Computer Malfunction Sent Qantas Airbus into Death Dive
Investigators in Australia have concluded that an erroneous command from the on board computer system was the cause of the near fatal dive.
File photo by Caribb
Australia's airline 747s being preped for a long journey back to Sydney from here at London Heathrow
According to
The Sydney Morning Herald, a computer fault caused the autopilot system to be overridden, sending a Qantas plane into a mid-air plunge over Western Australia last week, authorities said tonight.
The air data computer - or inertial reference system - for the Airbus A330-300 sent erroneous information to the flight control computer causing the autopilot to disconnect, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.
More than 70 people on Qantas flight QF72 from Singapore to Perth were injured last Tuesday when the Airbus, carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew, suddenly dropped altitude.
People were hurled around the cabin and the pilot was forced to make an emergency landing in Western Australia's north.
The occurrences of computer problems with the Inertial Reference Systems on Airbus manufactured aircraft is not common, but has
happened before.
Considering that the flight systems are very complicated and problems have only occurred against the backdrop of
tens of thousands of incident free flights over the pat 10 years, the ongoing search for computer glitches in sophisticated equipment continues.
The A-330 is a popular safe aircraft in
service around the world.
Luckily for Qantas, the superb training of the Flight Crew and the landing of the aircraft intact gave investigators sufficient empirical data from which to
draw conclusions. With no damage to the Flight Recorders and a thorough debrief of the Pilots in command of the aircraft may help alleviate future occurrences.
