Malaysia Airlines’ ‘serious’ safety oversight prompts warning after Brisbane emergency

Forgotten probe covers designed to keep out wasps and marked ‘remove before flight’ forced Malaysia Airlines’ Brisbane landing emergency.

The pitot covers were left in place when MH134 took off. Picture: Supplied

A preliminary report on an incident at Brisbane Airport in July involving Malaysia Airlines has confirmed flight MH134 took off with its pitot probes covered, in a concerning safety oversight.

Pitot probes measure air pressure to assess speed, and are ineffective if blocked or covered.

The A330-300 returned to Brisbane shortly after take-off on July 18, when the pilots became aware of an airspeed indication fault normally associated with pitot probe blockages.

After carrying out several checklists and troubleshooting the issue with help from Air Traffic Control, the aircraft made an overweight landing on the main runway and had to be towed to the gate due to the loss of nose wheel steering.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report said a subsequent inspection found the pitot probe covers were still fitted to the aircraft’s three pitot probes after it landed.

Brisbane Airport requires airlines to cover their aircrafts’ pitot probes on the ground, due to the issue of wasps making nests in the openings and blocking them.

It is considered part of normal pre-flight procedures to remove the covers, which are red and have a long tag printed with the words “remove before flight”.

The ATSB report revealed neither Malaysia Airlines’ maintenance engineer, the captain nor ground handlers detected the pitot covers during separate external aircraft inspections and pushback.

MH134 returned to Brisbane when pilots realised there was an air speed indicator fault. Picture: Supplied

ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood described the incident as serious.

“Today we are issuing a Safety Advisory Notice to all operators to take particular care and review their procedures for the fitment of pitot covers on landing at Brisbane Airport and ensure their processes are robust for the remove of these covers prior to flight,” Mr Hood said.

The ATSB investigation was continuing, he added.

“We will be focusing specifically on the procedures for flight crew and ground crew, in relation to the pre-flight checks for the aircraft and also the cockpit warning systems received by the flight crew as they accelerated down Runway 01,” said Mr Hood.

The report revealed Malaysia Airlines had not used pitot covers in three previous turnarounds at Brisbane Airport.

No-one was injured in the incident on July 18, which resulted in the main runway being closed for 90-minutes forcing an Emirates flight from Dubai to divert to Melbourne.