South African Airways probed after “take-off blunder” on covid vaccine flight to Brussels, Belgium

On 25 February, South African Airways operated an Airbus A340-600 (registered ZS-SNG) from Johannesburg, South Africa to Brussels, Belgium to fetch the much wanted Covid-19 vaccines. During take-off at Johannesburg, however, the aircraft activated the so-called Alpha Floor protection, an automatic system that prevents stalling and guards against the effects of wind shear. 

According to information received by The Aviation Herald, the flight crew created a manual flight plan for the trip to Brussels. It is being claimed that there was confusion on the takeoff mass computation being about 90 tonnes below the actual takeoff mass.

While the error did not result in a catastrophe, or even come close to one, in the aviation industry any such incident is automatically reported – by the plane systems to Rolls Royce (engine manufacturer) and Airbus (airframe manufacturer), which receive thousands of such messages on a daily basis said news site The Business Maverick.

In addition, the event must be automatically reported by the pilot and co-pilot to the airline (SAA, in this case), which must then inform the South African Civil Aviation Authority (Sacaa). It is Sacaa’s responsibility to conduct an investigation – even if the pilots deem the incident insignificant. It is part of the safety protocol.

According to information received by The Aviation Herald, the crew denied the occurrence and even stated: “The aircraft lied!“. The crew also refused to participate in a meeting on 16 March 2021 intended to discuss the occurrence.

According to Sacaa, aviation accidents “must be reported within 24 hours, serious incidents within 48 hours, and incidents within 72 hours”. But Sacaa confirmed that it was only informed about the SAA “alpha floor protection” incident on 17 March, three weeks after it occurred.

Sources:

• flight control modes (Wikipedia)
• Incident: SAA A346 at Johannesburg on Feb 25th 2021, Alpha Floor Activation on departure (The Aviation Herald)
• SAA probed after take-off ‘blunder’ on Covid vaccine flight (The Business Maverick)