Singapore A388 over Andaman Islands on Apr 26th 2012, navigation system problems

Last Update: April 30, 2012 / 14:56:51 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 26, 2012

Airline
Singapore Airlines

Flight number
SQ-318

Departure
Singapore, Singapore

Destination
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Aircraft Registration
9V-SKQ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A380-800

ICAO Type Designator
A388

A Singapore Airlines Airbus A380-800, registration 9V-SKQ performing flight SQ-318 from Singapore (Singapore) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was enroute near the Andaman Islands about three hours into the flight when the crew decided to return to Singapore due to problems with the navigation systems and autopilot. The crew dumped fuel on their way back to Singapore. The aircraft landed safely back in Singapore about 6 hours after departure.

The flight is now estimated to depart Singapore with a delay of 11 hours.

Passengers reported the crew wasn't very clear in their announcements, they understood technical problems with the navigation systems that also knocked the autopilot off.

Passenger Lisa told The Aviation Herald, that she was listening to music and waiting for her meal to be served, when a loud bang was heard sounding like "like a thunder clap or a car backfiring" followed by immediate violent shaking of the aircraft spilling the drinks everywhere and banging the service carts into the seats. The shaking stopped after about 3-4 seconds and did not re-occur. Lisa, seated in the back of the cabin, had the impression the bang came from very close and her right hand side. There were no comments from any passenger regarding observations on the engines or the like. Some time later passengers at the window seats observed fuel dump had started. About 45 minutes after the bang the crew announced that some turbulence had knocked off their autopilot and they were returning to Singapore. The aircraft descended to about FL200 (editorial note: radar data showed the aircraft coming into radar range of Malaysia's Penang Airport, about 350nm northwest of Singapore, at FL210), the gear was lowered in order to burn off fuel on the way back to Singapore.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 26, 2012

Airline
Singapore Airlines

Flight number
SQ-318

Departure
Singapore, Singapore

Destination
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Aircraft Registration
9V-SKQ

Aircraft Type
Airbus A380-800

ICAO Type Designator
A388

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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