Did A Pilot Forget To Lower His Plane's Landing Gear Because He Was Texting?

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Investigating Jetstar Allegations

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Did A Pilot Forget To Lower His Plane's Landing Gear Because He Was Texting?

This weekend, there was a story in the Sydney Morning Herald reporting that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating allegations that an aborted landing at Singapore's Changi International Airport on 27 May by a Jetstar Airbus A321-200 happened because a pilot was text-messaging on his phone.

Flight JQ57 was carrying 167 passengers from Darwin to Singapore. The Morning Herald story speculates that the aircraft's landing gear may not have been lowered, which caused an "incorrect configuration warning" to be sounded. The aircraft was 122 meters above the ground at the time.

The aircraft landed safely on its next approach.

Neither Jetstar, which is a no-frills Australian airline, nor ATSB, would confirm anything more than an investigation was underway.

The Sydney Morning Herald story also didn't say what the plane's co-pilot was doing at the time.

A strange story, indeed.

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