An airplane captain distracted by incoming text messages on his cell phone was the reason a flight from Australia to Singapore had to abort a touch-down just 500 feet from the tarmac, an investigation has found. The pilot was so distracted he didn’t notice that the landing gear was not deployed.
Jetstar Flight JQ57 was nearing the end of a four-hour flight from Darwin, Australia, to Singapore’s Changi Airport on May 27, 2010, when the captain’s mobile phone started beeping with incoming text messages and he failed to respond to the co-pilot’s requests, according to a report issued by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
The 220-seat Airbus A320 plane was less than 2,500 feet above the tarmac when the captain’s phone started beeping to alert him of missed text messages, the report found.
As the plane descended, the first officer, in control of the plane at the time, felt “something was not quite right,” he told investigators, and tried to alert the captain that he wanted to pull out of the landing.
The co-pilot looked over and saw the captain “preoccupied with his mobile phone,” the report said.
“The FO (first officer) recalled that, after still not getting a response from the captain, he looked over and, on seeing the captain preoccupied with his mobile phone, set the missed approach altitude himself,” the report stated, according to the Herald Sun.
Now wait a minute…I thought ALL electronic devices were required to be turned off during take off and landing…so WTF???? Let’s give this moran a special Darwin Award, and add a DOUCHEBAG for good measure.
I protest. I think formally Darwin Awards are for outstanding achievements in KILLING YOURSELF!! Not to include a boat load of innocents you take along with you. THAT success is indeed worthy only of a DoucheBag Award.
The trophies look totally different for a reason.
Protest noted, however, I have to make an editorial exception in this case.
Welcome to Banzai Airlines flight 666!!! Se ya in hell! lol 😀
No big deal, this is what cockpit alarms are for. A modern Boeing or Airbus won’t let you land without landing gears extented, without screaming at you. And thank goodness for this or it woul have been a crash.
That’s not the point, the pilot need to have his/her FULL attention when operating an airplane.
Gee… It’s the airbus fault for not texting the pilot. Fire the ground crew!
Not a darwin award. He did not die.
dnt 4gt 2 lower l&N gear dis tym
A guy driving the “KNX NEWS” van was so absorbed in his Blackberry’s map that he plowed into my car in stopped traffic last month, completely totalling my Prius and nearly killing my wife and me.
Or was he texting?
I bet it had something to do with your Prius.
You have to unlock a smart phone to turn it off? Not very “smart.”