Safety is the core of aviation. Flying is much safer than driving. That is a data based fact.
You should worry more in cars than on planes. Fear and pandemonium in the media is not a good thing, however many clicks and subsequent dollars, it may bring. That is not the goal here.
Sometimes human error can be terrifying, and even though flying is a safe mode of transportation, sometimes there are close calls which need to be reconciled.
It's good for everyone who flies if major attention is given to these issues. For obvious reasons, airlines don't like attention. Paperwork is usually minimal and increases deniability chances when there are non-fatal events.
According to unconfirmed reports, on December 20th, a plane bound for Washington DC nearly hit the ground after the flight crew failed to set a climb, which resulted in the flight director almost plunging the plane into the ground.
The data from FlightRadar 24 and sources close to the incident suggest that this event is true. There will be an FAA record since this flight was bound for Washington DC.
Is it a close miss on the take off?
According to data from FR 24, a potentially significant abnormality was experienced by the flight from the Middle East to Washington DC on the 20th of December.
According to unconfirmed reports close to the event, the flight crew failed to correct the take off altitude, which was set to 0000 feet instead of 4,000 feet.
The autopilot was supposed to pitch the aircraft back toward the ground during a critical phase of flight. The plane was as low as 175 feet.
The plane reached an altitude of 175 feet and a speed of 301 MPH, which is not close to the airport.
A plane should be in the thousands of feet of altitude by then.
The flight crew is said to have followed the flight director until it became clear that something was wrong as the plane headed towards the ground. The system should have been set for 4,000 feet for the take off climb, but it was set to 0000.
The flight took off on the 20th of December, local time, which is different from the UTC time.
Overspeed is a cause for caution.
Planes don't usually hit those speeds with the gear or flaps down. These potentially damaging incidents are known as "overspeed" issues.
If the event occurred on the basis of speed alone, the plane should have returned to the United Arab Emirates for structural checks. High speeds at low altitude with flaps and gear down can cause damage which can prove critical during flight.
The plane is believed to have been in the air for 14 hours.
There was an inspection in Washington which caused a delay greater than 3 hours of the return flight. Cracks, structural failures or issues with systems which are critical to flight can be caused by overspeed of an aircraft.
After inspecting the aircraft, it is believed that no serious structural or systems damage occurred to the aircraft during the take off event, and the flight operated from Washington to Dubai without incident.
Questions remain about whether it should have continued its journey to Washington DC, given the potential for damage and the potentially serious error. Of course, if this happened.
A good outcome.
According to sources, the 4 flight crew who operated the near miss flight have all been let go by the airline as a result of the potentially devastating incident and further decision to carry on, despite the potential for overspeed damage to either the flaps or landing gear as a result of the error.
There was no one hurt on the EK231 flight in question, and on the return journey from Washington Dulles to Dubai, only a 3 hour 15 minute delay was experienced as a result of the overspeed inspection.
The crew'scency is a constant problem for airlines in the "stop, start" nature of the Pandemic. There are restrictions added. Airlines can't cope when restrictions are dropped.
An inexplicable series of events where a flight crew saw a takeoff altitude of 0,000 feet and then failed to correct it to 4,000 feet is alarming for an airline with a largely impressive safety record.
There have been no fatal passenger crashes for the flights of the airline.
There was a notice to flight crews.
Even if the previous crew left an altitude of 0,000, that's not what was intended for take off, according to a NOTAM sent out by the airline. It is a worrying error.
After a long time off of work, it is important for airlines to retrain flight crews properly so they are ready to return to work. The last thing the travel recovery needs is a disaster.
