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AirAsia Flight Performed a Sharp Turn 223 Feet Above Ground Level Due to Wrong Runway Selection Before Takeoff
Sydney, Australia - In a report released on June 2, 2020, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the pilot mistake caused the AirAsia flight to perform a sharp left turn 223 feet above ground level, below the minimum height for turns. (www.airlinerwatch.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
It's a bit hard to understand the article. You really have to read the actual report link, posted below by FA, to understand what happened. In a nutshell, the airplane took off on the correct runway, but because they had programmed the departure for the opposite runway in the flight computer, the airplane turned sharply right after takeoff to try to follow the incorrectly programmed route. Better ground CRM procedures for cross-checking the route programmed into the computer would have preempted this error. Better situational awareness might have alerted one of the pilots to the magenta line on the big screen in front of them veering off in the wrong direction, and allowed them to recover from the error by clicking off the autopilot and hand-flying the correct departure procedure until it was fixed after being airborne.
I agree, whoever wrote the article needs to find a new career. So, the computer allows tight turns below the 250 ft level then ? Still doesn't make sense.
Again, can't really address how the Airbus computer logic works, but as another data point for comparison, Boeing logic engages lateral course guidance at 50 ft above the ground. If the proper departure procedure is programmed in like it should be, the departure has it continue straight out until the plane is much higher. But it's trying to catch a course that was erroneously put in 180 degrees off, it would immediately capture that and try to turn as soon as the autopilot is engaged (200 ft autopilot engagement limitation on a Boeing). So it would pretty much result in the same behavior as what the Airbus did in this case. Obviously, that's very unsafe on either plane - they all sort of make the assumption that the flight crew actually does things like cross-check inputs, look at the magenta line in front of them to make sure it's about to take them in the same direction as they're expecting, and not engaging the autopilot if it's not...
Sounds extremely dangerous to me. If there is a rule not to do that below 250 ft. The computer should give the pilot firm warnigns that something isn't right and refuse todo it. Simple rule. It doesn't make sense.
Yeah I agree, and there actually is a rule to never turn below an absolute minimum of 400 ft. I've wondered myself why the flight computers allow that, seems like it would be a very easy thing to fix if the manufacturer wanted to. If the pilots actually have the need to turn that low, they should be doing it only by hand flying and never with the autopilot.
Takeoff from DCA on Rwy 1 and wait to 400 feet and you’ll get violated or worse! So there are turns on departure that occur below 400...just a minor point of minutiae.
The report states that the turn was initiated below company policy minimums.