Oops! Pilots on Qantas Airlines Forget to Lower Landing Gear
Qantas flight JQ12, a Boeing 767, was on approach at Syndney Airport on October 26th, when the pilots received a “gear too low” warning at about 700 feet. They had forgotten to put their landing gear down. They reacted quickly, aborted the landing and flew around again. Normally the aircraft should lower its gear between 2000 and 1500 feet.
It appears there was a communication breakdown between who was lowering the gear. Both pilots have stepped down during the investigation.
“The incident was reported to the ATSB and the pilots were stood down. We are supporting the ATSB’s investigation and our own investigations will determine what further action might be warranted,” a Qantas spokes person confirmed.
The airline states there was no “flight safety issue,” which I would have to disagree with. If the warning system had malfunctioned, this incident could have turned out much different. Putting down the landing gear is one of those important things to remember on a pilot’s landing checklist and should not be taken lightly when overlooked.
A Qantas Boeing 767, was on approach at Sydney Airport on October 26th, when the pilots received a “gear too low” warning at about 700 feet. They had forgotten to put their landing gear down. They reacted quickly, aborted the landing and flew around again. Normally the aircraft should lower its gear between 2000 and 1500 feet.
It appears there was a communication breakdown between who was lowering the gear. Both pilots have stepped down during the investigation.
“The incident was reported to the ATSB and the pilots were stood down. We are supporting the ATSB’s investigation and our own investigations will determine what further action might be warranted,” a Qantas spokes person confirmed.
The airline states there was no “flight safety issue,” which I would have to disagree with. If the warning system had malfunctioned, this incident could have turned out much different. Putting down the landing gear is one of those important things to remember on a pilot’s landing checklist and should not be taken lightly when overlooked.
I don’t know what it is about this video, but I love watching it. It really makes me think harder about going out and getting my pilot’s license. The nice music doesn’t hurt either!
When I am trying to sleep, I can find the “look out this window to see _______ mountain,” a little annoying. However being asked to pray by a pilot while in mid-flight would wake me up QUICK.
An Aseman Airlines Boeing 727-200 took off from Tehran, Iran, after a six-hour delay. About 45 minutes into the flight, there was a “technical glitch” and the plane had to turn around to go back to Tehran. The pilot informed the passengers of the issue and asked them to pray.
The plane landed and all passengers were safe. Details at this time are scarce and the airline is slacking a bit in the PR department.
Iran has been in the spotlight recently with the crash of a Caspian Airlines Tupolev 154 in July that killed all 168 aboard.
The good news is the pilots were not sleeping on Northwest Airlines flight 188 that missed Minneapolis by 150 miles. The bad news is they still missed the airport and the real reason is not enough to save their jobs.
* The Captain, 53 years old, was hired in 1985. His total flight time is about 20,000 hours, about 10,000 hours of A-320 time of which about 7,000 was as pilot in command.
* The First Officer, 54 years old, was hired in 1997. His total flight time is about 11,000 hours, and has about 5,000 hours on the A-320.
* Both pilots stated that they were not fatigued. They were both commuters, but they had a 19-hour layover in San Diego just prior to the incident flight. Both said they did not fall asleep or doze during the flight.
* Both said there was no heated argument.
* Both stated there was a distraction in the cockpit. The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from ATC even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio. Also, neither pilot noticed messages that were sent by company dispatchers. They were discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system that was now in place as a result of the merger. The discussion began at cruise altitude.
* Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure. The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure was providing instruction to the captain. The use of personal computers on the flight deck is prohibited by company policy.
* Neither pilot was aware of the airplane’s position until a flight attendant called about 5 minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked what was their estimated time of arrival (ETA). The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed MSP. They made contact with ATC and were given vectors back to MSP.
* Both pilots said there are no procedures for the flight attendants to check on the pilots during flight.
It is against Northwest Airline’s policy for pilots to access laptops while in flight and these pilots have been doing their job long enough to know this. They had the radio on, but were engrossed in their conversation and laptops to notice people were concerned they lost contact and missed the airport. It is too bad that one incident like this will ruin these pilot’s careers, but with so many lives and Northwest Airline’s reputation at stake, there needs to be serious consequences for their actions.
UPDATE 4:33pm: Airline Biz Blog is reporting that Delta Air Lines (parent of Northwest Airlines) is stating the pilots will lose their jobs. The airline’s policy states that using laptops while in flight will lead to a pilot’s termination. Delta CEO Richard Anderson said: “Nothing is more important to Delta than safety. We are going to continue to cooperate fully with the NTSB and the FAA in their investigations.”
Last December we reported on a Go! Airlines flight where the pilots fell asleep and missed the airport. Today a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 flight missed their destination of Minneapolis by 150 miles.
The flight crew said they became engrossed in a conversation about airline policy (and honestly, who couldn’t?) and lost track of their location. However, the FAA is investigating if pilot fatigue played any roll in this event.
The flight from San Diego to Minneapolis had 144 passengers onboard and none of them were aware of what happened, until the aircraft was swarmed by police once they finally arrived. The police kept all passengers onboard until they were allowed to question the flight crew.
The FAA lost contact with the aircraft while it was traveling at 37,000 feet and they notified the Air National Guard, who then put two fighter jets on alert. They were never given the order to take off.
Andrea Allmon, a passenger who had been traveling from San Diego on business, stated, “When I do my job, I do my job. These guys are supposed to be paying attention to the flight. The safety of the passengers should be first and foremost. (It’s) unbelievable to me that they weren’t paying attention. Just not paying attention.”
She is right. No matter if they were awake having a heated debate, they should have still been paying attention to their flight and of course the radio. The FAA is investigating the incident and the two pilots have been suspended from flying. Hopefully it is not found that the pilots fell asleep during flight.
