Aviation News Item: 00107

19th Nov 2009

Source: ubmaviationnews.com

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released a second interim factual report into the Qantas A330 in-flight upset on 7 October 2008, where one flight attendant and 11 passengers were seriously injured, and eight other crew members and at least 99 other passengers received minor injuries. Two significant safety factors have been identified with the aircraft's systems: one air data inertial reference unit (ADIRU) provided erroneous data that was not detected by the ADIRU itself, and the flight control computers did not filter spikes in angle of attack data in a specific situation. Thus far it could not be determined what caused the generation of the erroneous ADIRU data, but the investigation continues. The ATSB is considering whether cosmic and solar radiation effects could have created a 'single event' factor in the accident. (There is a constant stream of high-energy galactic and solar radiation interacting with the Earth's upper atmosphere. This interaction creates a cascade of secondary particles. Some of the secondary particles, in particular neutrons, can affect aircraft avionics systems.) In response to speculations about a possible link between the Qantas A330 accident and the Air France A330 crash on June 1, 2009, the ATSB re-iterated that there were several important differences between the two accidents: the ADIRUs on the two aircraft were different models and constructed by different manufacturers; the cockpit-effect messages and maintenance fault messages from both flights showed a significantly different sequence and pattern of events; and the Pitot tubes on the two aircraft were different models made by different manufacturers. The authority expects to release a final report into this accident in the second quarter of calendar year 2010.

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