A Qantas jet with 152 passengers and crew on board scraped its tail on the runway at Sydney airport during take-off last year after pilots incorrectly entered data into an iPad attached to the plane's computer.
The mishap occurred on August 1, 2014 after the pilots had inputted data saying that the 737 aircraft was 10 tonnes lighter than it actually was, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found.
A flight attendant on the Sydney to Darwin flight who was seated at the rear of the plane during take-off reported hearing a "squeak: which led pilots to check whether the jet had scraped the tarmac.
The aviators then contacted Qantas maintenance engineers and made the decision to fly onto Darwin after their instruments failed to detect any indication of a tail strike or damage to the aircraft.
Once they made it to Darwin the pilots found paint damage which confirmed the plane had scraped the runway.
However, despite the impact a cartridge containing the plane's tail strike sensor was intact, indicating the plane "only just contacted the ground during take-off", according to the ATSB.
When the pilots checked the 737's performance figures on their iPad they discovered that the take-off eight was 10 tonnes lighter than the aircraft's 76.4 tonnes.
The ATSB concluded the tail strike occurred because of two data entry errors in calculating the plane's take-off performance figures.
"This resulted in the take-off speeds and engine thrust setting calculated and used for the take-off being too low," the bureau said in the final report.
"As a result, when the aircraft was rotated, it over pitched and contacted the runway."
Qantas has responded to the mishap by making changes to pilots' pre-flight procedures.
The ATSB said "Data input errors can occur irrespective of pilot experience, operator, aircraft type, location or take-off performance calculation method".
"The application of correct operating data is a foundational and critical element of flight safety, but errors in the calculation, entry and checking of data are not uncommon," the ATSB said.
Source: http://www.9news.com.au
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