Investigators have criticised a pilot who allowed his aircraft to descend to just 475ft above water as he approached Ronaldsway airport during a scheduled passenger flight, to highlight a safety point to a trainee first officer.
The French-registered aircraft was approaching the Isle of Man and was heading for 600ft-high terrain.
It happened in March last year as the plane approached runway 08.
The Air Accident Investigation Board says the incident potentially endangered the aircraft and raises concerns about training and oversight of flight crew.
Jason Roberts reports:
(Text of attached audio)
The shuttle flight from Manchester with seven passengers and three crew didn’t have its instruments tuned to the landing system frequency but the captain deliberately didn’t point out the error.
Once the first officer realised his mistake, the pilot then corrected it.
The AAIB are unable to made a recommendation to audit the operator, because the company – unidentified in the report – was sold and renamed, before losing its air operator’s certificate in December last year over “unsafe operations”.
It has since ceased trading.
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