December 22. 29 passengers boarded Widerøe’s route WF834 from Bodø to Svolvær. Just after 18.00 the plane took off from Bodø Airport. In addition to the 29 passengers, there was a crew of three. During the approach to Svolvær Airport, something went wrong. – The altimeter was not set as required by the procedure before approach, says Widerøe. This caused the plane to be about 700 feet lower than the pilots thought. Only when the alarm from the plane’s own terrain warning system went off did the pilots become aware of the error. – We consider the incident to be serious. That’s what Catharina Solli says. She is communications manager in Widerøe. She states that the company has evaluated the incident and put new procedures in place to prevent something similar from happening in the future. – The incident was immediately reported to the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority and we informed the Accident Investigation Board, she says. The map shows where the plane was when it aborted the landing over the sea, outside Svolvær. Facsimile: Flightradar24 Serious aviation incident The Accident Investigation Board has now started its own investigation into the incident. They classify it as a serious aviation incident. – What we consider a serious aviation incident is one whose last barrier before an accident is the person sitting behind the controls. Then it takes very little before it can develop into an accident. Then, by definition, it is a serious incident for us, says Kåre Halvorsen. He is a department director in the National Accident Investigation Board. Kåre Halvorsen is head of department in the National Accident Investigation Board. Photo: Bente H Johansen / news Neither the company nor the Accident Investigation Board wants to say anything about how low the plane was when the plane’s own warning system asked the pilots to take action to avoid an accident. Figures from Flightradar24 show that the plane was at its lowest point at an altitude of 425 feet during the approach, before the plane suddenly began to climb rapidly. This corresponds to around 130 meters above sea level. It is important to point out that there is some uncertainty related to the figures from the website. – I don’t want to say anything about how low they were, but there was no immediate danger of the plane ending up in the sea, says Halvorsen. The plane returned to Bodø after the incident. A Widerøe aircraft of this type had to abort the landing and return to Bodø after the altimeter was not set as it should be. Photo: news Initiating investigations The Accident Investigation Board is now beginning its investigations. – We have received data from the plane’s trip recorder. Then we will listen to the recordings from the cockpit. We will do that in the near future. In addition, we will fly the trip in a simulator, says Halvorsen. – What is the goal? – The aim of the investigation is to learn from the incident to avoid this happening again, he says. Catharina Solli is communications manager in Widerøe. Photo: Kåre Riibe Ramskjell / news The incident is already being used in the training of pilots in Widerøe. The company has had its own review of the incident. – We have subsequently used this specific event in a training context, both for new and experienced employees at their annual training, says Solli. Afterwards, Widerøe also sent an SMS to all passengers with a brief explanation of the incident. – They also received an offer to make direct telephone contact with us if they should have questions or concerns about the incident. Solli says that two of the 29 passengers chose to make use of this opportunity. – Both passengers seemed satisfied with the conversation with our colleague in the operational department and the follow-up they received, says Solli.
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