A320, vicinity Liverpool UK, 2018

A320, vicinity Liverpool UK, 2018

Summary

On 24 June 2018, the Captain of an Airbus A320 which had just departed Liverpool inadvertently selected flaps/slats up when “gear up” was called. The error was quickly recognised and corrective action taken but the Investigation was unable to determine why the error occurred or identify circumstances directly conducive to it. It noted that they had previously investigated four similar events to the same operator’s A320s which had occurred over a period of less than 18 months with the operator introducing a requirement for a “pause” before gear or flap selection to allow time for positive checking before selector movement.

Description

On 24 June 2018, an Airbus A320 (G-EZOZ) being operated by EasyJet on a scheduled international passenger flight from Liverpool to Paris CDG had just taken off in day VMC when the Captain inadvertently selected the flaps/slats up instead of the gear when “gear up” was called by the First Officer. Corrective action followed promptly and the flight was completed without actual risk of loss of control and without further event.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB who noted that they had previously investigated four similar flap mis-selection events which had occurred to A320s of the same operator between February 2016 and March 2017. The aircraft operator provided relevant QAR data to assist this latest Investigation.

It was noted that the 33 year-old Captain, who had been PM for the flight involved, had a total of 6,086 flying hours of which all but 172 hours were on type. The flight involved was the crew’s third sector of a four sector day and no evidence that fatigue had affected the performance of the crew was found.

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