore Airlines is sorry that pilot error prior to the take-off led to this aviation occurrence,' SIA public relations manager Stephen Forshaw said.
'The safety recommendations of the TAIC to SIA have been, or are being, implemented in full.'
All three pilots had been reprimanded over the incident.
The incident resulted from the first officer mistakenly entering an aircraft weight figure 100 tonnes lighter than it should have been into his take-off speed calculations.
The captain failed to pick up the error when he checked the calculation, the second officer, who was busy explaining an earlier delay to airport staff, did not check it and all three pilots failed to notice the difference between their own calculation and that of the flight management computer.
As a result the captain 'rotated' the plane to a take-off angle at 123 knots (221kmh) rather than the correct 151 knots.
With the plane failing to take-off, it tilted 4.0 degrees more than normal, resulting in its tail striking the runway and dragging for 490m while the plane struggled to get into the air. -- AFP
December 15 2003
SIA pilots blamed in NZ airport mishap
WELLINGTON -- A series of basic pilot errors led to a Singapore Airlines 747 dragging its tail about 500m along an Auckland Airport runway during a take-off, a safety investigation has found.
The aircraft was then forced to circle for about 20 minutes before making an emergency landing. None of the 369 passengers, 17 cabin crew, or three pilots was injured in the accident, but the tail of the plane was extensively damaged.
A Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report, released early Tuesday, said the three pilots on flight SQ286 to Singapore were almost completely to blame for the strike, which occurred when the captain tried to take off at too slow a speed .
The investigation found the aircraft also veered, coming within 4.5m of the right hand side of the runway. It said the accident could have been far worse if the aircraft had gone off the runway.
SIA said it accepted the report's findings in full and all the pilots were reprimanded. The captain was also demoted and had since left the airline.
'Singapore Airlines is sorry that pilot error prior to the take-off led to this aviation occurrence,' SIA public relations manager Stephen Forshaw said.
'The safety recommendations of the TAIC to SIA have been, or are being, implemented in full.'
All three pilots had been reprimanded over the incident.
The incident resulted from the first officer mistakenly entering an aircraft weight figure 100 tonnes lighter than it should have been into his take-off speed calculations.
The captain failed to pick up the error when he checked the calculation, the second officer, who was busy explaining an earlier delay to airport staff, did not check it and all three pilots failed to notice the difference between their own calculation and that of the flight management computer.
As a result the captain 'rotated' the plane to a take-off angle at 123 knots (221kmh) rather than the correct 151 knots.
With the plane failing to take-off, it tilted 4.0 degrees more than normal, resulting in its tail striking the runway and dragging for 490m while the plane struggled to get into the air. -- AFP
