Pilot Forced To Abort Landing Because Controllers Dozed Off
- 10 years ago
A China Eastern Airlines plane recently had to abort a landing because the air traffic controllers were reportedly taking a nap. The incident occurred in the early morning hours of July 8th.
A China Eastern Airlines plane recently had to abort a landing because the air traffic controllers were reportedly taking a nap. The incident occurred in the early morning hours of July 8th.
The aircraft had already started descending towards the landing strip of a Wuhan airport when the plans had to be abruptly changed. An investigation of the mishap revealed the flight crew repeatedly tried to make contact with controllers at the airport.
A transcript of the flight recording showed that two of the attempts were made in English while another one was spoken in Chinese. None of the calls were answered, leading to the decision not to land at that point in time.
The pilot had to return to a higher altitude and circle the facility for approximately 10 minutes before the crew made contact with the control tower and the passenger aircraft was able to land. Fortunately the plane touched ground safely and no injuries were reported.
An investigation report states two controllers had fallen asleep. This makes it the third issue in two months involving China Eastern Airlines.
On July 17, an aircraft landed off the designated runaway and three days later another plane maneuvered off the airstrip in the middle of a storm. Nobody was hurt in either of those incidents.
A China Eastern Airlines plane recently had to abort a landing because the air traffic controllers were reportedly taking a nap. The incident occurred in the early morning hours of July 8th.
The aircraft had already started descending towards the landing strip of a Wuhan airport when the plans had to be abruptly changed. An investigation of the mishap revealed the flight crew repeatedly tried to make contact with controllers at the airport.
A transcript of the flight recording showed that two of the attempts were made in English while another one was spoken in Chinese. None of the calls were answered, leading to the decision not to land at that point in time.
The pilot had to return to a higher altitude and circle the facility for approximately 10 minutes before the crew made contact with the control tower and the passenger aircraft was able to land. Fortunately the plane touched ground safely and no injuries were reported.
An investigation report states two controllers had fallen asleep. This makes it the third issue in two months involving China Eastern Airlines.
On July 17, an aircraft landed off the designated runaway and three days later another plane maneuvered off the airstrip in the middle of a storm. Nobody was hurt in either of those incidents.