Should Air Asia be grounded? - Curt Lewis

AirAsia faces fresh probe after troubled Perth-Kuala Lumpur flight

PHOTO: The latest AirAsia incident follows at least four others in recent years. (Supplied: Wikimedia Commons)

The "technical issue" responsible for causing a mid-air drama on an AirAsia X flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur was just the latest safety incident involving the low-cost airline.

Some aviation experts have urged caution as an investigation is carried out into what exactly went wrong on the flight, described by one passenger as like being in a "washing machine".

"When you look at the number of aircraft movements every day, these [events] aren't one particular airline," aviation consultant Trevor Jenson said.

"It is not unreasonable to [expect that], in the amount of hours that are flown, you do get these events. They are well and truly within the probabilities of millions of millions.

"They are unusual events, they all have to be carefully investigated, [but] the great thing about aviation is we learn the lessons, that is why it is the safest means of transport."

Yesterday's apparent engine failure does, however, add another chapter to AirAsia's history, following at least four other incidents or accidents involving the Malaysian carrier in the past three years.

All 162 passengers and crew died when an AirAsia Airbus A320 stalled at high altitude during a flight from Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya to Singapore on December 28, 2014.

The final report into the crash, released a year later, found the aircraft had a fault with its rudder limiter which went unfixed for 12 months before the crash.

It also found pilot error was partly to blame for the accident.

Foreign Correspondent later revealed thousands of Australians had flown 78 times between Bali and Perth on the same aircraft while it had the mechanical fault in the year leading up to the tragedy.

Experts said airlines like Qantas would have never flown a plane with that sort of defect, while AirAsia said it had improved pilot training and maintenance standards since the crash

Captain enters wrong coordinates

An AirAsia X flight from Sydney to Malaysia was forced to make an emergency landing in Melbourne on March 10, 2015, after experiencing onboard navigation issues.

A safety investigation later found the captain had entered the wrong departure flight path into the A300's navigation system just before take-off.

The error put the plane off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa.

The flight was cancelled but deteriorating weather in Sydney meant the aircraft, which was now limited to visual conditions, had to be sent to Melbourne - more than 6,000 kilometres from its intended destination.

Plane flies too low over Perth

An AirAsia A320 aircraft was on approach to Perth Airport on February 19, 2016 when it reportedly flew 300 metres too low in severe turbulence.

The West Australian newspaper reported the plane, which was arriving from Bali, dropped as low as 457m near Royal Perth Yacht Club.

The ATSB said air traffic controllers issued a "low altitude alert" and told the crew to abort their landing. The aircraft later landed safely.

Gold Coast near-miss

An AirAsia X plane departing Gold Coast Airport for Auckland, New Zealand suffered what the ATSB described as a "loss of separation" with an incoming Jetstar plane on July 21, 2016.

The aircraft came within about 180m of one another after the AirAsia A330 climbed too quickly - well below the 305m minimum required vertical separation for passenger planes in Australia.
The ATSB said both planes received a "traffic collision avoidance system" alert, with the crew of the Jetstar A320 "conducting a climb to increase separation".