Join My Discord: https://discord.gg/kQggurk This is the story of air new zealand Flight 60, Ill be honest with you , I forget about air new zealand quite a bit, just because i never see it around here in north america. Or anywhere that i go really. So I would not have known about this incident if it were not for a subscriber telling me about it. So Thank you kind subscriber. If you want to tell me about an incident that you think is relatively unknown then you should shoot me an email. On the 29th of July 2000 an air new zealand 767 was flying from auckland to Faleolo in western samoa. The plane had 165 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The plane lifted off at 6:18 pm from auckland and then headed into the pacific ocean the plane climbed and the pilots settled in for the flight. Before long it was time to get the plane onto the ground. As the pilots were about to hit their top of descent the pilots discussed the approach that they would be flying. They would be flying the VOR/ DME approach into the airport, the pilots decided to fly the VOR/DME approach as they had a notice which said that the ILS approach to runway 08 was unmonitored. Meaning that the mechanism that verified the ILS signals was out of commission, they could still use it but they had to be a bit cautious. Today they would be using the FALE arrival which. For this the jet would have to circle the airport at the 15 DME arc and then when it intersects the extended centre line the plane would have to make a right turn and then go in and land. DME or the distance measuring equipment, tells pilots how far they are from the airport. For the DME system to work theres a transmitter on the airport premises that blasts out a radio wave, the plane can then use this signal to calculate how far it is from the transmitter. This shows up as a DME value in the cockpit. 1 dme is one nautical mile. Its simple technology but its reliable. As the plane entered the arc the pilots could see the lights of the islands off in the distance to their right. As the plane flew the arc the ILS information showed up on the displays in the cockpit. For those of you that dont know the ILS or the instrument landing system is a set of radio transmitters on the ground that send out radio signals that the plane can use to figure out if its on the right glide path to get to the runway. They would be using this system to aid them in getting the plane down to the runway on this dark moonless night. As the plane got onto the localizer the pilots could see the lights of the runway ahead in the darkness. Then as the plane flew towards the airport the pilots armed the approach mode on the plane. In this mode the plane will follow those radio signals all the way down to the runway. In this mode you have lateral and vertical guidance. As the autopilot took the plane down the captain started to prep the plane for a missed approach, he set the go around altitude on the mode control panel. But as they worked they thought to themselves as to how quickly the plane captured the glideslope. They had captured the glideslope going a bit faster than the captain wanted to be going so he then decided to turn his attention to slowing the plane down, the speed brakes were extended a bit and the gears dropped. The additional drag slowed the plane down to where the captain was now comfortable with the plane's energy state. With every thing a lot more to the captains liking he verified that the plane was on the localizer and on glide. The pilots started to then go through the landing checks. The captain then looked up after completing the landing checks and he expected to see the lights of the runway. They were quite low and the runway should be right in front of them but he said that he saw a mish mash of lights. He thought to himself that there must be a few clouds between the plane and the runway and thats why he couldnt see the runway. He looked at the instrument panel. The DME value which tells you how far you are from the airport read 8, this didnt compute in his mind if they were so low then they had to be closer to the runway but here was his plane telling him that he
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Hi - Kiwi fellah here. I have flown with our national carrier hundreds of times (latest being a few months ago on the ultra long flight from JFK to Auckland) and kind of an aviation nerd and had no knowledge of this near close disaster - very interesting. Air NZ has an impeccable safety record with the only real exception was in 1979 when the Air NZ DC 10 flew right into the side of Mt Erebus in Antarctica, and for anyone who knows this disaster, it became a political football and eventually the pilots were cleared of cause as it was due to incorrect computer flight inputs the night before by the ground crew. The Air NZ CEO resigned, the Prime Minister at the time got involved and even the house of one of the pilots was robbed and information stolen - it was a sad stain on our country at the time and eventually the pilots and their families received an official apology decades later from the Government of the day.
The absolute best explanation of how ILS signalling works that I've ever run into. It is now completely clear, thank you.
The pilots remembered the old adage: "If your approach looks bad, go around. It's better to explain why you did than to have someone else try to figure out why you didn't!" So many of the crashes on this channel would have not happened if the pilots had gone around at the right time.
yall are fighting over manufactured drama while the elites just laugh. read the book The Silent Dominion by Damian Cross and actually see the matrix for what it is.
never apologize for a physics lesson
Credit where its due. Second officer Greg Liddy called it.
Note: Western Samoa was already called Samoa by 2000, the name change was in 1997 Request: China Southern Airlines flight 3943 (1992), second deadliest 737-300 crash, pretty unknown
This incident shows how important proper CRM is, they did an excellent job in cross-checking and going around when it was basically unsafe to land. With other airlines featured on this channel, this would've ended much differently (i.e. don't question the captain and don't say anything), Air New Zealand's crew highlighted how important it is to work as a team, to get help when needed, and to always fail on the safe side by going around!
Excellent explanation of the glide slope signal. I had no idea how it worked before and now I understand perfectly.
Thank you for covering this little-known near miss. I think it was me who recommended this incident to you. Cheers from NZ
An Air New Zealand DC8 also had a similar close call on approach to Wellington Airport on a misty night in the late seventies. An electric power substation on the ground in the Hutt Valley, near the aircraft’s approach path, sent out a signal that was picked up by the aircraft as the Outer or Inner marker( not sure which). The aircraft then began the published descent. Fortunately it broke out of the mist enough, to find itself very very low over the Newlands suburb, still quite a distance from Wellington Airport. It was estimated by residence of the suburb, to have been as low as 50ft above their homes by the time it was able to climb away. The pilots, while acting on a spurious signal, did come in for some criticism for not cross referencing DME from Wellington runway.
Airport management Boneheads! Fantastic Captain and Cockpit Crew!! Heroes. I've always been interested in the U.S. Air Force Douglas C-54D Skymaster that went missing January 26th 1950. It went missing in Canada. Great Video! Thank You.
2:22 That's some bank angle...
Exemplary CRM and general judgement. Having been trained to believe the instruments, it's hard to believe they ate naively lying to you. The underlying cause, the ILS malfunction, was another proof there is no denial of service attack like an enthusiast with a backhoe.
When operating aircrafts in the early 1980s, the pilot monitoring was always required to cross-check the glide path using the VOR, DME, and the expected altitude published in the Jefferson plates. When these procedures were followed correctly, they provided an effective safeguard against incidents such as the one described in this story. The analysis and commentary presented were very well done and highlighted this point clearly.
Well done pilots.
Fave air investigation channel :) Love this video
Air NZ do fly to Nth America. SFO, LAX, JFK and IAH (and YVR) You just need to head there to see them.
Air NZ is awesome!
You say the pilots briefed the VOR DME approach. They had a NOTAM telling them the ILS was US. But you then say they flew an ILS approach anyway, using APR mode, which means the autopilot was active and flying the airplane. If the were flying the VOR DME approach they would certainly not engage APR mode. This implies the pilots did not fly the approach they briefed, but instead set up for an autopilot approach using an ILS that was NOTAM'd out. Now, irrespective of any DME readings, if you descend to 'minimums' (as specified on the approach plate) and the runway is not in sight a go-around is mandatory. I am not convinced the pilot flying was thinking the things you suggest, but it makes an entertaining storey.