VietNamNet Bridge – Aircraft incidents caused by human errors rose considerably in the first nine months of the year while those related to technical errors fell sharply, according to a report of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV).

 

Aviation authorities keep searching for VN Airlines plane’s missing wheel


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Passengers get on board a Vietnam Airlines ATR72 plane.

 

 

The report says human error-caused plane incidents leapt 2.4 times year-on-year to 144 but none of them needed to be investigated. However, the incident involving the loss of one of the two front wheels of a Vietnam Airlines ATR72 aircraft after landing at Danang airport four days ago is the first case that has led to an investigation.

CAAV said technical errors had decreased strongly thanks to an improvement in maintenance and pre-departure inspection. However, human error-caused incidents soared as passengers did not follow in-flight rules.

According to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), the ratio of Vietnam Airlines aircraft incidents in the first six months of this year was low compared to that in regional countries. In every 10,000 flights Vietnam Airlines had a mere 6.34 having incidents.

Luu Thanh Binh, deputy head of CAAV, said safety is the first priority in the aviation sector. Therefore, weekly safety meetings are organized at all airports nationwide.

Concerning the wheel loss incident, Pham Ngoc Minh, general director of Vietnam Airlines, said the airline was still searching for the lost wheel at Cat Bi and Danang airports so as to determine the cause. The wheel had not been found as of Tuesday evening.

Mai Trong Tuan, a former pilot, said the wheel only might have dropped while landing. Therefore, the wheel may be somewhere around Danang airport.

The airline has 14 ATR-72 planes. After the incident, 13 other ATR-72s were suspended from service to allow for technical checks but a day later they resumed service.

The plane that lost its right front wheel and had 41 passengers on board safely landed at Danang.

Source: SGT