A QantasLink Dash 8 crew failed to retract the landing gear after take-off and only realised when a member of the cabin crew flagged the error, a report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has found.
The incident involved Bombardier DHC-8-402, VH-QOY (c/n 4288), which was operating a flight between Sydney and Albury, New South Wales on July 12 last year.
The ATSB found that both pilots were heavily focused on aircraft performance in the immediate period following lift off, which resulted in subsequent ‘positive rate’ and ‘gear-up’ calls not being made.
Several minutes later, a second opportunity to catch the error was missed, when during the after-take-off checklist, the pilot monitoring (captain) provided the ‘landing gear challenge’ and the pilot flying (first officer) incorrectly called ‘up, no lights’ in response.
The
