A Flybe flight heading for Glasgow with 44 passengers on board was just seconds from disaster as it plummeted 500ft in 18 seconds after an incorrect autopilot setting caused it to aim for the ground.
The passengers and four crew were on board when the terrifying incident occurred shortly after take off from Belfast City Airport.
A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) stated that autopilot was engaged when the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop plane reached an altitude of 1,350 feet.
The aircraft continued to climb to 1,500ft but it "pitched nose-down and then descended rapidly" because autopilot was mistakenly set with a target altitude of zero feet.
As the plane began to plummet cockpit alarms alerted the captain and first officer to what was happening. They later reported they had "become visual with the ground".
The 60-year-old captain, usually based in Aberdeen, disconnected autopilot and recovered the aircraft, having dropped to 928ft.
The maximum rate of descent of 4,300 feet per minute during the event suggests the aircraft may have hit the ground just a few seconds later if the crew had not intervened.
They continued the flight to Glasgow and landed without incident.
The AAIB concluded that the crew's selection of a particular autopilot mode before take off on January 11 this year led to the zero altitude target.
The flight's operator had taken several safety measures in response to the incident, including revisions to simulator training and amendments to pilots' pre-take off checklists.
A Flybe spokeswoman said: "
As reported by the AAIB, Flybe implemented remedial actions quickly in response to the incident and our training and procedures have been amended to minimise the risk of a reoccurrence.
"Flybe operates over 158,000 flights a year and the safety of our passengers and crew remains our number one priority."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel