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Category: Air Transport / Emergency Incidents / Public Sector

Wasp nest on plane's airspeed instrument caused emergency: report

Friday, 6 May 2016 17:46:53 | Josh Bavas

A mud dauber wasp, found in Queensland (Supplied: Queensland Museum)

Busy insects have been blamed for a technical fault on board a plane forced to make a sudden landing at the Brisbane International Airport shortly after take-off in 2013.

A report by the Australian Safety Transport Bureau found it took less than two hours for wasps to build a mud nest on a crucial piece of equipment as an Etihad Airways Airbus A330 was parked at the Brisbane terminal.

The wasps "almost totally obstructed" the device which measures airspeed, known as the captain's pitot probe, while the plane was stationary on November 21, 2013.

There were 164 passengers and 11 crew on board the flight.

As the plane was preparing its return flight to Singapore, the captain rejected an initial take-off after he observed an airspeed indication failure on his display.

The plane returned to the terminal for troubleshooting but after finding nothing wrong, it taxied back to the runway and made a successful take-off.

As it was ascending, the captain noticed an airspeed discrepancy, the crew declared a mayday and prepared to return to Brisbane.

A message to air traffic controllers was recorded that afternoon.

"Etihad 473. Mayday, mayday, mayday."

"We are trying to lose fuel ... dump as much as fuel as possible to reduce our weight."

Wasp inspection now part of airport's wildlife management plan

Emergency crews in Brisbane began scrambling in case the plane crashed at the airport or surrounds but it landed safely a short time later.

The ATSB report released today found the blocked probe was not detected by engineering staff after the initial rejected take-off but noted that this measure was not outlined in the troubleshooting manual.

Brisbane Airport has since updated its Wildlife Hazard Management Plan to include wasp inspections and eradication.

Aircraft operators are required to use covers on pitot probes during all transits at the Brisbane Airport, regardless of ground time.

Airbus has also amended its maintenance troubleshooting manual to include such blockages of the pitot probe.

AustraliaPlus


 

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