Texting pilot blunders landing 20th April 2012

[JennyLeez]

A Jetstar plane had to abort a landing in Singapore after the captain become distracted by his mobile phone, an investigation has revealed.
The failed landing attempt occurred on a flight from Darwin to Singapore when the experienced captain of the aircraft was distracted by text messages on his cell phone.
An investigation into the incident has blamed “fatigue” and a lack of “situational awareness” for what happened.
In the report it was revealed that after the plane switched off the autopilot function the captain twice failed to respond to requests given to him by the co-pilot during the descent, and when the co-pilot looked over at the captain he saw he was preoccupied with his mobile phone, Fairfax reports.

A recreation in a simulator later revealed that in the descent from 2800 feet to 1000 feet, there were two minutes where the pilots failed to complete any necessary actions – including activating the landing gear.
In the confusion that followed the mobile phone beeping neither pilot went through the landing checklist, and when the plane reached 720 feet a cockpit alert sounded warning that the landing gear had not been lowered.
When the captain attempted to lower the wheels an alarm told him the plane was too low to perform the action.
When the plane reached 392 feet the landing was aborted but, thinking they were at a higher altitude than they were, the pilots made yet another error when they activated the wrong flap setting as they ascended.
Jetstar has since implemented changes to its landing checklists and says it is more vigilant in ensuring that pilots switch off mobile phones before take-off.

3news Online

The plane had to circle back around and have another a go at landing.
We are not allowed to use our cell phones in our cars when we are only responsible for a few and yet a pilot responsible for many was using his?

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[Phil]

For some reason Martime NZ have switched to Jet Star, I sent this article through to her, her comment is not publishable , Going for the cheapest airfares is not all it makes out be, her fare was $79 but to take a suitcase (she is away for 5 days) cost's an xtra $11 making the fare $90, Air New Zealand on the same day was $89, I always fly Air NZ, would not use any of these budget airlines

[JennyLeez]

Along the lines of the above, here is another one. Where do they get these pilots from??

Ten passengers have filed a lawsuit against a US airline, claiming they feared for their lives when a pilot had to be physically restrained after running through the cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaeda during a New York to Las Vegas flight in March.
The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Queens, claims JetBlue Airways was "grossly negligent" in allowing Captain Clayton Osbon to fly.
Plaintiff Michael Bedziner, who was headed to a conference of security consultants, said that since the September 11 attacks, he has often looked around plane cabins, suspicious of who may be a terrorist.
"But you always look to the airline crew and say, 'OK, this is a group I can turn to and say we're safer.' What does this tell us? Now the very people that we're supposed to turn to for that assurance are the ones we're frightened of. And the pilot, no less," he said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit on Wednesday.
Sharon Jones, a JetBlue spokeswoman, said the airline does not comment on pending litigation.
A flight attendant's ribs were bruised as passengers tried to restrain Osbon, but no one on board was seriously injured. The March 27 flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Amarillo, Texas.
Osbon faces a hearing on Friday morning in Amarillo to determine if he is mentally competent to stand trial. He faces federal charges of interfering with a flight crew. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
According to the lawsuit and a federal indictment, witnesses on Flight 191 say Osbon ran through the cabin in a wild rant. The first officer locked him out of the cockpit and passengers wrestled Osbon to the floor.
The lawsuit also claims he was "yelling about September 11th, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, al-Qaeda and terrorists".
Other comments, according to the suit, included "we're all going down", "you better start praying right now", "I'm going to show you Iraq and Iran right now", "there's a bomb on board" and "the plane will never make it to Vegas".
The 10 plaintiffs, all from the metropolitan New York area, are seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.