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2nd Sep 2009, 02:55
Dragonair captain grounded after turbulence rocks flight
Simon Parry
Updated on Sep 02, 2009 A Dragonair captain has been removed from flying duties after the Airbus he was piloting was thrown around amid severe turbulence during a flight from Hong Kong to Bangalore.
The Airbus A330, carrying 231 passengers and 13 crew members, was rocked violently for several seconds and plunged briefly after hitting clear-air turbulence while at cruising altitude over the Indian Ocean.
No one was injured and the "fasten seat belt" sign was switched on as soon as turbulence began rocking the plane. A spokeswoman for Dragonair said, however, that a number of passengers suffered from air sickness.
The incident was being closely investigated, as it took place only weeks after an Air France Airbus A330 crashed, killing 228 people, after running into stormy weather on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, according to airline sources.
One Dragonair pilot, who asked not to be named, said: "It seems to have been an unusually severe bout of turbulence. The planes are designed to withstand much worse, but it would have been an extremely frightening and upsetting experience for some passengers."
A report on the nighttime incident on August 2 has been sent to the Civil Aviation Department and the airline spokeswoman said: "An internal investigation into the incident is now being conducted.
"As is standard procedure in any such incident, the captain has stood down from duty while the investigation is conducted."
She said the incident was caused by "a short period of severe air turbulence" and "the aircraft did not suffer a significant loss of altitude".
Passengers and cabin crew were briefed on the likelihood of turbulence before the plane took off for the 5-1/2 hour night flight after weather reports indicated that stormy conditions were expected.
"A further announcement was made by the captain prior to cruising over the area where the turbulence was encountered," the spokeswoman said.
A second pilot with the airline said: "There's no indication that anyone is to blame for what happened. It's normal for the pilot to be removed from flying duties while an investigation is conducted.
"Normally, incidents of turbulence are only investigated when someone is injured. What makes this a bigger deal is that it happened a few weeks after the Air France disaster, so anything like this involving the same kind of Airbus is going to be thoroughly investigated."
Severe turbulence has been cited as a possible cause of the Air France crash on June 2.
Simon Parry
Updated on Sep 02, 2009 A Dragonair captain has been removed from flying duties after the Airbus he was piloting was thrown around amid severe turbulence during a flight from Hong Kong to Bangalore.
The Airbus A330, carrying 231 passengers and 13 crew members, was rocked violently for several seconds and plunged briefly after hitting clear-air turbulence while at cruising altitude over the Indian Ocean.
No one was injured and the "fasten seat belt" sign was switched on as soon as turbulence began rocking the plane. A spokeswoman for Dragonair said, however, that a number of passengers suffered from air sickness.
The incident was being closely investigated, as it took place only weeks after an Air France Airbus A330 crashed, killing 228 people, after running into stormy weather on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, according to airline sources.
One Dragonair pilot, who asked not to be named, said: "It seems to have been an unusually severe bout of turbulence. The planes are designed to withstand much worse, but it would have been an extremely frightening and upsetting experience for some passengers."
A report on the nighttime incident on August 2 has been sent to the Civil Aviation Department and the airline spokeswoman said: "An internal investigation into the incident is now being conducted.
"As is standard procedure in any such incident, the captain has stood down from duty while the investigation is conducted."
She said the incident was caused by "a short period of severe air turbulence" and "the aircraft did not suffer a significant loss of altitude".
Passengers and cabin crew were briefed on the likelihood of turbulence before the plane took off for the 5-1/2 hour night flight after weather reports indicated that stormy conditions were expected.
"A further announcement was made by the captain prior to cruising over the area where the turbulence was encountered," the spokeswoman said.
A second pilot with the airline said: "There's no indication that anyone is to blame for what happened. It's normal for the pilot to be removed from flying duties while an investigation is conducted.
"Normally, incidents of turbulence are only investigated when someone is injured. What makes this a bigger deal is that it happened a few weeks after the Air France disaster, so anything like this involving the same kind of Airbus is going to be thoroughly investigated."
Severe turbulence has been cited as a possible cause of the Air France crash on June 2.