The pilots of an American Airlines Airbus A319 with as many as 132 passengers onboard seemingly forgot to lower the landing gear as the plane was on final approach to Phoenix Sky Harbor… and the mistake was caught on camera.
American Airlines flight AA-2822 was nearing the end of an otherwise routine flight from Austin, Texas, and was lined up for its final approach to landing, but there was something not quite right with the aircraft.
By this point in a flight, the landing gear would normally have been lowered as part of a standard checklist. On this occasion, however, ThePlaneSpotter on YouTube caught the plane coming into land with the landing gear still up.
Within a few seconds, the pilots spot their apparent mistake with the landing gears starting to lower – likely because a cockpit alert system designed to prevent exactly this kind of mistake kicked in and sounded a warning.
The slip-up no doubt startled the pilots, and they decided to perform a go-around, later using very diplomatic language with air traffic control to explain the reason for discontinuing their approach: “Uh, it wasn’t configured in the appropriate manner.”
The pilots then circled around and landed without incident, highlighting the fact that performing a go-around is a very appropriate safety measure, rather than trying to land when the conditions aren’t just right.
Despite checklists and cross-checks, mistakes like this do occur from time to time. The Airbus A320 series of aircraft is fitted with various warning systems to alert pilots to ‘configuration issues’ such as this, although even these alerts don’t always work.
In May 2020, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A320 crashed into a residential area close to Karachi Airport, tragically killing 97 people.
Investigators found that the pilots had forgotten to lower the landing gear as they came into land because they were distracted talking about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pilots only realized their mistake when the engines skimmed the runway, quickly powering up the engines and performing a go-around. Unfortunately, both engines had been badly damaged, and they soon failed, leading to the plane plummeting to the ground.
In the aftermath of the crash, PIA was put under intense regulatory scrutiny with investigators discovering that some of the airline’s flight crew had used fake pilot’s licences and weren’t actually qualified aviators.
Matt’s take – Go-arounds aren’t anything to be scared about
As a flight attendant, I know that go-arounds can be very unsettling for passengers. One moment you’re preparing for the plane to touch the tarmac, and the next, you hear the roar of the engines as the plane suddenly lurches upwards.
What can be even more distressing in these circumstances is the lack of information forthcoming from the pilots. There is, though, a very good reason for this.
In the minutes after a go-around, the pilots will be very busy communicating with air traffic control and carrying out procedures to make a safe return to the airport. Giving passengers a blow-by-blow update is very low on the pilot’s list of priorities at this point.
But hold tight, breathe, and remember, a go-around isn’t just normal, it’s also a sign that safety systems are working exactly as intended.
If the aircraft was not in the correct landing configuration, the flight management computer (FMC) would have been sounding audible alarms in the flight deck. There is more going on here than a mis-executed checklist.
It’s American…I’m surprised they ever actually had a flight leave the gate.