A pilot inadvertently caused a British Airways plane to catch fire after mixing up his left and right hands during take off.
The Boeing 777 jet had been about to take off from Gatwick to Vancouver in June last year, when the co-pilot mistook his right hand for his left and pulled back on the lever operating the aircraft’s thrust.
This caused the brakes to catch fire and led to a rejected take-off, meaning the pilot was forced to perform a ‘high-speed emergency stop’ on the runway after reaching speeds of more than 190mph.
The mishap, referred to as an ‘action slip’, on June 28 last year sparked chaos for thousands of passengers as the airport was temporarily closed and dozens of flights were cancelled and delayed.
A report into the incident published on Thursday revealed the pilot had just come back from a period of annual leave, having last flown two weeks prior, and was ‘well-rested and feeling fine’.
The pilot, who had over 6,000 hours of flying time, ‘could not identify a reason’ why he mixed up his hands, the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) report added.
None of the 13 crew or 334 passengers onboard the plane were injured during the incident, although the fire on the right-side main wheel brakes did have to be extinguished by fire crew.
Video footage taken from onboard the flight showed fire engines making their way over to the stationary vehicle shortly after the take off was ‘aborted’.
A pilot inadvertently caused a British Airways plane to catch fire after mixing up his left and right hands during take off. The plane is pictured stalled on the runway after the incident
Video footage taken from passengers onboard the flight showed fire engines making their way over to the stationary vehicle, with travellers being told take-off had been ‘aborted’
The report stated the pilot was supposed to ‘move his left hand during the takeoff roll, while preparing to pull back on the control column with his right hand’.
‘However, he unintentionally pulled his left hand back instead,’ it added.
‘There was no obvious reason for him being primed to do that… and he could not identify a reason for it on the day.’
The report also stated: ‘The co-pilot reported being well-rested and feeling fine. He expressed surprise in himself over the inadvertent thrust reduction and could not identify a reason for it.’
‘The airport rescue and firefighting service attended the aircraft and extinguished a fire from hot brakes on the right main landing gear,’ the AAIB report added.
The plane reached around 167 Knots (192mph) before it began slowing down.
A statement from Gatwick at the time of the incident last year said the plane had been abandoned ‘due to the departing aircraft having hot breaks’.
A spokesperson added: ‘Safety is our top priority and the dedicated airport fire service swiftly attended to support the aircraft.’
The Boeing 777 jet had been about to take off from Gatwick to Vancouver in June last year, when it was forced to come to a halt (Stock image)
‘A number of flights were diverted. The runway is now open and operating as normal.’
According to travel expert Simon Calder at least 12 flights were diverted including an Emirates A380 flight from Dubai that was instead forced to land in Brussels.
A British Airways spokesperson also said at the time: ‘Our pilots took the precautionary decision to cancel take-off due to a technical issue.
‘Safety is always our top priority and we apologise to customers for the inconvenience caused.’
