Brake caused Virgin flight attendant’s leg break

A Virgin Australia flight attendant broke her leg as a result of a reflex action by the captain, a new report has found.

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737 at Adelaide Airport. Picture: David Mariuz/AAP

A three-year investigation into an incident involving a Virgin Australia flight has found the captain’s attempt to reduce the speed of the aircraft resulted in a flight attendant breaking her leg.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has published its final report on the incident on September 13, 2017, as the flight from Melbourne made a high-speed descent into Adelaide.

Although the first officer was the pilot flying at the time, the captain intervened without warning to reduce the Boeing 737’s speed, pulling on the control column with such force the autopilot disconnected.

“The resulting control forces caused sudden changes to the aircraft’s pitch attitude and vertical acceleration,” said the report.

“Two cabin crew who had been standing in the rear galley were injured, with one sustaining serious injuries.”

The report described how the cabin crew member was thrown up towards the ceiling and then fell to the floor, and felt her leg “snap” on landing.

The other flight attendant, who was on her first day of duty, suffered facial injuries. Both were hospitalised after landing in Adelaide.

Shortly before the incident, the pilots had discussed whether the seatbelts sign should be turned on, as they approached cloud but decided against it.

Fortunately the 151 passengers on board were strapped into their seats at the time of the incident described by cabin crew as an “abrupt upset”.

ATSB director of transport safety Stuart Godley said the aircraft had only exceeded its maximum operating speed by one knot, when the captain took action.

“Even though the autopilot was operating correctly, when the aircraft was approaching and exceeding the maximum operating speed, the captain’s perception was that the autopilot was not controlling the aircraft and that urgent intervention was necessary,” Dr Godley said.

“However, the captain did not follow the normal procedure for taking over control of pilot flying duties, and the large pitch control inputs made by the captain were probably influenced by a perception of urgency.”

He said the investigation highlighted the challenges pilots faced when responding to sudden or unexpected situations.

“There will often be a reduction in safety when pilots perceive a situation is urgent and when they make decisions rapidly and reflexively,” said Dr Godley.

“In these situations, pilots may not be able to effectively process information or make good decisions.”

In response to the incident, Virgin Australia issued an information bulletin to pilots acknowledging the company’s position around minor overspeed events, and extra training was provided to prevent and recover from them.

The flight crew undertook additional training before returning to duty, and the injured cabin crew member was doing suitable duties, after recovering from her broken leg.