An air investigation report has detailed a ‘serious incident’ of a plane potentially just seconds from a crash landing.
It happened at Guernsey Airport last summer during thick fog as a Jump Air flight was trying to land.
Jump Air was operating the flight as a scheduled Aurigny Air service on a wet lease.
The UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the pilots descended below the 1,000 feet limit required when visibility of the runway is impaired.
The report said the pilots didn’t in fact know what altitude they were at.
There was serious miscommunication between them, the report stated.
The plane pulled up just 70 feet from the runway and returned to Southampton where it landed safely.
The AAIB said it amounted to ‘confusion and miscommunication between the crew which resulted in the aircraft remaining more or less level with the gear down.’
“Ineffective communication meant that neither pilot was sure what the other was doing or planning. As a result, there was confusion about the go-around. Neither pilot was fully aware of the other pilot’s intentions or the situation”.
The flight was carrying 52 passengers and five crew members.
Since the incident, Jump Air implemented enhanced selection and training of flight crews and introduced a Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programme.
