An AirAsia X Flight Landed In the Wrong Country

An AirAsia X flight scheduled to fly from Sydney (SYD) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) accidentally flew in the wrong direction and landed in Melbourne (MEL) on March 10, 2015, according to a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). The incident began before the plane even took off, when the pilot entered the incorrect longitudinal position in the plane's navigational system. Once the plane was in the air, the crew attempted to fix the error but according to the report, this only lead to further confusion.

AirAsia released a statement today confirming the error and outlined steps it's taken to ensure that a mistake like this doesn't happen again.

With reference to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report published today regarding an incident involving an AirAsia X Airbus A330 aircraft with registration number 9M-XXM bound for Kuala Lumpur from Sydney on 10 March 2015, AirAsia X would like to confirm that we have taken the following corrective actions immediately following the incident, and prior to the publication of today's ATSB report:

• All AirAsia X aircraft have been equipped with upgraded flight management systems since the incident

• Development of a training bulletin and package for flight crew that emphasises correct operation and alignment of air data and inertial reference system

• Briefing all pilots on our internal investigation findings and reviewing recovery procedures to be undertaken

AirAsia X would like to stress that we have in place robust management systems to monitor and prevent similar incidents from reoccurring.

We also wish to reiterate that we have regularly passed safety and security audits conducted by various international regulators, including the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). We remain committed to ensuring our compliance to all safety and security regulations.

The safety of all guests and crew are our utmost priority at all times.

This was AirAsia's second major incident in 2015, after the fatal crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501. As AirAsia made clear in its statement, the entire fleet has now been upgraded with new flight management systems and employees have received additional training to ensure that accidents like this don't happen again in the future.

H/T: CNN