Dangerous SAA Take Off Under Investigation

[rocketlaunch 614]

I think this airline really needs to call it a day, it has not made any money in years.

https://simpleflying.com/dangerous-saa-brussels-take-off-under-investigation/

Edited March 24, 2021 by rocketlaunch

[HighBypass 2,339]

Interesting!

The crew miscalculated the weight by almost 90 tonnes.. that's a rather large amount even given the size of an A340. 

"South African Airways has suspended most operations for so long that pilots now no longer have enough flight training"

Weight and balance checks so easily forgotten? Easy for me (armchair pilot) to ask, I know.

The article mentions the alpha floor event upon flap retraction - the FBW systems helped them to alleviate a stall.

HOWEVER, would the crew not have noticed something wrong during the takeoff run and rotation - all that extra weight having an effect way before any flap retraction event? Would they not have felt the plane being sluggish... if indeed it would have felt sluggish through the FBW? Or at the very least noticed a slower rate of acceleration prior to flap retraction?  Again, my armchair status means that I'm probably missing something here.. 

[Garys 209]

How many airlines, even on charter flights leave the fuel, payload, route requests etc up to the pilots? This is a flight dispatchers job is it not . If the pilots entered an incorrect value into the fmc or missed the weight discrepancy handed to them then its still poor airmanship especially for airline pilots, but nonetheless I think the error started before they even stepped foot onto the aircraft.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Garys
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