AirAsia flight turns left instead of right, Australia to investigate

PETALING JAYA: The Australian government’s transport accident watchdog has opened investigations on an AirAsia Indonesia flight that reportedly veered left after take-off from Perth on Nov 24 instead of turning right.

According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), flight QZ535, which was headed towards Bali, had turned left when it was supposed to fly on south for 8km before turning west.

It was quoted by the West Australian newspaper yesterday as saying that the aircraft was observed making the turn at about 100 metres after it departed from Perth Airport.

“This was contrary to the standard instrument departure, which required the aircraft to turn right when at 5 nautical miles (9.26km).

“Air traffic control then instructed the crew to turn on to a southerly heading and the flight continued without further incident,” the ATSB said.

It added that the flight crew would be interviewed, while the recorded flight data would be reviewed and additional information gathered during the investigation process.

This is the second time that flight QZ535 has been reported to have encountered a glitch.

On Oct 15, while also heading from Perth to Bali, it had encountered a technical issue which forced the aircraft to make a sudden drop in altitude from 32,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

The flight returned to Perth and passengers were then boarded on another plane provided by the airline company to get to Bali.

On June 25 AirAsia X flight D7237 from Perth to Kuala Lumpur was forced to turn back to Perth when it encountered engine problems after 90 minutes of flying.

One passenger was reported as saying the plane was “shaking like a washing machine”.

The captain later stood by his announcement to passengers in the face of the danger the flight was in, where he was reported to have asked them to pray, and adding that he too was praying the flight would land safely in Perth.

On Feb 19, pilots of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ536 had reportedly flown 300m too low during turbulence while making the final approach towards Perth Airport’s runway, causing it to abort the landing.

The aircraft however made a successful landing 15 minutes later. -FMT