Jetstar says breaking MSA into Queenstown not dangerous!
Jetstar continues to use the language of denial in relation to its persistent commission of safety breaches and the latest known incident, which involved one of its flights dropping below the minimum safe altitude (MSA) on approach to Queenstown in New Zealand last month.
This is the New Zealand report concerning the incident, on 16 July, which is under investigation by Australia’s safety authority the ATSB because it was an Australian registered airliner.
This is the comment made by a Jetstar spokesperson, with emphasis added:
Jetstar said the plane’s pilots had reported that on approach an incorrect autopilot setting resulted in the aircraft going off its pre-determined track.
“This never put the aircraft in danger and the incident didn’t trigger any cockpit alerts. The pilots realised the error and corrected it promptly. Even if the error had not been corrected, the aircraft would still have landed safely,” Jetstar said.
Those words, about the aircraft not being in danger, were also advanced by a Jetstar spokesperson in relation to the Singapore incident in which two pilots acted in a totally unsafe and unprofessional manner at the controls of a Jetstar A321 in 2010 which descended to less than 400 feet above the ground over Changi Airport without being properly configured for landing while the captain stuffed around with a mobile phone.
These words from Jetstar are also a lie. A very serious lie. While it might be accepted by many that the job of a media spokesperson is to lie, such an obvious lie needs to be challenged.
The approach to Queenstown airport is ‘demanding’. It involves descending below the height of encircling mountains and making a set of course changes that avoid the complex terrain while maintaining an ability for the flight to safely extricate itself from the consequences of an unintended loss of power both on approach and departure.
By definition busting a safe minimum altitude puts a flight at risk. It is why there is a minimum safe altitude, and it is why the ATSB is investigating.
For the Jetstar spokesperson to say as reported that the flight wasn’t in danger because the error was corrected and it then landed safely is fatuous. The A321 at Singapore didn’t crash either, but that was because the first officer over ruled the captain, and flew the jet away from the airport to return and make a properly executed landing.
This incident at Queenstown ought to add to a ministerial and regulatory imperative to act immediately to review not just systemic failing in piloting standards in Jetstar, but into the will and capacity of CASA and the ATSB to carry out their duties in relation to major Australian airlines and inform and where necessary warn the travelling public.
Let’s be strict and clear in the case of the Queenstown incident. Jetstar put a flight into danger by dropping 1000 feet or 300 metres below the published safe minimum during its descent toward the mountain encircled airport.
For how long will it keep pushing the boundaries of luck and semantics? For how long will the minister and the authorities keep looking the other way?
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I believe that this Jetstar incident is far, far worse than the incidents that Tiger Airlines was hauled over the coals for, including Tiger’s breach of the minimum altitude over the relatively flat Avalon region of Melbourne.
Queenstown is by far the most dangerous airport for airliners in the Australia / New Zealand region. The margins for error are scarily slim, as aircraft must snake around a river surrounded by cliffs. This is the worst area to go off course.
by comet on Aug 18, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Comet, the low approaches that Tiger flew was nothing compared to what else was occurring behind the scenes. God help the day that into ever comes into the media hands.
by Creeper on Aug 18, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Go get em ‘ Ben.
The issue isn’t so much whether it is JQ,QF, Tiger or Virgin, it is all about industry dictating to the regulator what is acceptable pilot training standards.
Unfortunately, we’re increasingly getting stuck with “tick the boxes” world’s best practice (minimum legal requirement).
by Kapo on Aug 19, 2012 at 5:27 am
Exactly comet, well said. Jetstar [aka Qantas] spin doctors will do their usual snow job in the media and all will be forgiven. They are way too big for CASA to ground anyway. Creeper if you have all this explosive evidence about what is happening behind the scenes at Tiger, you have a public duty to expose it. Ben would agree that this is the forum for it! Truth is you don’t as there is none.
by FoBruno on Aug 19, 2012 at 11:41 am
Lowest safe?
…naaah, that only applies to those dodgy bastards from Tiger, maate!
Our safety is in the hands of Professionals from CASA. Professionals!
Everyone relax, now.
by Glenn Dunstan on Aug 20, 2012 at 1:54 pm
I used to enjoy flying into Queenstown. I might try driving from Christchurch for the next few trips instead.
by The Old Bill on Aug 20, 2012 at 7:02 pm
If it was IMC or at night it would be v serious so what were the conditions?
by Pearn David on Aug 22, 2012 at 1:23 pm