SYDNEY: A Malaysia-bound AirAsia X plane which took off from Sydney ended up in Melbourne instead after the pilot entered the aircraft’s wrong longitudinal position, safety officials revealed Wednesday. The Airbus A330-300 left Sydney en route to Kuala Lumpur on March 10 last year but air traffic controllers went on alert after it began flying in the wrong direction. The pilot, who had been flying A330s for 18 months, decided to return to Sydney but bad weather forced him to fly manually to Melbourne, where he landed safely, it said. “The ATSB found that when setting up the aircraft’s flight management and guidance system, the captain inadvertently entered the wrong longitudinal position of the aircraft,” it said. “The flight crew attempted to troubleshoot and rectify the situation while under heavy workload,” the ATSB said.

Source: Manila Times September 07, 2016 08:48 UTC