Mid-air Crisis
Report by Websitekang
on 1st August 2005
Date: 04-08-2005
" Life and death is separated by a thin line, sometimes " and I am glad that I am still alive and well, Phew!. I was on my way from Perth to Kuala Lumpur on 1st August last and was on that MH 124
flight, the Boeing 777 carrying about 200 passengers then. I had a close shave of my life.
The plane took off at 4.30pm and it was an usual pleasant flight and the weather was fine and sunny. We were about half an hour away from Perth and after we
received our MAS peanuts as usual and the stewards were distributing the orange juices. All of a sudden, the steward along
our aisle tumbled with all the orange juices splashing all over the place. The plane shuddered and dropped down 200m quickly
and both the wings of the plane swang up and down and jerked forward in an uncontrollable situation like a combat jet fighter
. But alas! it was a big commercial jetliner performing Tango in the air.
The pilot announced to request people to shut down their laptops and mobile phones as apparently there was some kind of
unwanted electrical interference. The co-pilot rushed out just to check there was no one who acted on the contrary. As I was
sitting on the front near the wing side, the shake was less compared with those at the back. At the back it was reported that the orange juices
even flew to the ceiling top. I said to myself: " that is it! that is the end. My god, please help!" as I saw the plane almost nose dive down.
Fortunately, it happened about two minutes or so and the plane was brought back to stabilty as I felt that there was some kind
of switching of piloting from an auto to a manual mode. The pilot announced again that due to some insturmentation problem, the plane was
turning back to Perth just to make sure everything was OK and that would be another 25 minutes flight. The 25 minutes flight was
quite OK but sluggish and by then everybody knew that the plane was in trouble and the pilot apparently was manoeuvreing manually to get the plane to
the ground. It was a nerves breaking moment when the plane was touching down as one realised it would be a disaster
if such shuddering repeated during landing. By then, we could see all the fire trucks were in emergency standby positions. The pilot
declared a full emergency and Fire & Emergency Service, Authority crews, St John Ambulance and police were on stand-by.
Soon the plane touched the ground safely, everybody cheered in applause.
Indeed the pilot did an excellent job, he made a very quick and instant decision to tun back after the fault developed and he
manoeuvred the plane in a very steady way, his voice was calm and confident and made the passengers reassured. Only when the plane
landed safely and he bursted to tears when meeting the passengers as reported later.
As I was back at the Airport Lounge, I realised that the situation was more serious than I assumed. Passengers who sat near the
pilots seemed to hear that the auto pilot system failed to engage and the plane was later on the manual mode, and it was lucky
that this happened earlier and not in the middle of Indian Ocean. Anyway, this is just the feeling of passengers and an investigative
report is pending.
Women bursted to tears. " I just want to go home, no more holidays for me, thanks!" " Oh! darling we are on the ground and we
are really on the ground." consoled by the partners. In a situation like this, the first thing a person could think of is " home ", as
what the saying goes:-
All the emrgency supports were well carried out by the authority and passengers were scheduled to a next plane the following day.
I opted to stay one more day as the extra seat was not available and I was not in a hurry.
On the following day 3rd of August, my wife sent me to the airport to catch the plane ( another MH124 ) back. On the way, she asked " Why so
quiet? How do you feel?"
" Oh! it is ok, the chance of striking a lottery ticket twice is close to infinity, I shall be comfortable with this one."
I quipped.
written by Websitekang
Dated 4-8-2005
Two Malaysia Airlines ( MAS ) pilots saved the lives of 177 passengers with their quick thinking when the planes's computer
system went faulty after take-off from the Perth International Airport, a preliminary report released by Australian
authorities has established.
---------
The pilots, Capt Norhisham Kassim and First Officer Caleb Foong earned praises from the passengers and crew for their
calm handling of the situation. "
------
As a result, Capt Norhisham Kassim had to fly the plane manually for the remainder of the flight.---- Unquote
Thank you, Capt Norhisham Kassim and First Officer Caleb Foong.
From Websitekang
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released September 16 a preliminary report on the incident involving flight MH124. The Australian aviation authority says the incident has prompted plane manufacturer Boeing to issue a global notice to all 777 operators alerting them to a critical problem in a flight device. The ATSB, which classified the incident as Category 3 under a five category hierarchy, is continuing with its investigation on the incident that recorded an abrupt mid-air plunge in altitude of the passenger aircraft. According to ATSB's preliminary report, investigations are focusing on faulty acceleration figures supplied by a device called the air data inertial reference unit. The device, which was sent to manufacturer Honeywell and to US investigators for examination, collates aircraft navigation and performance data from other systems and passes the information to the primary flight computer. In the August 1 incident, pilots of the KLIA-bound Malaysia Airlines flight detected irregularities in the aircraft's flight computers and had to return to Perth international airport about an hour after take-off. It was reported that the aircraft behaved erratically, and the incorrect data from a supposedly fail-safe device caused the plane to pitch up and climb 3000ft (914m), cutting its indicated air speed from 500km/h to 292km/h and activating a stall warning and a "stickshaker". In summary, a stickshaker vibrates the aircraft's controls to warn the pilot he is approaching a speed at which the plane will have insufficient lift to keep flying. The ATSB report reveals the pilot in command (PIC) disconnected the autopilot and lowered the plane's nose to prevent the stall, but the aircraft's automatic throttle responded by increasing the power. The pilot countered by pushing the thrust levers to the idle position but the aircraft pitched up again and climbed 2000ft. He notified air traffic control that the plane, carrying 177 passengers, could not maintain altitude and requested a descent and radar assistance for a return to Perth. As the plane descended through 20,000ft, the pilot reported the primary flight display (PFD) appeared normal and separately tested the aircraft's two autopilot systems. But he was forced to keep flying manually when the plane banked to the right and the nose pitched down during both tests. The pilot reported no difficulties flying the plane but noted that the automatic throttles remained armed. As the aircraft was positioned to approach Perth, however, the flight display again gave a low airspeed warning and the auto-throttle responded by increasing thrust. The aircraft's warning system also indicated a dangerous windshear but the crew continued the approach and landed safely. According to the ATSB, the aircraft’s flight data recorder (FDR), cockpit voice recorder and the air data inertial reference unit (ADIRU) were removed for examination and analysis. The ADIRU was sent to the component manufacturer for examination under the supervision of the United States National Transportation Safety Board. The FDR data indicated that, at the time of the occurrence, unusual and instantaneous acceleration values were recorded in all three planes of movement. The acceleration values were provided by the aircraft’s ADIRU and were used by the aircraft’s primary flight computer (PFC) during manual and automatic flight. The PFC compared the information from the ADIRU with the information from the Standby Air Data and Attitude Reference Unit (SAARU). During the occurrence, this comparison function reduced the severity of the initial pitching motion of the aircraft. As a result of the occurrence, the ATSB says the aircraft manufacturer issued a Multi Operators Message on 9 August 2005, recommending to all B777 operators that the aircraft should not be flown with an unserviceable SAARU. Meanwhile, according to a story in The Australian, Boeing spokesman Ken Morton said September 16 the incident had not occurred before or since. Operators have since been told to load a previous software version. "To this point we haven't had any people coming back saying they've had faults." Mr Morton said there were 525 777s in service and they had accumulated more than 10million flight hours and 2million landings. "All incidents are thoroughly investigated and appropriate steps are taken to ensure the continuing safety of the in-service fleet," he said. "Nothing is more important than that." ATSB's preliminary report is available here. In the report, it is noted that the pilot-in-command (PIC of the flight has clocked in a total of 11,000 flight hours with 3,677 flying Boeing777. His co-pilot, on the other hand, has clocked in 3,863 hours on Boeing777 with 6,803 total flight hours. They flew the aircraft on manual mode and steered the flight to a safe landing with no casualty. Thanks reader matny for the alert.
Source from Screenshots by Jeff ooi
1. 02-08-05
Airbus A340 of the French Airline crashed at Toronto Airport of Candada, luckily everyone escaped death.
2. 06-08-05
A Tunesian ATR chartered flight, crashed into sea off the shore of Sicily. 16 death and 23 survived.
3. 14-08-05
Cyprus Airline Boeing 737-300, crashed near Athen, Greece. All 121 people died.
4. 16-08-05
Columbia Airline one " MD-82 " crashed at West side of Venezula, South of America. 152 French and 8 crew members were killed.
5. 23-08-05
Peru "TANs " Airline one Boeing 737-200 crashed into center of Peru. 37 dead and 52 survived.
6. 05-09-05
Mandala Airlines, Indonesia, Boeing 737-200 crashed in a residential area of Medan, Indonesia's third biggest city. At least
137 deaths, however 15 survived, they were at the back of the aircraft.
Sympathies and condolences to the families of the victims.- from MH3 -
UPDATED VERSION. Thjere is still absence of updates on MH124 though the aircraft A check on PPRUNE (Professional Pilots Rumour Network) reveals a few things. Thread One (Discussions among pilots): Thread Two (Discussion among laymen): Incidentally, the last time a Malaysian Airbus A330 was sabotaged in October 2003, it was Perth-bound. You must have been annoyed by all the aviation acronyms. Here they are: * * * UPDATE: Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy today denied the use of personal electronic devices had sparked the "technical glitch" on flight MH124 last week. He said the technical problem had not been ascertained yet but some components have been changed as safety precaution. He said the Boeing 777 was flown back to Malaysia without passengers after the DCA had certified it safe to fly. Via Bernama.
" Unquote
Source from Screenshots by Jeff ooi
Quote"
On A Wing And A Prayer
Remember the wild ride on Malaysia Airlines flight MH124 to Perth last August?
As a Malaysia Airlines jetliner cruised from Perth, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, one evening last August, it suddenly took on a mind of its own and zoomed 3,000 feet upward.
The captain disconnected the autopilot and pointed the Boeing 777's nose down to avoid stalling, but was jerked into a steep dive. He throttled back sharply on both engines, trying to slow the plane. Instead, the jet raced into another climb. The crew eventually regained control and manually flew their 177 passengers safely back to Australia.
Investigators quickly discovered the reason for the plane's roller-coaster ride 38,000 feet above the Indian Ocean. A defective software program had provided incorrect data about the aircraft's speed and acceleration, confusing flight computers. The computers had also failed, at first, to respond to the pilot's commands. Within weeks Boeing Co. warned airlines world-wide to install a fix provided by Honeywell International Inc., which makes the flight computers and supplied the faulty software. [Wall Street Journal; subscription required]
The captain did good. MAS is in the clear. The manufacturers have fixed the problem.
All's well? Not exactly:
Specialists say the biggest problems in aviation software don't stem from bugs in the code of a single program but rather from the interaction between two different parts of a plane's computer system. In extreme cases, foul-ups can lead to sudden loss of control, sometimes not showing up until years after aircraft are introduced into service.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 124 is a case in point. Boeing's 777 jets started service in 1995 and had never experienced a similar emergency before. According to Boeing and Honeywell, the source of the problem was a revised computer program that had recently been installed on all 777s to fix a minor navigation flaw.
Honeywell and Boeing didn't know that the new program had a defect: It simultaneously told the autopilot that the plane was flying dangerously slow and much too fast. Investigators are still trying to figure out what circumstances triggered the program to give the conflicting data.
Fly by wire? More like hanging by a thread.
I've always found flying fun, but now, I'm not so sure. "
Unquote.
Quote: "
The Star Nation 20 September 2005
20-9-2005
Quote "Flight MH124... Investigation points to Boeing and Honeywell
"There is a very simple test to do before you take off and that will tell you if your system has that problem or not," he said.
August, a dark month for 2005
Quote "MH124: What really happened?
is now grounded in has been flown back from Perth two days ago after obtaining clearance from the Department of Civil Aviation.
- ADIRS - Air Data Inertial Reference System
- DFDR - Digital Flight Data Recorder
- CVR - Cockpit Voice Recorders
- ATSB - Australian Transport Safety Bureau
- FA - Flight Attendant(s)
- ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization
- SOP - Standard Operating Procedure
From : vijai deb
Sent : Tuesday, May 30, 2006 11:34 PM
To : websitekang@hotmail.com
Subject : GOT THIS FROM AISEHMAN.ORG TODAY- MIGHT INTEREST YOU