ATW Daily News

Qantas incident investigators focus on external interference

Monday November 17, 2008

Electromagnetic interference from the powerful VLF transmitters at the Harold E. Holt US Communication Base near Exmouth in Western Australia, along with passengers' portable electronic devices, are the focus of investigators looking into the violent midair upset of a Qantas A330-300 that injured 70 passengers last month (ATWOnline, Oct. 14).

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Director-Strategy and Capability Kerryn Macaulay said Friday that investigators have not ruled out "external interference" as the primary cause of the incident. She said the aircraft's three Air Data Inertial Reference Units "will be subject to comprehensive testing at Northrop Grumman's facilities in the US from Monday. The investigation will review the ADIRUs' data monitoring capability and management of anomalous ADIRU data" (ATWOnline, Oct. 15). Interestingly, the A330 incident occurred just north of where a Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER suffered a similar upset on Aug. 1, 2005.

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