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Airbus has issued a global warning to A330 operators against potential computer problems after a QANTAS Airbus went for one hell of a nose dive last week.
Airbus has issued a global warning to A330 operators against potential computer problems after a QANTAS Airbus went for one hell of a nose dive last week.
More than 70 people were injured (14 seriously) when a QANTAS Airbus lost altitude mid flight . The incident occcurred onroute to Perth, the plane plunged 650 feet before pilots were able to correct the error.
Investigators have since confirmed that the unscheduled rollercoaster ride was the result of a faulty ADIR unit that provides information about the plane’s movement and position. The fault resulted in the autopilot disconnecting and prompted flight control computers to pitch the plane’s nose downward.
Investigators said the false information from an air data inertial reference unit (ADIRU) fed “very high, random and incorrect values”.
The ADIRU supplies information such as air speed, altitude and position.
Safety Invsetigators praised the QANTAS crew:
“The crew’s timely response led to the recovery of the aircraft trajectory within seconds,”
“During the recovery the maximum altitude loss was 650ft. As far as we can understand, this appears to be a unique event and Airbus has advised that it is not aware of any similar event over the many years of operation of the Airbus.”
This is the second incident involving an ADIRU on a plane travelling to or from Perth.A global alert was issued in 2005 after a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en-route to Kuala Lumpur from Perth experienced similar problems.
Source:
The Australian
