Airline heading for new trouble

LOW-COST carrier AirAsia X is facing its sixth investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in 18 months, after another hair-raising incident over the Gold Coast.

Last Saturday an AirAsia X A330 was diverted to Brisbane when its wing flaps failed to fully deploy, sparking fears it would overshoot the Coolangatta runway and plough into school holiday traffic.

Instead flight D7-200 was diverted to the capital, where fire trucks were placed on standby and other aircraft cleared from the runway ahead of the landing.

AirAsia X described the diversion as “a minor technical issue”. The ATSB was yesterday awaiting further details from the airline and Airservices Australia before deciding whether to investigate.

The Malaysian-based budget carrier is already the subject of four active reviews and was forced to overhaul training procedures after another investigation into an incident in Sydney last year.

On March 10, 2015, an AirAsia X plane turned the wrong way on departure from Sydney Airport after incorrect coordinates were entered into the flight computer.

Flight crew were unable to correct the error and the A330 had to divert to Melbourne for landing with the assistance of Air Traffic Control.

Other incidents that are under investigation include:

• A “loss of separation” involving an AirAsia X A330 and a Jetstar plane over the Gold Coast in July.

• An engine shutdown en route from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur, resulting in a diversion to Melbourne on August 16.

• A taxiing incident in Melbourne last month in which an AirAsia X aircraft began taxiing before the pushback tug and engine moved clear.

• A descent below minimum safe altitude at Gold Coast Airport on September 11.

Aviation expert Neil Hansford said the problems were “a direct reflection of the quality of training, the quality of supervision and the quality of the checks being done”.

“All of those incidents are inexcusable. If it was one of the smaller Australian carriers, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority would ground them,” Mr Hansford said.

A CASA spokesman declined to discuss AirAsia X but indicated there was no extra attention being given to the budget airline.

An AirAsia Berhad spokesman said the airline would celebrate its 10th anniversary next year and was proud that its first route in 2007 was to the Gold Coast.

All of those incidents are inexcusable

NEIL HANSFORD