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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > JAPANESE PILOT ACCIDENTALLY PUSHES UPSIDE DOWN BUTTON DURING FLIGHT
JAPANESE PILOT ACCIDENTALLY PUSHES UPSIDE DOWN BUTTON DURING FLIGHT
October 1 2011
Tokyo, Japan – Air travel can be scary at the best of times, even for seasoned fliers. Most of the time flights are uneventful, even boring, but then nature shows up to remind everyone aboard that you are flying through the sky in a giant metal tube. In those moments, no one, no matter how much flying experience they have, can be blamed for having a moment of nervousness.
Luckily, most of those moments are just that, moments. Air travel is still, by and large, the safest form of travel but occasionally accidents do occur, ones that cause everyone to question whether or not it is worth it. Such an incident occurred on a Japanese flight last Thursday, an incident that may very well alter the way air travel is treated and aircrafts are manufactured. That incident was the accidental pressing of the upside down button which sent the aircraft into a potentially deadly spin.
“We believe what occurred was that the co-pilot had accidentally pressed the incorrect button. He had intended to push the button that would open the door for the captain who had gone for a bathroom break, but instead he pushed the button which caused the plane to turn almost totally upside down,” said a spokesperson for Nippon airways. “This was a regrettable incident but one t hat was very much human error. We will be conducting a thorough investigation and we will consider all possible actions to prevent such a thing from happening again, including a redesign of the cockpit area.”
The Boeing 737-700 had been travelling from Okinawa to Tokyo. There were reports of several minor injuries from the incident. All Boeing aircraft have been equipped with an upside down switch since they were first manufactured, a design that has been grandfathered into all later designs.
“We are constantly looking at ways to improve performance and increase the safety of our aircraft. Occasionally we overlook things and are only made aware of the issue when an unfortunate incident occurs. That is what appears to have happened here and it has very much gotten our attention,” said a spokesperson for Boeing. “Luckily no one was severely injured in this incident. These are the types of lessons we like to learn, ones where there is no severe injury or damage. We will take the information gathered from this incident and use it to assess future aircraft design.”
Among other possible changes the company is considering moving the upside down button to a more discrete location or possibly removing the function altogether.
“When aircraft first began the whole notion of flying upside down was an exotic one, one that airlines genuinely believed people would pay extra for, and that prompted manufacturers to include that function. Like many things, it kind of fell away but the functionality just kind of stuck. Now though it’s probably time to get rid of it,” said Scrape TV Airline analyst Jeffry Johnson. “I don’t remember the last time I even saw that as option when buying a ticket, flying upside down, which indicates that it really isn’t in demand by most fliers. They should really just remove it to prevent these types of incidents from occurring. It’s likely just going to cause trouble, plus passengers aren’t paying for. It’s just waste all around.”
Aside from the injuries, most passengers apparently enjoyed the flight. They even received a small meal on the short flight.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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