Israeli airline 747 went into dive over London

[Midnight Mike]

Israeli airline 747 went into dive over London

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON -- An Israeli El Al flight carrying 450 passengers briefly went into a dive over London earlier this year, plunging 2,800 feet after a glitch in its electronic landing system, authorities disclosed Wednesday.

The Israeli airline's Boeing 747 was 10 miles east of London's Heathrow airport on Jan. 10 and flying on autopilot toward the airport when the aircraft began to descend from 4,000 feet, according to a British aviation authority report.

An onboard system ordered the aircraft into a rapid descent and the plane dropped on autopilot to a height of 1,200 feet, the report said.

"The computer system recovered," a spokesman for the Department of Transport said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with departmental policy.

Crew members noted the incident in a log but did not submit an incident report after arriving at Heathrow. Investigators did not find out until weeks later and posted their report on the Internet earlier this month.

Investigators concluded the incident was caused by a failure of the plane's glidescope, part of a system which tracks flight path and angle of descent during landing, the spokesman said.

Authorities declined to specify the city from which the plane originated.

El Al spokeswoman Amalia Glaser said that the flight crew had acted in accordance with regulations and had reported the incident to all relevant authorities.

"This was a malfunction ... that was reported to all the relevant authorities immediately," Glaser said.

She said the incident did not constitute "a safety emergency in any way," adding that the plane was never in danger. The malfunction in the automatic pilot involved only the plane's communications with the airport, she said.

[mirrodie]

plunging 2,800 feet after a glitch in its electronic landing system,

flying on autopilot toward the airport when the aircraft began to descend from 4,000 feet, according to a British aviation authority report.

An onboard system ordered the aircraft into a rapid descent and the plane dropped on autopilot to a height of 1,200 feet, the report said.
She said the incident did not constitute "a safety emergency in any way," adding that the plane was never in danger.

Dropping from 4000 feet, not an emergency...

I am a layman. But it seems that if it didnt recover, it would have dropped to the ground, no? Isnt that a safety issue, at the very least?

[PhilDernerJr]

I kinda have a feeling that this wasn't as big of a "dive" as the media is implying. For them to say "earlier this year", it sounds like AP is reaching back on a slow news day or something.

I'd bet it was just a slightly faster than planned descent. Anything like they are implying would have been more public I'm sure.

[Midnight Mike]

plunging 2,800 feet after a glitch in its electronic landing system,

flying on autopilot toward the airport when the aircraft began to descend from 4,000 feet, according to a British aviation authority report.

An onboard system ordered the aircraft into a rapid descent and the plane dropped on autopilot to a height of 1,200 feet, the report said.
She said the incident did not constitute "a safety emergency in any way," adding that the plane was never in danger.

Dropping from 4000 feet, not an emergency...

I am a layman. But it seems that if it didnt recover, it would have dropped to the ground, no? Isnt that a safety issue, at the very least?

Mario

Did you read the article, they never said Emergency, they said the aircraft went into a dive, which it did.......

[mirrodie]

Mike, what I meant to imply was

that diving from 4000, by 2800 feet, down to 1200ft DOES seem like an emergency to the layperson, regardless of what their spokeperson says! :shock:

[hiss srq]

not to fire moose up but the some media groups

[DHG750R]

The media loves those terms , plummet , dive . Sounds a lot more dramatic than an unplanned or unscheduled decent.

False glidelopes arent uncommon , the crew's must verify the aircraft has tuned the intended ILS frequency ( the 747-400 and most FMS/FMC equipped aircraft automatically tune VOR's and ILS's ) the crews shouldnt blindly trust the technology. Not that Im saying that is what happened only the investigation will tell