Report Blames EasyJet Crew for Off Course Plane, Aborted Landing

An AAIB report cited poor communications between the pilot and first officers and an improperly executed landing checklist as contributing factors in the troubling incident.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report on a May 13 incident involving an EasyJet flight on approach to Bristol Airport (BRS) determined that the first officer’s failure to speak up after the captain “lost situational awareness” added to the confusion that caused a botched landing attempt by the off course passenger plane. The AAIB findings noted that the crew of the Airbus A319-111 successfully landed at the airport earlier in the day before losing their bearings during the nighttime approach later that evening.

The pilots reportedly switched runways shortly before approach because of a shift in wind direction. The plane was forced to abort the landing attempt a short time later after the co-pilot finally alerted the pilot that the plane was off course and called for a “go-around.” The captain was said to have become confused about his approach pattern as he was focused on complying with noise abatement guidelines. After circling the airport, the plane and the 105 aboard eventually landed safely at BRS.

The AAIB report chided the captain and first officer for failing to appropriately communicate critical information to each other and declared, “The fact the go-around altitude was not set until the go-around had commenced indicates either the landing checklist had not been completed or that it had not been completed satisfactorily.” The 56-year-old captain had logged nearly 11,500 hours of flying at the time of the incident, nearly 5,000 of those hours were on the model of aircraft he was piloting that night.

EasyJet conducted its own probe into the failures in the skies over Bristol. Airline officials reported making several critical changes to its procedures and flight safety polices as a result of that internal investigation.

[Photo: Planespotters]