Air India Incident Blamed on Co-Pilot

[jmig]

[FONT=arial,helvetica,geneva]Copilot's "Panic" On Air India Express Jet[/FONT]

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA), India, has recommended "appropriate action" against the crew of an Air India Express Boeing 737-800 after a copilot's seat adjustment led to the rapid loss of 5,000 feet and his own panic. No one was injured in the May 26 incident that involved 113 passengers, but the DCGA report states the copilot was not trained for the situation. The situation was that the aircraft was cruising at 37,000 feet in fully automated flight en route to Pune out of Dubai, when the 39-year-old captain stepped out of the cockpit for a trip to the restroom. The 25-year-old copilot then adjusted his seat forward and inadvertently pushed the control column. That initiated the descent and, according to the DCGA, the copilot's subsequent actions (which may have involved adjustments to the autopilot) did not correct the situation but instead caused the aircraft to roll from level. Meanwhile, the captain was locked outside of the cockpit trying to gain access.

The copilot later told the DCGA that he "got in a panic situation." At that point, he was unable to correct the flight condition and unable to open the cockpit door. Finding the copilot unresponsive, the captain used an emergency code to gain access to the cockpit. The captain then initiated steps to recover the aircraft, but the DCGA found some of his inputs (pulling back on the yoke) conflicted with those being applied by the copilot (who was pushing forward). According to ExpressIndia.com, the DCGA concluded that "the incident occurred due to inadvertent handling of the control column in fully automated mode by the copilot, which got compounded as he was not trained to recover the aircraft in automated mode."


http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1783-full.html#203719

 

[kilo delta]

I hope that the co-pilots licence has been revoked. He's obviously not suited to this career choice.

 

[Curtis P40]

Does moving the control column, disengage the autopilot ?

 

[n4gix]

Does moving the control column, disengage the autopilot ?

Past a safety threshold, yes. The CP must have really put a lot of pressure on the column to have exceeded that safety lock though!

 

[Curtis P40]

I'm having a hard time trying to picture this. The "copilot was not trained for the situation." What, just flying the dang plane ?

 

[wiltzei]

Perhaps he didn´t have a real type rating. As pilots with counteirfeit licences have been discovered lately even in Sweden, I wouldn´t be surprised at all if something like that will be discovered.

 

[Wing_Z]

Maybe this belongs in Canelo's Cantina??...sad that Leslie Nielsen passed away before this movie could be made.

 

[Bjoern]

I hope that the co-pilots licence has been revoked. He's obviously not suited to this career choice.

I blame the lack of training instead of the guy himself.

 

[Wulf190]

A 25 year old FO on a 737? Yeesh, I'd expect someone that age flying Regional jets or Turbo-props....


PS.. If the FO "got in to a panic" in that situation, then yes he needs more training....


BTW, to recover an aircraft that is in automated mode wouldn't you first disengage the auto-pilot?

 

[kilo delta]

I blame the lack of training instead of the guy himself.

Either way...he shouldn't have been on the flight deck.How hard could it be to disengage the AP, level off and open the cockpit door for the senior pilot? How did he even gain a PPL is he couldn't deal with a situation like this? The mind boggles!

 

[Bjoern]

How hard could it be to disengage the AP, level off and open the cockpit door for the senior pilot?

How hard could it be to consider the human brain giving all sorts of illogical commands when under an intense adrenaline rush? ;P



- Edit:

Just make my point clear: I would fly with him without any hesitation. He made it into a 737 cockpit, so he simply can't be that bad of a pilot.

 

[kilo delta]

How hard could it be to consider the human brain giving all sorts of illogical commands when under an intense adrenaline rush? ;P



- Edit:

Just make my point clear: I would fly with him without any hesitation. He made it into a 737 cockpit, so he simply can't be that bad of a pilot.

Well Leonardo Di Carprio's movie character managed to make it into a Boeing cockpit too...wouldn't have fancied my chances with him flying me anywhere! ;p



Maybe I'm just a cool,calm,collected person? I certainly wouldn't have lost it over inadvertently pushing on the control column/yoke. Those sort of situations are dealt with looooong before entering the cockpit of any airliner surely?


Edit: Back when I left school (hundreds of years ago :d) I applied to the national carrier for an ab-initio Pilot position which were being offered at the time. I sat through a number of tests including pych-evaluation which would have "weeded out" any candidates of a nervous disposition I'd imagine. Never got any further unfortunately as my eye sight wasn't up to spec....well that and the fact that I'm as unstable aS tHe MaD HatTTEr

 

[deathfromafar]

A 25 year old FO on a 737? Yeesh, I'd expect someone that age flying Regional jets or Turbo-props....


PS.. If the FO "got in to a panic" in that situation, then yes he needs more training....


BTW, to recover an aircraft that is in automated mode wouldn't you first disengage the auto-pilot?

Pretty much agree. He may have been "qualified" by the company's requirements for an Fo and type rated for the 737-8 but it doesn't necessarily mean his experience and capability level are commensurate to what they should be in operating such a complex class and weight of aircraft.
At 25, I bet his total hour count plus hours on the type were pretty low. The total hours count plus multi/complex time in a lower weight and less complex aircraft do make a major difference when training and typing a pilot on a heavier/complex AC like the 737NG or Airbus types. Many Airlines who operate 73's and Buses have turned up their experience requirements as of late because of the shortcomings they have had to deal with integrating fresh inexperienced/low TT FO's. One fellow I know who is a A320 Captain says his company now won't even look at you unless you have 4000+ hours TT and meet other requirements for INDOC and later IOE stage plug in. Reason being is that they were the sad recipients of a program designed to take fresh out of College and Part 141 Training into the right seat of an A320. It was a disaster as many suspected it would be. The gap in experience is just too much and presents a lot of safety concerns.

The other thing is that some of these accelerated Type Rating/INDOC/IOC programs stress so much reliance on Automation that an inexperienced young pilot can get complacent and slip away from the basics of simply flying the plane. In this Air India case, the young FO was clearly overwhelmed by the situation and trying to comprehend what the array of displays were telling him. If the yoke on a 737 is pushed or moved enough, the autopilot is disconnected. He would probably have been better off to have simply stabilized to plane level with the yoke and then set the AP brow controls to ease the plane back on course and altitude.

The automation is a good thing but you still must fly the plane and remember that the automation isn't perfect either!

 

[Bone]

It turns out that the FO in this case had a twin brother who wasn't a pilot, and he is the one who showed up to fly that day.

 

[Wing_Z]

There can be virtually no other explanation...well there can, but you would not believe it.

 

[Bone]

I was just kidding.

This whole story sounds fishy. If the plane was on autopilot, you'd have to do more than push on the yoke to make it leave the command altitude. Pushing, pulling, or turning the yoke with the AP on will put a slight control input into the system, but it goes back to the command settings when you let go. Also, it takes alot of force to move the yoke just a little bit when the AP is on...alot of force...you would have to do some radical moving of the yoke to make the AP disengage, with forces along the lines of 80 to 100 pounds (or more) of effort. It's more likely he grabbed onto the glare shield where the AP FCP is when he moved his seat, and inadvertantly hit the vertical speed or some other descent mode.

The big zinger here is why he couldn't ID and correct his mistake. Lame. When you leave to go to the bathroom, the remaining pilot is expected to be able to handle it, without question.

 

[Bjoern]

Well Leonardo Di Carprio's movie character managed to make it into a Boeing cockpit too...wouldn't have fancied my chances with him flying me anywhere! ;p

He was wearing a uniform and it was the 60s when air travel was not nigh as usual as today.

Also, he was just dead heading.

Edit: Back when I left school (hundreds of years ago :d) I applied to the national carrier for an ab-initio Pilot position which were being offered at the time. I sat through a number of tests including pych-evaluation which would have "weeded out" any candidates of a nervous disposition I'd imagine. Never got any further unfortunately as my eye sight wasn't up to spec....well that and the fact that I'm as unstable aS tHe MaD HatTTEr

I got weeded out at Lufthansa.

Won't stop me from becoming a pilot one day 'though. I'll just take the long, liberal, financially risky road instead of the quick and constrained one.

After all, it's just a matter of training anyways.