Qatar Airways Flight Almost Crashes in Sea as Pilot Loses Awareness Mid-Air; Details Here

A Qatar Airways flight from Doha, Qatar to Copenhagen, Denmark came close to crashing into the sea after the pilot lost his situational awareness, reports Aviation Herald. It is to be noted that the incident occurred with a Boeing 787-8 aircraft while it was carrying out flight QR-161. The incident with the plane with registration A7-BCO occurred on January 10. However, it was not reported to authorities and came to light recently.

The Aviation Herald reports, that the flight took off from Doha in nighttime conditions and the plane ascended to around 1800 feet when it started losing height and had a steep descent of about 1000 feet in 24 seconds. The first officer attempted to turn towards the next waypoint flying manually and without the flight director indications (the captain was slow to put the Direct into the FMS) when the aircraft was cleared direct to that waypoint at about 1600 feet.

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However, the first officer lost situational awareness and the aircraft descended at a speed that exceeded the flap speed limits and reached a sink rate of 3000 fpm before the captain regained control and recovered about 800 feet above water.

Qatar Airways 787 came within seconds of plunging into the sea after pilots lost situational awareness on departure from Doha in January. https://t.co/aTdq3Sc2He pic.twitter.com/RvBd96hRWC — Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) February 7, 2023

The aircraft was at a height of 1850 feet when it started to descend and reached 850 feet 24 seconds later. Following this, the pilot regained control and the aircraft then levelled off briefly before starting to rise once more, according to ADS-B data. It is to be noted that after this the aircraft landed safely in Denmark without any problems and the passengers onboard were safe.

The airline stated that an incident involving QR-161 occurred on January 10, 2023, and they are aware of the incident. The airline is also conducting an internal investigation, and the matter has been immediately reported to the authorities.