THE pilot of the Emirates flight that nearly crashed at Melbourne Airport with 225 passengers on board had almost no sleep the previous day and was following the airline's orders to take off at reduced power to save money on fuel.

Several sources told the Sunday Herald Sun that Emirates - like many modern airlines - ordered its pilots to take off at reduced thrust when possible to cut fuel costs, emissions and wear on the aircraft.

The thrust or power settings are determined by factors such as aircraft weight, weather conditions, the surrounding terrain and runway length.

But an Emirates source said the March 20 flight - EK407 to Dubai - was set at the "absolute minimum" thrust, leaving little room for error.

"There was no margin for error," the source said.

An Emirates source said the airline was in a risky situation because it did not have a culture that encouraged people to voice their safety concerns.

The source said some Emirates pilots were badly fatigued, but people were afraid to speak out.

"There is a limit to how far you can push people," the source said. "Those long-haul flights are really, really fatiguing and demanding.

"But a punitive culture means people are too afraid to speak out.

"Two things, (flight safety and the punitive culture) in my view, that do not match in 2009 and in a major airline.

"A very bad cocktail."

The two pilots involved in the accident were forced to resign 48 hours after they were flown back to Dubai.

Safety Bureau and Civil Aviation Safety Authority officials are thought to be concerned about the action taken against the pilots, but have no jurisdiction to intervene.

Emirates pilots, using false names, have flooded the internet to express their concern about rostering, fatigue and the action taken against the two pilots.

The men are expatriates and at least one has since returned to his home country.

The United Arab Emirates does not allow unions, so more than 2000 Emirates pilots employed worldwide are not covered by a union.

Gravelly of Qld, you are incorrect. Reduced Power takeoffs are the norm, and most airlines do it, primarily to save on engine wear (rather than fuel). In this case, it seems the incorrect weight was entered (100 tonnes or so lighter than the actual weight), so the corresponding thrust was too low. The aircraft then failed the become airborne before it had taken out an ILS antenna and a bunch of strobe lights at the end of the runway. Allegedly it only cleared the perimeter fence by a meter or so. Basically, it was a major human error balls up, which Emirates has handled very badly. My mother was on that flight, and will never fly emirates Egain. Because they screwed up???? No, because they treated her and all the passengers like crap afterwards.

Posted by: Stu of Brisbane 5:00pm today
Comment 12 of 14

Neither the airline nor the ATSB have commented on why the pilot and first officer of the aircraft were asked to resign in the days following the incident.

While there were no injuries arising from the March 20 tail strike at Melbourne Airport, the company's reputation took a serious blow when aviation officials described the accident as the closest Australia has come to a major aviation catastrophe.

It was not the first safety scare at Melbourne Airport that involved an Emirates plane.

In 2001, the engine on an Emirates flight blew up as the plane was taking off from Tullamarine airport, scattering debris along the runway.

Terrified passengers reported seeing sparks and smoke, but again, there were no injuries.

And in 2004, an Emirates jet was involved in a similar tail strike, which led to its training and rostering practices being criticised by South African aviation safety officials.

In that incident, another Airbus - this time an A340-300 - struck its tail after over-running the runway at Johannesburg airport, wiping out lights as it struggled to get airborne.

It was later found the pilot had used a wrong takeoff technique that he said he had picked up as a training "tip".

Australian charged over in-flight bomb scare
Paola Totaro
March 24, 2009

British police have charged an Australian man over an alleged bomb hoax that led to the evacuation of an Emirates flight at London's Gatwick airport on the weekend.

The man, Matthew Carney, 23, from Melbourne, was arrested on Sunday after a note was discovered on board an Emirates flight from Dubai to London. The note, found 10 minutes before the flight landed at Gatwick, allegedly suggested an explosive device was on the aircraft.