A BRITISH Airways caught fire after a pilot “mixed up left and right” – shutting Gatwick and sparking chaos for 1,000s.
The Boeing 777 was about to leave Gatwick for Vancouver when the co-pilot accidentally pulled the left instead of right-hand lever, causing the brakes to catch fire.
3
3
He was then forced to abort the take-off – despite the plane already travelling at 186mph – by performing a “high-speed emergency stop”.
The incident on June 28 last year wreaked havoc for holidaymakers – as the airport was temporarily closed, 23 outbound flights cancelled and 16 inbound flights diverted.
Thankfully, however, none of the 347 people on-board the flight in question, BA2279, were injured.
A report into the events this week found that the co-pilot had just come back from annual leave and was “well rested and feeling fine”.
He had last flown two weeks prior to the incident, the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) added.
The man, who had over 6,000 hours of flying time, “could not identify a reason” why he got confused.
Co-pilots use their left hands to pull the “thrust” levers, which control the engines, and their right hands on the control column.
While the pilot had meant to pull the control column, lifting the plane’s nose into the sky as it took off, he instead reduce the thrust – right when maximum power was needed to take off.
The mishap was described in the report as an “action slip” – something that “occurs when an action is not performed as intended, arising in routine or highly learnt motor action sequences”.
“There was no obvious reason for him being primed to do that – for example, he had not recently changed aircraft seat or type, or practised landings or RTOs in a simulator – and he could not identify a reason for it on the day,” investigators added.
The report also stated: “The co-pilot reported being well-rested and feeling fine. He expressed surprise in himself over the inadvertent thrust reduction and could not identify a reason for it.”
Following the mishap, the pilot “momentarily” pushed the levers forward again – before enacting an emergency stop.
Momentum caused the aircraft to keep accelerating to a terrifying 192mph before it eventually began to slow.
“The airport rescue and firefighting service attended the aircraft,” the report said, “and extinguished a fire from hot brakes on the right main landing gear.”
The airport was shut for nearly an hour in the wake of the incident.
A spokesperson for Gatwick Airport said at the time: “The main runway was closed for 50 minutes today (June 28) due to a departing aircraft having hot brakes.
“Safety is our top priority and London Gatwick’s dedicated airport fire service swiftly attended to support the aircraft.
“Sixteen inbound flights were diverted during the closure. The runway is now open and operating as normal.
“Twenty-three flights were cancelled and there are a number of delays due to the knock-on impact.”
A BA spokesperson said: “Our pilots took the precautionary decision to cancel take-off due to a technical issue.
“Safety is always our top priority and we apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.”
3