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<\/p>\nA Qantas plane flew passengers from Sydney to Dallas and back with a large maintenance light accidentally left inside its wing, a investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has found. <\/p>\n
According to the ATSB, the 33cm light was left behind after work was carried out on the Airbus A380-842’s cooling system at Sydney Airport on January 7. <\/p>\n
The aircraft was cleared to return to service and departed for Dallas-Fort Worth that afternoon after maintenance was complete, before flying back to Sydney on January 9. <\/p>\n
It was only after the aircraft returned that maintenance staff realised the light was missing. <\/p>\n
A search was launched and the missing light was found inside the plane’s left wing. <\/p>\n
The ATSB said the light had caused no structural damage or disruption to the aircraft\u2019s systems, but warned foreign objects posed a “significant risk to the safe operation of an aircraft”. <\/p>\n
“To mitigate this risk, regulations, procedures and training have been developed and refined, particularly to manage the introduction of foreign objects during maintenance,” it said. <\/p>\n
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Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
The investigation found several checks had failed to identify the missing light before the aircraft was cleared to fly. <\/p>\n
Maintenance workers did not spot the light during inspections of the wing, while the engineer who returned the equipment did not realise it was missing. <\/p>\n
The aircraft was then issued a certificate allowing it to return to service despite the light remaining unaccounted for.<\/p>\n
The report concluded the confined, poorly-lit and hot workspace inside the wing had likely contributed to the light being missed.<\/p>\n
It also found Qantas\u2019 maintenance information system did not automatically alert the certifier that a tool was missing before the aircraft was released.<\/p>\n
ATSB chief commander Angus Mitchell told ABC News the incident was the result of a breakdown in processes used to ensure tools were accounted for after maintenance.<\/p>\n
“Even well-established processes can be vulnerable when they rely solely on consistent human performance, particularly during maintenance tasks which are often conducted in challenging environments and under operational pressures,” Mitchell said.<\/p>\n
“Tool control systems and procedures must account for this variability with safeguards to detect and recover from errors,” he said. <\/p>\n
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(Source: Getty)<\/p>\n
Second incident involving tool left inside aircraft<\/p>\n