Don't use your mobile on a plane - especially if you are flying! [TELECOM]

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Texting probe on Jetstar landing alert MATT O'SULLIVAN June 12, 2010

AIR safety experts will investigate claims a Jetstar pilot was texting on his mobile phone just before his jet was forced to pull out of a landing at Singapore's Changi Airport.

Pilots on an A321-200 plane flying from Darwin received an on-board warning when the plane carrying 167 passengers was just 122 metres above the ground on approach to the airport in the early hours of May 27.

It is understood the so-called ''incorrect configuration warning'' was triggered because the plane's landing gear was not down.

The pilots had to abort the landing. The 210-seater landed safely soon after.

The investigation will examine allegations that one of the pilots on JQ57 was using his mobile phone to send messages shortly before the landing. Neither investigators nor Jetstar would comment on this claim yesterday.

Last October two pilots of a Northwest Airlines aircraft overshot their destination in the US by 160 kilometres because they were chatting and using their laptops. The US Federal Aviation Administration revoked their licences.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau confirmed it was investigating the ''missed approach'' in Singapore after the crew received an ''incorrect configuration warning''.

Its director of aviation safety investigation, Ian Sangston, said the probe was centred on what triggered the warning. He declined to comment on whether it was because the landing gear was not down, saying there could be several reasons for an alert.

He would not comment on claims that one pilot had been using his mobile phone.

He did say, however, that the aircraft was ''lower than they would have liked'' when the landing was aborted.

Investigators from the bureau are working with their Singaporean counterparts.

It could take the bureau up to nine months to release a report on the incident.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the airline was helping the bureau in its inquiries but he declined to comment further. ''We don't comment on any circumstantial information,'' he said.

Reply to
David Clayton
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"Claims" and "allegations." The media really loves to skewer people absent facts.

Then, they cover their six (aviation-speak) by indirectly quoting the expert:

"The bureau's director of aviation safety investigation, Ian Sangston, said the inquiry was trying to determine the trigger for the warning.

He declined to comment on whether it was because the landing gear was not down, saying there could be several reasons for such an alert."

Reply to
Sam Spade

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