Wed "The Australian" late news
Qantas plane flying 1600ft too low
By Peter Jean
September 22, 2004
A QANTAS plane was flying 1,600 feet lower than it should have been near Canberra when an onboard ground proximity alarm was activated, a safety watchdog said today.
An interim Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report found the co-pilot of the early morning Boeing 737 flight from Perth to Canberra had earlier entered incorrect flight data into the plane's flight management computer (FMC).
The ATSB said about 5.45am an onboard terrain alert was activated, based on radar data, when the plane was flying at 5,800 feet, about 22 nautical miles south of Canberra.
The minimum altitude permitted in the area was 7,400 feet. The highest mountain in the region is Tinderry Peak at 5,311 feet.
"The crew reported that they responded to the alert by climbing the aircraft to 6,500 feet," the ATSB report said.
The report said the crew on board the flight had earlier been advised that due to staff shortages, air traffic controllers were not monitoring radar equipment at Canberra.
The co-pilot had entered details into the flight management computer (FMC) for a holding pattern to be computed.
"An erroneous entry was made," the report said.
"The FMC computed holding pattern extended beyond the required limits of the published holding pattern."
Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning said the two pilots from the flight had now returned to work after being stood down while a company inquiry into the incident had been carried out.
"While an error appears to have been made by the pilots on the flight, the aircraft's warning system worked and corrective action was taken immediately," Captain Manning said in a statement.
Captain Manning said the ATSB report had shown that speculation the plane had been flying at 5,000 feet and had come close to hitting a mountain peak was incorrect.
The ATSB report found an air-conditioning fault meant the crew had experienced uncomfortably hot conditions throughout the flight.
The ATSB said it would not be commenting on the interim report but a final report would be released by March next year.
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