A ground worker got an almighty shock when the pilots of a Jetstar plane fired up its engines to taxi to the runway at Newcastle Airport, while the worker remained connected by a cable to the A320's nose.
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Mid-air emergency forces Qantas plane to land
Passengers saw sparks flying from one of the engines of flight QF94 from LA to Melbourne before the A380 turned around to make an emergency landing at LAX. Vision courtesy Seven News.
In what air-safety investigators have described as a "serious incident", the dispatcher had been walking beside the aircraft as it was pushed back from in front of the airport's terminal, attached by the cable to a headset to allow communication with the pilots.
It was after the pushback that the attention of the Jetstar pilots was diverted to monitoring a plane in a neighbouring bay that had requested clearance to taxi to the runway.
The Jetstar plane's captain was concerned that there was not enough room for the other aircraft to turn around without hitting the A320 carrying 165 passengers and six crew.
A report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau into the incident on January 25 reveals that it was while the Jetstar pilots were monitoring the situation that they mistook another dispatcher, who had disconnected from the neighbouring plane that posed a risk to theirs, for their own.
Moments later, the Jetstar pilots requested and received clearance to taxi for departure for the flight to Brisbane, turning their lights on, releasing their brakes and increasing power while their dispatcher was still connected to their plane.
Their dispatcher had been waiting below for the pilots to give the OK to disconnect the cable used for communication. The cables are typically 3 to 4 metres in length.
"[The dispatcher] observed the taxi lights for [the Jetstar A320] illuminate, then they heard the engine noise increase, and then the aircraft started to taxi," the report said.
Shocked at what was happening, the dispatcher immediately disconnected the headset and rushed clear of the jet aircraft towards the airport's terminal as it began taxiing to the runway for a flight to Brisbane.
In their report, the investigators said the Jetstar captain "reported their their most important lesson was distraction management".
The captain believed that slowing down the check-list procedure the pilots carry out was the most practical way of reducing the risk of such incidents occurring again.
Jetstar said in a statement that it had reminded pilots of the importance of following checklists and procedures, as well as distraction management, in the wake of the incident at Newcastle.
"Like all airlines, we have comprehensive checklists which crew are required to follow prior to departure," the airline said.