Relax - Inexperience found in AirAsia X Australia probe

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SYDNEY - Two AirAsia X crews who flew dangerously low into Australia's Gold Coast were "probably not adequately equipped" to make the descent, Australian air safety investigators have found.

Australia's Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the flights from Kuala Lumpur on May 4 and May 29 2010 descended into the northeastern Australian airport below "minimum safe altitude".

"As a result, the aircraft descended to an altitude where there was no longer separation assurance from terrain and aircraft operating outside controlled airspace," the ATSB said in a report.

The ATSB found that the incidents were "indicators of a minor safety issue regarding the operator's training of its flight crews".

"The aircraft operator's flight crews were probably not adequately equipped to manage the vertical profile of non-precision approaches in other than autopilot managed mode," it said.

Both approaches were in cloudy, overcast conditions and involved the Airbus A330 being put into "selected" mode, where the autopilot operated on target values entered by the crew.

Simulator training at AirAsia X, the long-haul offshoot of Asia's biggest budget carrier, was largely based on descents into Kuala Lumpur which were "relatively simple" and none reflected the approach to the Gold Coast.

"It is likely that crews were not regularly exposed to intermediate vertical profile restrictions during the conduct of non-precision instrument approaches," the ATSB said in its report published late Friday.

Since the incidents the ATSB said AirAsia X had developed specific Gold Coast descent training and all crew had been required to complete it before flying the route.

Tiger Airways Australia, an offshoot of Singapore's Tiger, was grounded for six weeks last year after two similar incidents over Melbourne, and the ATSB is investigating a third serious occurrence involving Thai Airways last July.

Malaysia-based AirAsia X boosted flights into Australia last month by adding Sydney onto its routes. It is also facing a lawsuit from Australia's consumer regulator for failing to disclose some fares in full on its website.

Inexperience found in AirAsia X Australia probe

AFP | Mon, Feb 13 2012

Both approaches were in cloudy, overcast conditions and involved the Airbus A330 being put into 'selected' mode.

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air asia

australia