A Boeing plane heading into Stansted Airport fell 600ft through the air before either pilot noticed. An autopilot miscommunication caused the commercial flight from Szczecin Airport, in Poland, to descend suddenly on March 8, 2024.
The co-pilot had missed the first manual approach so handed control to the commander whilst they set up the flight management computer. However, the commander did not realise the autopilot and auto-thrust were not engaged and failed to realise the rapid drop.
The 43-year-old told air traffic control that he "had control", with the co-pilot agreeing with this statement over the communication channel. Upon realising his mistake, he promptly brought the aircraft back to 3,000ft before taking over the second landing attempt.
The unplanned descent saw the plane come within a helicopter that also attempting to land at Stansted During the investigation, it was revealed the flight was the co-pilot's first time handing over manual control.
He told the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) he did not know there were specific call outs needed during this procedure and presumed the commander had realised the flight was in manual mode. The commander - whilst aware of the handover procedure - admitted he should have taken more time to double check the control panel.
The AAIB concluded he did not follow proper procedure when receiving control as they were monitoring the co-pilots actions, rather than the aircraft. There were 172 passengers and six crew members on board at the time.
The incident was not deemed an accident or serious incident under the definitions set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. However, the Chief Inspector of AAIB believed an investigation was appropriate as as a matter of flight safety and amendments to the handover procedure were flagged to the flight's operator. These were implemented in September.
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