| Jetstar malfunction - Air France Atlantic crash |
Jetstar plane suffers blackout during flight: • Similar to crashed Air France flight, • Both similar models – Airbus 330-200 jetliners, • The Australian: Pilots forgot about wheels.
A JETSTAR plane may have last week suffered the same malfunction that brought down an Air France jet over the Atlantic, killing all on board, five months ago.
Australia’s air safety regulators – the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority – are probing similarities between both incidents.
At 01:30 on October 29 the pilot of the Jetstar Airbus 330-200 reported an instrument blackout as the jet carrying 200 passengers passed through storm clouds midway between Japan and the Gold Coast, the Herald Sun reports.
Investigators downloaded information from the jet’s flight data recorders before the jet was released back to the airline.
After normal flight was resumed the crew radioed Jetstar’s Melbourne headquarters for engineering advice when it was determined that the plane should fly on to the Gold Coast.
The aircraft landed five hours later at 06:20 without passengers knowing what happened in the cockpit.
During the six-second blackout, the automatic pilot malfunctioned and fluctuating readings were transmitted by one of the jet’s three airspeed indicators – a similar situation to what the pilot of the Air France jet is said to have reported in his final radio message before his aircraft broke up and plunged into the ocean.
Jetstar said last night that early indications were the airspeed sensing system suffered a momentary interruption, after which the instruments returned to normal.
“The crew remained in full control of the aircraft at all times and responded in accordance with training and procedure,” an airline spokesman said. “We are also liaising closely with Airbus.”
He said several parts were replaced during a detailed examination of the jet before it was allowed to resume flying.
The Jetstar and Air France jets were similar models – Airbus 330-200 jetliners.
The report came as two Qantas pilots were stood down after their plane came close to landing without wheels down at the end of a Melbourne-Sydney flight last week.
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