You are at netAirspace : Forum : Air and Space Forums : Military Aviation

Due to an "aircraft incident" on a flight heading from the UK to Afghanistan a couple of days ago in which a "systems failure" caused the aircraft to drop 8000ft in only a couple of minutes, seriously injuring a few persons on board, all the Royal Air Force A330s (Voyager) have been grounded.

I know what happened (failure) but as of yet am not allowed to tell you.

I am posting this as it was mentioned on the news this evening so can be released to the public. I'm hoping this gets sorted soon, as we have a huge backlog of people and freight that requires moving, across the world.

Wow...can't wait to see the report. Hope it's an easy fix.

TriStars to the rescue.
-HT

HT-ETNW wrote:TriStars to the rescue.
-HT

FTW!

Good call Holger!

BMIFlyer wrote:I'm hoping this gets sorted soon, as we have a huge backlog of people and freight that requires moving, across the world.

Top Gear did a feature on some of the vehicles out in Afghan and the operation to bring them home. While the vehicles mostly travel C-17 class, moving the requisite personnel back must be a huge job too, so I can imagine there is some shouting going on.

JLAmber wrote:Top Gear did a feature on some of the vehicles out in Afghan and the operation to bring them home. While the vehicles mostly travel C-17 class, moving the requisite personnel back must be a huge job too, so I can imagine there is some shouting going on.

Correct.

Yeah I sent some pax on a 9hr flight on a C17 today. A long haul for sure in one of those. Should have been an A330.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26157641

BMIFlyer wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26157641

Only those Voyagers fitted with military Defensive Aid Suites or air-to-air refuelling have been affected. [= "Grounded"]
So far the MoD has not given a figure of the number of planes affected, but A330s without the military fit are still being used.

This partial grounding leads to speculations of the cause.
-HT

Update:

Autopilot malfunction threw the aircraft into a -2G dive, just after meals had been served - people, meals, and loose items ended up flying around the cabin.

Captain was unable to shut off the autopilot initially, but the co-pilot did manage to after a couple of minutes and regain maual flight control.

Aircraft still on the ground at Incirlik after emergency landing there. FDR etc sent for analysis. Couple of pax hospitalised.

Initial thoughts from those in the know are that the FCU malfunctioned.

It looks like the cause of the dive was pilot error.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... report.pdf

BMIFlyer wrote:It looks like the cause of the dive was pilot error.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... report.pdf

You claimed to know of the failure in your original post. Were they one and the same?

BMIFlyer wrote:I know what happened (failure) but as of yet am not allowed to tell you.

JeffSFO wrote:You claimed to know of the failure in your original post. Were they one and the same?

BMIFlyer wrote:I know what happened (failure) but as of yet am not allowed to tell you.

Unfortunately not - I was initially under the impression that the FCU (flight control unit) on the autopilot system had malfunctioned.

It seems that this was a story by the PIC to hide his 'error'.

A warning to all pilots, don't take your cameras into the cockpit

Well, there's a causal factor I've never read about before this. Who would have thought about that?

Wonder what his a.net handle is...

BMIFlyer wrote:Unfortunately not - I was initially under the impression that the FCU (flight control unit) on the autopilot system had malfunctioned.

It seems that this was a story by the PIC to hide his 'error'.

Reminds of all those here at work who blame their computers for their errors...

Does anyone know if the RAF A330's will be at Red Flag this year?

atct wrote:Does anyone know if the RAF A330's will be at Red Flag this year?

They weren't there at 14-1 & 14-2:

http://www.nellis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123371623
http://www.nellis.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123374994

No idea what's in store for 14-3 or later if they aren't canceled.

Sorry, should have clarified, Red Flag Alaska (Eielson / Elmo)