Qantas A330 Incident

[deathfromafar]

A Qantas Airbus A330-300 suffered an uncommanded pitch up and the pitch down at FL370 and then losing altitude. The A330 crew made an emergency landing at Learmonth. There were 44 reported injuries from minor to serious(non life threatening).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081008/ap_on_re_au_an/as_australia_qantas_altitude_change

[smoores]

Were they in a thunderstorm? I've never seen anything like that happen so unexpectedly.

[deathfromafar]

No word on the meteorological conditions they were in at FL370 on their route. From the sounds of it, the talk is that there was a glitch in the FMGS Box. I treat it as hearsay until the cause is actually determined.

[CWOJackson]

Sky News is offering an alternative cause:

A passenger's laptop computer is being considered as a possible cause of the Qantas incident off Western Australia on Tuesday. The Airbus A330-300 was flying from Singapore to Perth when it suddenly plunged thousands of feet, leaving more than 50 people injured.


The plane was forced to make an emergency landing at an air force base near Exmouth in WA. A computer malfunction involving the auto-pilot system is being blamed for the incident.


'There certainly was a period of time where the aircraft performed on its own accord as it pitched over nose forward,' said Julian Walsh from the Transport Safety Bureau. Investigators will ask if any passengers were using electronic devices at the time.

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So who was playing FSX on their laptop? Disengage autopilot and.......:isadizzy:

[Lionheart]

With incredibly sophisticated software systems in charge of 'fly by wire' controls of such a liner, you will occasionally get this.

Remember the guys picking up a new Airbus 2 weeks ago, and accidentally fooled the aircraft into thinking it was taking off and it went to full throttle and with brakes on, rocketed into a concrete wall?

Perhaps someone spilled coffee into the FMC, or it was a powerful updraft.. Never know.

Im glad no one was hurt. Awesome news.



Bill

[deathfromafar]

I'd have to place a lot of doubt on a passenger's PC causing this since I have operated many PC's on board Airbus aircraft. Knowing guys who fly them, both the A320 and 330's, the only rules with passenger PC's are to stow them during takeoff and landing(Loose object hazard during acceleration and decceleration) and no transmissions to or from them(or cell phones) because transmissions from ground towers can cause interference with NAV Systems on the plane. Interference from a PC affecting the FMGS is pretty much impossible due to them being isolated avionics. The Altitude and speed management of the FMGS is hard coded and not dependent on or using outside transmission sources for function other than NAV Beacons and GPS. Chances are, this was an occurance of an error in the software or another electronic anomaly in a system between the FMGS and the FBW Computers. It has happened before.

[robby88]

An update.... thought to be a computer problem.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/09/2386914.htm

[deathfromafar]

That's close to a sudden 4000 feet per minute drop. Unbelted passengers will get launched for sure in such a case. I never keep my seatbelt unbuckled when in my seat!

[humbles]

Hello all just reading the above posts while searching about an accident involving a brand new airbus. I will add the link here for you all to read .I am not trying to hijack your thread.
http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/3207/85/
I truly hope this does not offend any one.
I know lionheart has mentioned the accident but If you read the post it gives a more detailed explanation, or better still do a google on the name