A Malaysia-bound AirAsia X plane which took off from Sydney ended up in Melbourne instead after the pilot entered the aircraft's wrong longitudinal position, safety officials revealed Wednesday.
The Airbus A330-300 left Sydney en route to Kuala Lumpur on March 10 last year but air traffic controllers went on alert after it began flying in the wrong direction.
They radioed the crew but attempts to fix the problem only led to "further degradation of the navigation system, as well as to the aircraft's flight guidance and flight control systems", the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said following an investigation.
The pilot, who had been flying A330s for 18 months, decided to return to Sydney but bad weather forced him to fly manually to Melbourne, where he landed safely, it said.
"The ATSB found that when setting up the aircraft's flight management and guidance system, the captain inadvertently entered the wrong longitudinal position of the aircraft," it said.
"This adversely affected the onboard navigation systems. However, despite a number of opportunities to identify and correct the error, it was not noticed until after the aircraft became airborne and started tracking in the wrong direction."
The ATSB also found that the plane was not fitted with an upgraded flight management system that would have prevented the data entry error.
"The flight crew attempted to troubleshoot and rectify the situation while under heavy workload," the ATSB said.
"Combined with limited guidance from the available checklists, this resulted in further errors by the flight crew in the diagnosis and actioning of flight deck switches."
The low-cost Malaysian carrier has since shared the incident with all its pilots and developed a new training manual for its flight crews, the ATSB added.
The Malaysian group suffered its first fatal incident in December 2014, when AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashed in stormy weather off Indonesia with 162 people on board.
That followed two Malaysia Airlines incidents in the same year which left more than 500 people dead, raising concerns among some travellers about the safety of the country's carriers.
AFP
Wed Sep 07 2016
The aircraft left Sydney en route to Kuala Lumpur on March 10 last year but air traffic controllers went on alert after it began flying in the wrong direction. - Filepic
BNM dijangka kekalkan kadar OPR - Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered Global Research menjangka Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) akan mengekalkan Kadar Dasar Semalaman (OPR) tidak berubah pada tiga peratus.
AWANI Ringkas: Kerajaan tidak benarkan syarikat Israel berada di Malaysia
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari di Astro AWANI menerusi AWANI Ringkas.
Penyalahgunaan bahan psikoaktif baharu jadi cabaran global - Ayob Khan
Penyalahgunaan bahan psikoaktif baharu (NPS) yang semakin mudah diperoleh melalui internet, turut menimbulkan kebimbangan berikutan kesan serius terhadap pembangunan sosial dan ekonomi.
Didakwa kembali rujuk dengan bekas suami, ini respons Puteri Sarah
Lebih menjengkelkan apabila segelintir pihak menggunakan berita palsu semata-mata untuk kepentingan diri.
Insiden letupan: Sungai Golok 'dikawal' kereta perisai, dron
Rondaan kereta perisai dan penggunaan dron menjadi usaha terkini Briged Tenggara bagi memastikan kawalan sempadan Malaysia-Thailand di sepanjang Sungai Golok di sini berada pada tahap terbaik.
Apple dilapor bakal ganti iPhone 17 Plus dengan iPhone 17 Slim
Laporan sebelum ini menyatakan iPhone 17 akan menggunakan skrin
SPRM tidak berhasrat tahan Tun M
SPRM tidak berhasrat untuk menahan bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad berhubung isu pengisytiharan harta.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Tiada aduan sogokan, salah guna jentera kerajaan - SPR
Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) setakat ini belum lagi menerima aduan rasmi mengenai wujud sogokan kepada pengundi dan salah guna jentera kerajaan dalam kempen Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) DUN KKB.
Pengumuman pelaburan Google di Malaysia dalam masa terdekat - Tengku Zafrul
Kementerian Pelaburan, Perdagangan dan Industri (MITI) mengesahkan satu pengumuman berkenaan pelaburan Google di Malaysia akan dilakukan dalam masa terdekat.
Aksi Sumbangsih JDT, Selangor FC kekal Jumaat ini
Perlawanan Sumbangsih musim 2024/2025 bagi merebut Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah antara JDT dan Selangor FC kekal Jumaat ini.
Kerugian bersih Airasia X meningkat kepada RM305.24 juta
Perolehan hasilnya turut berkurangan kepada RM91.44 juta daripada RM1.01 bilion sebelum ini.
AirAsia X mungkin kembali ke India
Airasia X melihat kemungkinan akan memulakan kembali laluan ke eropah dan India yang dihentikan akibat kos tinggi sebelum ini.