Airlines

Qatar Airways 787 Pilot Loses Situational Consciousness, Places Airplane Into Dive

My goodness, the variety of close to disasters we’ve seen within the airline trade these days is troubling. We’ve seen some latest floor incidents in the US (between an American 777 and Delta 737 at JFK, and between a Southwest 737 and FedEx 767 at AUS), and right here’s an incident that occurred shortly after takeoff in Qatar.

Qatar Airways 787 enters steep descent after takeoff

The Aviation Herald has the story of what occurred to Qatar Airways flight QR161 from Doha (DOH) to Copenhagen (CPH) on January 10, 2023 (we’re solely discovering out about this now, as a result of the pilots by no means reported the incident). The flight was operated by a Boeing 787-8 with the license plate A7-BCO.

The Dreamliner departed runway 16L round 2AM native time, and began its customary climb, making a left flip to the east. The aircraft climbed to 1,850 ft, however then began dropping altitude. We’re not simply speaking about just a few ft, however somewhat the aircraft began a steep descent, and misplaced 1,000 ft of altitude inside 24 seconds, bringing it right down to solely 850 ft.

The pilots ended up recovering the plane, and continued the flight to Copenhagen. The aircraft landed there with out incident 6hr2min after departing Doha. If you wish to see all this information for your self, simply check out the Flightradar24 monitoring for this flight.

Flightradar24 information for this flight
Flightradar24 information for this flight

So, why would the aircraft lose 1,000 ft of altitude throughout such a vital section of flight, when the climate circumstances had been completely good? The Aviation Herald experiences that the primary officer was the pilot flying, and whereas climbing by way of 1,600 ft, the pilots had been cleared to fly towards the following waypoint (primarily an imaginary level within the sky used for navigation).

The primary officer was flying the plane manually and with out flight director indications, and misplaced situational consciousness, sending the plane right into a 3,000 foot per minute descent. The descent was so steep that the sink fee exceeded the flap velocity limits, because the aircraft was flying over 300 knots true airspeed at that time.

The captain then took management of the plane, and managed to get better it at an altitude of 850 ft. Take into account at a descent fee of three,000 ft per minute (and the speed normally will increase shortly in case you’re sinking), that 787 was lower than 20 seconds from having a really totally different ending.

The flight continued to Copenhagen

This incident is admittedly regarding

For each disaster there are various close to catastrophes, and this was positively a kind of.

A Boeing 787 pilot shouldn’t be dropping situational consciousness whereas manually flying a jet out of a hub airport in good climate circumstances. Interval. But one way or the other the aircraft received right into a state of affairs the place it was inside seconds from ending up within the Gulf.

Probably the most disturbing a part of this incident is that it wasn’t reported on the time, and it’s solely popping out now, practically a month later. I imply, I suppose I’m not stunned — I can’t think about the pilot would have had a job after an investigation was carried out, particularly within the Gulf area, the place you don’t have unions.

I really feel actually unhealthy for pilots within the Gulf, as they work some brutal shifts. Irrespective of how a lot you program your physique, performing such excessive stress and important duties at 2AM isn’t straightforward.

However the way in which that aviation turns into safer is by reporting incidents, to make sure they are often prevented sooner or later. Due to this fact not reporting one thing like that is reckless, even when it comes on the expense of your job.

Backside line

A number of weeks again, a Qatar Airways Boeing 787 misplaced 1,000 ft of altitude shortly after takeoff from Doha. The primary officer was allegedly manually flying the aircraft, and misplaced situational consciousness, inflicting him to place the aircraft right into a steep dive. Given the sink fee, the aircraft was inside seconds of plunging into the Gulf. Fortuitously the captain took management of the jet and managed to get better it.

What do you make of this Qatar Airways 787 incident?

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