Virgin Atlantic Airways insists it has tightened its aircraft-loading procedures after UK investigators voiced concern that the airline was experiencing an unusually high number of loading errors.
In a bulletin focusing on a Virgin Airbus A340-600 incident in which the aircraft was allowed to depart out of balance, investigators have highlighted nine other instances of loading errors involving Virgin Atlantic services over the past 17 months.
Operating as flight VS900 from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita on 23 April 2005, the A340 departed with its centre-of-gravity slightly forward of the carrier’s limits, after an outsourced central load-planning facility mistakenly generated an incorrect loadsheet for the flight. After learning of the error during the flight, the crew repositioned some of the 200 passengers to shift the centre-of-gravity further aft.
But the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) says Virgin Atlantic has suffered an “abnormally high frequency” of loading errors since mid-2004, and had “not given necessary priority” to loading issues.
It lists eight other instances of incorrect loadsheets being generated for A340s and Boeing 747s; more than half of these were not detected before departure, although the flights stayed within balance limits. Incorrect loading also resulted in an in-flight “excess aft centre-of-gravity” warning to the crew of a transatlantic A340 on 7 June 2004.
“Incorrect weight and centre-of-gravity can have very serious consequences and should be given a high degree of importance in terms of staffing, training, monitoring and auditing,” says the AAIB.
Virgin Atlantic has improved its procedures as a result, particularly concerning its interface with the central load-planning facility, the facility’s data-transfer processes, and monitoring by turnaround co-ordination personnel.
It stresses that the loading error on the Tokyo-bound A340 was “well within” the aircraft’s design tolerances and adds: “The safety and welfare of our crew and passengers is our top priority and at no point during this flight were passengers at risk.”
Investigators have not made any supplemental safety recommendations to the airline, satisfied that it is already taking action to address the issue.
DAVID KAMINSKI - MORROW/LONDON
Source: Flight International
