Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to MEL

[Quickstatus]

ATSB report finally out:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5771318/ao-2015-029_final.pdf

Incident 10 march 2015.

 

[yohy?!]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

Firmly on the no fly list

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

At least the flight crew got in some manual flying in an Airbus. Rare these days?

 

[jb747]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

And they've got another ATSB investigation happening over last week's engine shutdown. I commented on it elsewhere, but there were two issues. Firstly the choice of diversion destination. Secondly though, they appear to have gotten very slow in the period between the shutdown and the start of the descent. Very...

This particular report is quite amazing.

 

[moa999]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

A lot of slices of Swiss cheese

 

[Conrad_S]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

A lot of slices of Swiss cheese

Absolutely breathtaking work. The autopilot kicking in would have got their attention I bet. I think this is more a safety II / resilience issue.

 

[Major]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

Apparently the Captain entered the aircraft's position West of Cape Town South Africa, some 11000km away.

The ATSB reported that during flight preparation the captain (ATPL, 22,580 total hours) manually copied the gate coordinates of S33°56.77' E151°09.8', visible on a sign at the gate, into the flight management and guidance system (FMGS), however mistype as S33°56.77' E015°19.8' effective putting the aircraft's systems 161nm west of Cape Town (South Africa) into the Atlantic Ocean more than 11,000km from the actual position at the gate in Sydney.

It's a pity a little map doesn't show up to confirm the position entered. He would then have been able to fix the error.
​

 

[Conrad_S]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

Apparently the Captain entered the aircraft's position West of Cape Town South Africa, some 11000km away.

The ATSB reported that during flight preparation the captain (ATPL, 22,580 total hours) manually copied the gate coordinates of S33°56.77' E151°09.8', visible on a sign at the gate, into the flight management and guidance system (FMGS), however mistype as S33°56.77' E015°19.8' effective putting the aircraft's systems 161nm west of Cape Town (South Africa) into the Atlantic Ocean more than 11,000km from the actual position at the gate in Sydney.

It's a pity a little map doesn't show up to confirm the position entered. He would then have been able to fix the error.
​

The report does state "despite a number of opportunities to identify and correct the error, it was not noticed until after the aircraft became airborne and started tracking in the
wrong direction". There were clearly already systems the crew failed to respond to.The reason given was a change in routine tasks. That goes Bingo for culture with me.

 

[pauly7]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

Firmly on the no fly list

My main employer has had Air Asia X on our no fly list since they began flying
Can't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[jb747]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

The report does state "despite a number of opportunities to identify and correct the error, it was not noticed until after the aircraft became airborne and started tracking in the wrong direction".

It wasn't noticed then either. ATC called them on it. You should have an idea of what the SID requires...and be able to fly it without the autopilot or FMC if needed. They aren't rocket science.

There were clearly already systems the crew failed to respond to.The reason given was a change in routine tasks. That goes Bingo for culture with me.

Airbus standard procedure is for the captain and FO to alternate the preflight duties, so that both are current at the job. Having the FO preflight the coughpit, whilst the captain goes outside is the Boeing practice....so it would seem that Air Asia aren't in compliance with Airbus SOPs in this way too.

Amazing that in an aircraft with GPS, the airline had saved a couple of $ by not interfacing the initial IRU alignment. I haven't seen a manual load in a very long time. But, in those aircraft that did so, they actually checked the new position with the last saved one, so an error like this would have been flagged immediately. I'm actually amazed that the IRUs aligned at all...I would have expected them all to have failed during the sequence.

The suggestion that the FO was going to turn off all IRUs in flight is stunning, and shows a level of knowledge that's best described as negligible.

 

[moa999]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

IRU alignment sounds like it should never have been an option in the first place.. Wonder what else airlines can leave out?

 

[Quickstatus]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

The suggestion that the FO was going to turn off all IRUs in flight is stunning, and shows a level of knowledge that's best described as negligible.

FO apparently has 2200 flying hours. The airline will take FO with only commercial license and 200 hours....

 

[jb747]

Re: Air Asia X 223 Data entry error leads to degraded flight systems and divert to ME

IRU alignment sounds like it should never have been an option in the first place.. Wonder what else airlines can leave out?

You can't align the IRUs in flight (or with any motion for that matter). Turning them off would have taken away all of the attitude information, other than the standby AI. You need to be able to turn them off in the event of failures.