http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/pilots-forget-important-landing-step-3112195
"There has been an incident on Praxis..."
"There has been an incident on Praxis..."
QANTAS pilots forget to lower landing gear...
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
Really pushing that safety record, aren't they?
They almost made a Qantas leap....
Thank goodness everybody is okay, though.
Thank goodness everybody is okay, though.
QANTAS bashing is to Australians what Air Canada bashing is Canadians (and I've flown both
But yes their standards in both maintanence and customer service are slipping and slipping fast.
A few years back one of their 747-400s went off the runaway in Bangkok with company policy prohibiting the use of reverse thrust for breaking a major factor. Two stories that circulated afterwards - the ban on reverse thrust was costing saving measure (saving fuel by not spooling the engines up again) and b) they had $100million worth of damage repaired so they could keep their record of no hull loss accciedents.
Other recent accidents included an oyxgen cyclinder explonding on a 747 blowing a large whole in the fuselage, a 747 landing with battery power for the avionics after a water leak caused a short circuit and galley heating unit shifting flight as an aircraft returned to Australian from a major overhaul and oveseass maintanence base.
The former CEO who pretty much ran the airline into the ground and oversaw 1000s lose their jobs (under Dixon's watch QANTAS wanted Australian to fly with them, but tried not employe them) has just walked away with a multi-million dollar payout.
I know most modern-day airliners, including the 767, should have an on-board pilot alert system that should've told them to lower the gear when they didn't, but I'd think it would've told them sooner.
yeah it's call cockpit procedures. Gear should be lowered around 2000feet to give them time to make sure it's properly configured for landing.
I'm not sure that's something that could be automated because there could be a variety of factors that come into play in determining when the undercarriage gets lowered.
Modern planes have a system (I think it's called an annunciator) that will warn the pilot when he's not doing something right, usualy in the sound of a tone or in some cases a voice. If they dropped below a certain altitude a certain tone should've sounded or a voice that said "Gear Down! Gear Down!"
I think in Boeing the ground proximity warning system calls "Too low; GEAR!". Depends on the version...if your pilots ever leave the cockpit doors open when they test this you can catch the annunciations played.
Anyway, "brief communication breakdown" means checklist failure. They missed a step. They need review and retraining, but I would not be excruciatingly harsh on them. "The system" is what ultimately keeps the skies safe. Human beings are horribly inconsistent at mentally adhering to scripted procedure. We design our safety warnings, dummy lights etc. to protect us.
Anyway, "brief communication breakdown" means checklist failure. They missed a step. They need review and retraining, but I would not be excruciatingly harsh on them. "The system" is what ultimately keeps the skies safe. Human beings are horribly inconsistent at mentally adhering to scripted procedure. We design our safety warnings, dummy lights etc. to protect us.
Am I the only one who thought about Dustin Hoffman refusing to get on the plane after this? 
Of all the various and sundry things that can go wrong with a flight, a gear-up landing is actually one of the safer ones from the passenger perspective. It can be hell on the aircraft, though.
The pilots would be able to maintain aerodynamic control of the plane even if they were sliding along on the belly, and on most larger models the baggage compartment is below the passenger cabin and would take the worst of any damage.
The pilots would be able to maintain aerodynamic control of the plane even if they were sliding along on the belly, and on most larger models the baggage compartment is below the passenger cabin and would take the worst of any damage.
"An Incident!!??
I know - I actually misread your post and through you were talking about a system to automatically know the gear.
And that's what happened in this instance - the ground warning system anounced the warning though at 700 feet it meant they had to go around.
Do we report this sir?
Which, makes me wonder why the annunciator sounded off at 700 feet rather than a more useful altitude.
It's not a Boeing product, but sitting in 3D on an MD-80, you can clearly hear the altitude annunciator calling off the altitude as the plane descends through 1000 feet to touchdown.
At least these guys didn't miss the airport by 150 miles because they were trying to figure out how to maximize their schedule.
Ziggy says there's a 10% chance anybody will get that, and a 5% chance it was funny.
Am I the only one who thought about Dustin Hoffman refusing to get on the plane after this?
Definitely. Quantas is getting a blackmark in Ray's notebook right next to "Grabbed, and pulled, and hurt my neck in 1988."
Ziggy says there's a 10% chance anybody will get that, and a 5% chance it was funny.
You're one to talk about humor ...
And i not only got it but was mildly amused ...
Ziggy says there's a 10% chance anybody will get that, and a 5% chance it was funny.
You're one to talk about humor ...
And i not only got it but was mildly amused ...
yeah it gave me a giggle too.
