An air safety investigation has been launched after a Qantas jet made its approach to land at the nation's busiest airport without deploying its landing gear.
The pilots apparently noticed their oversight less than 300 metres above the ground.
The airline has stood down the two pilots pending the safety investigation.
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The Qantas 767 was on a morning flight from Melbourne as it came in to land at Sydney airport last Monday.
Once the error was realised, the pilots returned power to the engines and regained altitude, before circling and successfully landing.
But how they came so close to trying to land their jet without being ready to do so is now the subject of a serious incident investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Qantas has released a statement, agreeing it was a serious incident.
"This is an extremely rare event but one we have taken seriously," the statement said.
"The flight crew knew all required procedures but there was a brief communications breakdown. They responded quickly to the situation and instigated a go-around. The cockpit alert coincided with their actions."
The cockpit alert was an audible warning from the ground proximity warning system.
The airline says there was no issue of flight safety and it is fully cooperating with the investigation.
The president of the Australian and International Pilots Association that represents Qantas flight crew, Captain Barry Jackson, says coming in to land is when pilots are at their busiest.
"You're dealing with air traffic, you're dealing with slowing the aircraft down, configuration changes, changing frequencies, all those things," he said.
Mr Jackson says pilots welcome the investigation, to work out what went wrong and how to avoid similar problems happening again.
"It's very serious if the enhanced warning system is activated," he said.
"It's designed to go off when an aircraft is close to the ground and it's not configured for landing, it's designed for that. And so therefore it's done its job.
"I can't comment on the detail. The pilots have been stood down while an investigation takes place, the proper investigation process will take place, will find out the facts, then we'll start to ask the questions how the pilots got there and obviously deal with that as it comes up."
Mr Jackson says it is hard to speculate on the key areas the investigation will need to focus on.
"I believe the go-around was attempted a little bit higher than the altitude that the warning went off," he said.
"I don't know if they actually started to climb straight away because usually when you do a go-around you select the go-around switches. The aeroplane will climb rapidly and if for some reason it's continued to a lower altitude before it's gone around and that warning has been set off."
Qantas pilots forgot to lower landing gear
ABC News © Enlarge photo
52 Comments
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Tony 01:29am Thursday 05th November 2009 WST Report AbuseAustralian air commuters should choose carefully when they travel,Quantas and other airline companies should be made more accountable for the frequent delays which translate to loss of productivityThe air safety authorities should make public an impartial safety ( or lack of it ) scale according to the mishaps, delays and service quality and only than we can decide which airline we fly with. At moment I am very nervous to fly Quantas
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kristy79s 11:06pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
dumb comment or dumb response??? there is no way that human error can be reduced to zero. i challenge anyone to find a system that is foolproof, human or otherwise. and i'm pretty sure the paramedic scenario would have occured at least once if not many times... its called human error
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rosalie 10:06pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
andy u dumb ass...a 'human error could have cost many people their lives tere is no room for human error when flying a plane" that would be like a paramedic attending a cardiac arrest call out only to try and defib them then remembering oops i forgot to charge teh batteries...small human error.. huge human loss..people al over the world trust other HUMANS to rule their country..they vote for these HUMANs..in some professions there is no room for mistakes. :imagine being a doctor lol
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John 08:51pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
...& said "what, we missed the runway?" I don't think the passengers realised what occurred. When I read the news, I now know what happened there.
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Andy 08:38pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
whats the big deal? a procedure failed to be executed due to human error, (so sack them to keep the standards high) the backup system in place worked and saved the day? so what..
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John 08:29pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Melbourne to Sydney last Monday morning? I think I was on that flight. The pilot already said "cabin crew, prepare for landing." The engine was quiet and the plane was descending. Then the plane pulled up and the engine roared again. A man two seats away joked to his companion "what, we missed the runway?". There's no room for error with planes and pilots must take their responsibility seriously because other people's lives depend on their focus and competence. I hope the pilots keep their jobs but procedures should be tightened so this doesn't happen again.
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kristy79s 06:17pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
no matter how highly trained and skilled a pilot, there is always the chance of human error, and that is where the warning system came in (though even they can fail too). if you translated the number of vehicle crashes, near misses and fatalities to airline travel you would see just how safe planes are compared to cars. statistically you have far more chance of dying in a car than on a plane. its just that plane incidents attract media attention
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Isaac 06:13pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
id put money on them to never forget again! i hope they keep their jobs.
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Isaac 06:12pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
i'd put money on them never to forget again. i hope they keep their jobs.
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Chiu-Suen 06:12pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Qantas have more than a few narrow mishaps in recent months! What's wrong with their engineers and pilots? Please don't spoil the safety reputation of such a fine airline! I'll move to Singapore Airline soon. Li.:Disappointed customer of Qantas for the last 50 years.
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zab g 05:53pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
ZERO mistakes,this should be the bench mark for all commercial pilots,or severe disipline if found in error,,second time around,instant dismissal..we are dealing with peoples lives here.........
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macca007 05:30pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse300m from the ground appears TOO close for an alarm to sound, especially an alarm to confirm the landing gear is down! Check-list items ARE important, ensuring the landing gear is down should be at the TOP of ALL landing check-lists...Agreed????
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jf 04:59pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Mavaf, I don't know where you flew but I doubt you spent alot of time with your spelling and grammar at school. Important prerequisites for Qantas I might add. Would people come out of the commercial media bandwagon slipstream and remember that the investigation has to be concluded before any punishment is given. It is standard practice for aviation companies to stand staff down after a prang; known as the cooling off period. You'd all be gloating if, in fact, the gear lever had been selected down and the system failed to pick it up and the jet had "landed". You'd still be blaming the pilots. Remember the US govt. official who spouted to all the world that the jet that exploded shortly after takeoff froma a US airport on its way to Europe had been shot down and that he knew who had done it? Well, he was wrong. Let's wait for the investigation. Or better still let's blame Airbus.
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youngfrog64 04:54pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abusei stand corrected, but, they will be nodoubt be hammered by their outfit, then the FAA, then crucified by the press, then loose their jobs, it aint right, but what is these days, sigh, people are funny ya know, 9 out of 10 times they dont even think bout saftly
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Matthew 04:50pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
It's not a good policy to punish pilots unless it's really required. One mistake (if it was) doesn't make them bad pilots and it's better to encourage pilots to be honest and own up to mistakes so to prevent it from happening again. Punishing pilots will lead to them lying to cover their own backs rather then getting to the truth.
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youngfrog64 04:47pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
these planes, they do it all, even make radio calls, there was no danger, the jumbo alerted the pilots, they reacted the way they should off, NObody got hurt, what is the problem??, yeh the pilots shoulb be smacked across wrists but that is it
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mavaf 04:23pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
I am a pilot my self and i have been flying for 30 years,,,,Now i do know what does happen in the@#$%pit. All Airlines have a check-list that BOTH PILOT'S must read to each other before take off and Landing,,,This guys have to be good on their jobs no mistakes,,,,Never wait for the system to tell you,,,Sh...t pull up you are too low,,,Did both of them read the CHECK-LIST??????? What were they thinking,,,,They also get pay well and have no reason to forget,,,Accident do happens,,,but not this way,,,Companiy did well to stood both down,,,,Sorry Mate,,,,,
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Robert 04:14pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Better to remain silent and merely be thought a fool than open ones mouth and PROVE that you ARE!!
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PeterH 04:07pm Wednesday 04th November 2009 WST Report Abuse
Never say never ... remember when Ansett started flying 747's internationally ... they did land a 747 without its nose wheel down ... warnings are one thing but a pilot needs to be vigalent at all times no matter how busy they are. I put my trust in these guys (and the plane makers and engineers maintaining them).
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