Texting While Flying Is Dangerous Too: Pilot Forgets to Lower Landing Gear
- Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:26am by
Liz Klimas
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(Photo: Jetstar)
A Jetstar pilot flying from Darwin, Australia, to Singapore had to quickly abort his landing because the appropriate gear for touching down hadn’t been deployed. This wasn’t because there was a malfunction though. According to reports, the pilot forgot to lower the gear because he was texting.
The Herald Sun reports the incident happened in May 2010 but the Australian Transport Safety Bureau more recently released a report reconstructing the events. Here’s how it went down — or didn’t for that matter:
The first officer, who was flying the plane at the time, repeatedly attempted to alert the distracted captain that he wanted to pull out of the landing.
However the captain failed to respond to the request for a missed approach altitude of 5000ft.
“The FO (first officer) recalled that, after still not getting a response from the captain, he looked over and, on seeing the captain preoccupied with his mobile phone, set the missed approach altitude himself,” the report stated.
The captain said he was in the process of unlocking and turning off his phone and did not hear the call for a go-around.
According to the report the pilots failed to adequately prepare for the landing in several ways and a lack of communication left them confused by the other’s actions.
“The simulator session also identified a period of about two minutes between about 2800ft and 1000ft in the descent where no control manipulations or systems activation was recorded,” the report said.
“In contrast, during that period, a number of tasks should have normally been completed in preparation for landing.”
With no wheels deployed for landing, The Age reported, at 720 feet an alarm began to sound in the cockpit. At 650 feet the pilot had deployed the gear but another “too low” warning sounded, which the The Age said indicated the gear was not fully extended or locked into place. At an altitude of 392 feet, the crew aborted the landing.
Check out this report from Mashable on the incident:
Jetstar’s Chief Pilot Captain Mark Rindfleish is reported as saying “human factors, like distraction,” is one of the reasons there are so many checklists the pilots must go through before operations such as landing.
“We take a very conservative approach to how far before touchdown an aircraft should be completely configured for landing,” Rindfleish said in a statement. “In the case of JQ57, pilot distraction meant all the landing checklist items weren’t completed before the aircraft passed an altitude of 500ft, at which point a go-around was required under our operating procedures.”
He said he considers the errors that occurred on JQ57 is an opportunity to learn and add further safeguards.
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Sniper48
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 10:28amThe first sign that the pilot forgot to lower the landing gear is that full throttle is required to taxi to the ramp. Details, details.
Report Post »Sniper48
Posted on April 24, 2012 at 10:26amTHe first sign that the pilot forgot to lower the landing gear is that it requires full throttle to taxi to the ramp. Details, details!
Report Post »roostercogburn
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:41pmMakes me wonder how much flight time this crew had, you sure can feel the gear come down, you have all that drag and then nose her over to bring the airspeed back up, forgetting to drop the gear on landing happens more than people think. Hit the switch and look for the green lights.
Report Post »Will be flying on a Jet Star flight from Tokyo to Manila in less than two weeks, hope they remember to drop the gear on final for my flights..
TOMB2
Posted on April 21, 2012 at 4:57amHuman factors in aviation safety there is probably a seminar or two that address this exact problem.
Report Post »Phantom II
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:23pmFirst, the nacelles are designed for a gear up landing. Gear dowwn at glideslope intercept is the accepted procedure which is approximately 2000ft AGL. Failing to deploy the landing gear will give you the incorrect pitch, thrust,speed and rate of decent. Should be obvious to pilots of their experience. The down gear is a lot of drag and effects the performance of the aircraft. Some one said there are two kinds of pilots, those who have and those that will execute a gear up landing. Nonesense, good pilot will be aware of the performance envelope. It is the same for a J3 Cub or a F4. The Blaze scribe mentions the ‘appropriate gear’ and missed approach 5000ft. He is not an aviator obviously. The gear up alert first came on when the second position of the flap setting was initiated. Second was the radar altimeter alert. The aborted landing was was initiated with the flaps probably in full down position but to retract the flaps at that altitude would have resulted in a crash. There was a fine line between completing the gear up landing or an aborted landing. His higher gear up speed was the most important decision making factor. Although he screwed up big time, he grasped the situation and saved everyones lives in doing so. If his decision resulted in a gear up landing at that point, it would have shown immense character, but would have cost him his carreer.Character may not be evident in his actual decision, but it could have been.Pos rate of climb- begins flap retraction.
Report Post »Spokane Armory
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 6:30pmIt gets worse. A couple of years ago there was a pilot and co-pilot that were so involved with looking at their schedules on their laptops that they forgot to land the plane and went to a different city after the flight attendants told them.
Report Post »Anadara
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 4:23pmSexting?
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 1:25pmReplace pilots with trained chimps. Chimps don’t text, yet.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 1:07pmHe should be fired Period.
Report Post »poster
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 11:45am“He said he considers the errors that occurred on JQ57 is an opportunity to learn…”
An opportunity to die, too.
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 11:23amMaybe he was using the GPS on his phone to get to the airport…Just sayin’
Report Post »GaryInTheMiddle
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 11:11amWas the pilot Alex Baldwin?
Report Post »Belchfire V-8
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 11:04amThere are two types of pilots. There are those who have had a gear up landing, and those who will. This is an old saying. I am safe, I fly fixed gear only.
Report Post »Dr Vel
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:22pmTwo things which come to mind. Maybe you do but not very fast. Jim Croce and many other performers would disagree on the light fixed wing fixed gear aircraft safety saying. If they were still around to say it.
Report Post »1WhoQuestions
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 10:31amLet me get this straight. It’s okay for pilots to text while flying within 10 minutes of landing but not passengers? What’s up with that? One must wonder what was so important the text message couldn’t wait until after the pilot parked the aircraft.
Common sense dictates texting while driving is dangerous. Flying while texting more so. Sadly the FAA will make another rule or law to the effect of: Thou shalt not text while flying lest thou crash and burn. Another law for what should be perceived as common sense.
Report Post »drphil69
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 1:15pmActually probably less dangerous while flying. No obstacles in the air to hit. Also, this was on a flight from Austrailia to Singapore, so why would the FAA get involved?
Report Post »drphil69
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 1:16pmOh and “common sense” is very rare in humans these days…
Report Post »Carefreeflyer
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 10:27amUnprofessional. He needs some time off and a sim check before being put back on the flight line.
Report Post »forthepeople
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 10:20amBet this happens more than we know ?
Report Post »theninthplanet
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 10:06amThey should charge him for the fuel he burned, the passenger’s, the tower’s, and the other airplane’s time he wasted in his muffed landing.
Report Post »I_Occupy_A_Job
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:58amI just want to know why the pilot can use his phone but everyone in the cabin has to turn theirs off until we’re back on the ground. Is this an Australia thing?
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:36amCell phones are like crack to some people.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:48amYou cannot fix Stupid :)
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:58amSad but true; stupidity in this case could have easily ended the lives of many people.
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