- A COMPUTER game may have sent a jumbo
jet with 400 passengers on board plummeting out of control, it was revealed
yesterday.
-
- The Qantas plane first soared 700ft,
then rolled on its side and went into a sickening dive after its computerised
autopilot jammed as it circled over London. The quick-thinking pilot took
over manual control and landed safely.
-
- Investigators now believe the malfunction
could have been caused by passengers using laptop computers or personal
CDs or playing with electronic games. A shocked air safety expert said
yesterday in Sydney: "If this goes on, it's only a matter of time
before we have a catastrophe on our hands."
-
- The drama came at the end of a 22-hour
flight from Sydney. Cabin staff asked passengers to switch off games or
computers which could interfere with navigational equipment as the plane
prepared to land. But it is thought some ignored the request.
-
- As the plane took its place in a holding
pattern waiting for air traffic controllers to give permission for descent
to Heathrow it suddenly soared, flipped on to its side and plunged before
levelling out.
-
- The scare, disclosed for the first time
yesterday, is one of 50 involving Australian airlines logged by the country's
air safety experts since 1994.
-
- Terrifying incidents include reports
of planes rolling, swerving up and down - known as "porpoising"
- and deviating from flight paths.
-
- There have also been unexpected decreases
in cabin pressure and unintelligible messages appearing on flight management
systems.
-
- Malfunctions have been linked to mobile
phones, laptop computers, video cameras, hand-held video games and radio-cassette
and CD players.
-
- An investigator said: "Passengers
will insist on continuing to use these devices after they've been told
to turn them off."
-
- Australia's worried Civil Aviation Safety
Authority is now considering strict new rules.
-
- Airlines in Britain, the US, New Zealand
and Canada have banned mobile phones during flights.
-
- A spokesman for BALPA, the British pilots
association, said: "There's still no conclusive proof that electronic
equipment can affect an aircraft. But we can't take risks."
-
- British Airways said: "We don't
let passengers use electronic equipment during take-off or landing."
|
