Indian Jet Plummets 7000' because co-pilot moved seat.

[becket]

He bumped the controls, panicked, and stalled a 737. This is the kind of idiocy we can expect in this country if the Airlines keep pushing for relaxed training and qualifications.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/30/report-co-pilot-moved-seat-sent-jetliner-plumetting/?hpt=C2

 

[mamba20]

And passengers don't and won't care as long as tickets are cheap. That is, until a couple of airliners nose in somewhere in the U.S.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Holy crap.

Captain left to use the restroom, and in the end he probably still crapped and pissed himself.

 

[LearLove]

something smells fishy (or like curry) here. He just "bumped" the controls. What? Unless he hit one of the AP disconnect buttons which is pretty hard to do I think there is more to the story than Habib and Rishi are letting on...



text of the article:

The co-pilot of an Air India Express 737 sent the jetliner into a terrifying 7,000-foot plunge in May when he accidentally hit the control column while adjusting his seat, investigators report.
According to the report from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the co-pilot panicked and was unable to execute the proper procedures as the jetliner dropped from 37,000 feet at a 26-degree angle. The plane and its 113 passengers were saved when the pilot, who’d gone on a bathroom break, used an emergency code to get into the locked cockpit, jumped back into his seat and grabbed the controls to bring the plummeting plane out of its dive.
The aircraft would have broken apart if the descent had continued, the aviation agency report said. The aircraft was not damaged and no one was injured, the report said.
After the pilot, 39, regained control of the plane, he told passengers, who were in the middle of a meal when the jet plunged, that the plane had “went through an air pocket and that is why there was a rapid descent,” according to the report.
The aviation agency report concluded that the 25-year-old co-pilot had not been trained in the specific scenario the jet encountered and “probably had no clue to tackle this kind of emergency.”
Neither the pilot nor co-pilot were named in the report.

 

[Abernathy]

something smells fishy (or like curry) here. He just "bumped" the controls. What? Unless he hit one of the AP disconnect buttons which is pretty hard to do I think there is more to the story than Habib and Rishi are letting on...



text of the article:

The co-pilot of an Air India Express 737 sent the jetliner into a terrifying 7,000-foot plunge in May when he accidentally hit the control column while adjusting his seat, investigators report.
According to the report from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the co-pilot panicked and was unable to execute the proper procedures as the jetliner dropped from 37,000 feet at a 26-degree angle. The plane and its 113 passengers were saved when the pilot, who’d gone on a bathroom break, used an emergency code to get into the locked cockpit, jumped back into his seat and grabbed the controls to bring the plummeting plane out of its dive.
The aircraft would have broken apart if the descent had continued, the aviation agency report said. The aircraft was not damaged and no one was injured, the report said.
After the pilot, 39, regained control of the plane, he told passengers, who were in the middle of a meal when the jet plunged, that the plane had “went through an air pocket and that is why there was a rapid descent,” according to the report.
The aviation agency report concluded that the 25-year-old co-pilot had not been trained in the specific scenario the jet encountered and “probably had no clue to tackle this kind of emergency.”
Neither the pilot nor co-pilot were named in the report.

The dreaded "air pocket" strikes again.

 

[Abernathy]

On a more serious note, I'd like to find out what really happened in the cockpit when the Captain left to use the lav.

 

[LearLove]

On a more serious note, I'd like to find out what really happened in the cockpit when the Captain left to use the lav.

exactly

 

[clr4theapch]

People here pay Zero-G $3500 a pop for that kind of experience.. Ha!.. glad the Capt had that secret code ring... how the heck did he even stand up against the flight deck door with a 26 degree nose high stall in progress.. wow..

 

[GuppyWN]

No doubt in my mind. Jihad.

Gup

 

[Abernathy]

No doubt in my mind. Jihad.

Gup

Hell of a cover up. "The copilot isn't a terrorist. He's just really stupid."

On a related note, does it bother anyone else that the RJs don't have an emergency alternate method of cockpit entry?