heres a good laugh, lifted from Todays SHM...
Jetstar near miss blamed on throttles
Stephen Moynihan
October 31, 2007
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A JETSTAR flight that came within moments of landing on a runway its crew could not see had its engine throttles in the wrong setting, according to an investigation released yesterday.
On the morning of July 21, the Jetstar A320 from Christchurch with 138 passengers made two attempts to land at a fog-bound Melbourne Airport.
So heavy was the fog that the pilot made the decision to keep the plane on autopilot and land using instruments. Earlier flights had aborted their landings because of poor visibility.
When the fog proved too thick for the Jetstar crew to see the runway lights, the pilot decided to abort the landing. Engine power was increased for the plane to climb, but instead it continued to descend with wheels lowered. At its lowest point, the jet was approximately 15 metres from the ground.
The pilot switched to manual control and reached higher altitude, and after permission from air traffic control attempted to land again. After the second attempt was aborted, the plane touched down safely at Avalon.
a near miss? did the ground have its transponder on?