Cockpit error sent 737 into Pacific nose dive
TOKYO - A Japanese airline says one of its jets nose-dived and rolled almost upside down earlier this month because the co-pilot hit the wrong controls while trying to open the cockpit door so the captain could return from a restroom break.
Two flight attendants were slightly hurt and four passengers got airsick when the All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 with 117 people aboard descended sharply, veered off course and went belly up over the Pacific on its way from southern Japan to Tokyo on Sept 6.
ANA said Thursday that the co-pilot is believed to have mistakenly hit the rudder controls instead of the door lock to allow the pilot back in the cockpit.
It said the crew managed to stabilize the plane after the co-pilot's error and land it safely.
Japan's Transport Safety Board is investigating.
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The very fact that the 737-700 (next-gen) went through such an aerodynamic stress and recovered without a CFIT, airframe damage and/or separation of an engine is a testament to how well this aircraft is engineered and made. Boeing builds the finest commercial aircraft in the sky.
And when something sounds too good the story is usually not true.
Is this TOP GUN move possible?
In theory---yes. In practice---yes. Not without consequences.
If he turned the rudder control to "Nose Left" disengaging the AP and,,, then tried to correct the move with the stick, pushing it right, moving the ailerons to compensate, it could happen.
The plane would effectively go into a barrel roll. The same could be true for the rudder stabilizer button, but it would have to be depressed constantly for seconds, where the doorknob button is a flick. And the button would not disengage the AP as far as I know.
But how long does it take to register that you are doing things wrong in order to reverse your opinion, should be seconds.
What would not register was if you turned the rudder knob right instead of the door knob on the console. Close proximity and both go same direction for the result. The official report says the rudder button but I say its the control knob. And although the plane was at 41000ft rolling out at 6000ft lower, I don't believe that the plane did a 136 degree roll. The co-pilot must have realized his mistake and opened the cockpit door for the captain. Another thing, the Co-pilot would not have his seat belt locked in free flight. If this plane did a barrel roll he would be hitting the ceiling and could not fly the plane. It would have taken the both to pull the rudder in order to turn the plane about 205 degrees from NE to SW at speeds of Mach.85 and the G's it was pulling. I personally don't think that plane could only have pulled 2.7G's, had to be more. Hanky panky is not necessarily in question, the co-pilot works with the maps and records many things on his knee-bord. Up-folding a chart could have disorientated him when the knock at door came and depending how close he was to the descent position he could have hurried and then made the mistake. This is a neat trick to remember if you are a pilot in a highjack situation. Just make sure your seat belt is locked and there is no Coffee in your hand. As a matter of fact, where was the food and drinks trolley at that time, dangling from the ceiling?