Plane WON’T Climb! Then The Pilot Did Something Incredible

Emirates Flight 407 set off on a flight from Melbourne, Australia to Dubai in a fully loaded Airbus A340.
But what was supposed to be a long, but routine, flight quickly turned into a nightmare. A vital human error in the cockpit led to one of the most terrifying take-off experiences in aviation history and put the lives of the almost 300 people on board in danger.

[@everTriumph]

Makes one wonder why there aren't load sensors on the landing gear. Needn't be precise, just enough to pick up gross errors.

[@robbes7rh]

Distractions in the cockpit are DEADLY. Even the most experienced pilots can make a fatal mistake. There must be absolute unemcumbered FOCUS on the pre-flight checklist with two sets of eyes and ears checking and confirming proper inputs. An incident like this scares the shit out of me.

[@SnowTiger45]

I think the problem started with too many people in the cockpit or at least, they were permitted to discuss ANYTHING while the Pilot and Copilot conducted their pre-flight checks. In other words, there were too many distractions and too much complacency.
Ultimately, it is 100% Human Error but I believe it was shared among all those in the cockpit.

[@lawts1240]

Would it not be possible for all modern aircraft to effectively and accurately ‘weigh’ themselves though the undercarriage structures?? Then a precise weight could be displayed to the cockpit which could be used as gospel, or (even better) be used as a fail safe check against the usual calculations.
Surely, technology exists for each leg (olio?) of the undercarriage to be fitted with a system to read the loading on the structure to precisely read the all up weight of the aircraft prior to take off?
Just saying…

[@iscmiscm]

I am surprised that dual input was not already standard procedure.
It is worried that firing the pilots was the first action, as this could hinder honest reports and so future safety.
It also seems that an over crowded cockpit could have been a major factor.

[@craigstone902]

What a coincidence …. Emirates ad came up before the clip!

[@kpdvw]

a lucky save;..do not have 5 people in the cockpit during pre flight, no joking around, verify everything....!

[@danielc3003]

Two major errors ,screwing around and screwing around.

[@pgbrandon]

I'm all new to this. I thought the plane would figure out that it wasn't accelerating properly down the runway and indicate something was wrong with the weight.

[@davecarpenter4917]

I dont know either, but that would seem technically feasible. A large mismatch of expected acceleration vs calculated would flag either engine performance (which is highly monitored already), air surfaces performance (also highly monitored) , or weight (a human input). If the mismatch is small, power could be adjusted.. if it's large, it could cancel takeoff before V1.

[@clementmok87]

Why this plane need pilot to tell the weight of the plane.Should have auto weight scale in the first place.

[@rickb314]

That flight crew would have been absolutely eyes-wide sh1tting themselves! Once airborne they would surely have known with absolute certainty that they'd be picking up their final payslip from Emirates the next morning...

[@davidlorenz54]

Yep, they got sacked.

[@gerrywilliam740]

Why can the plane not measure it's own weight through the undercarriage compression.

[@shaukatsamad1563]

There should be auto calculation of baggage in the plane n should be bold display n blinking if there is excess weight which is fixed weight in the plane

[@andy99ish]

I am surprised that some of these guys switch off their brains when entering data.
How can 263 tons be correct for a loaded A 380 if that is its weight when EMPTY ?

[@darren25061965]

The aircraft was an A340, much smaller and lighter than an A380, but still no excuse for such a significant error. The problem is with ground crew in the cockpit when crital information is being entered into the FMC, with multiple conversations taking place at the same time.

[@ZX600E7]

It's an A340 👍

[@01thomasss]

yes, except that we're talking about an A340-500 here.

[@Cocoyz]

I am not a pilot moreso have enough knowledge about being one, but for me they are still lucky despite of that major errors done by the crews.

[@foreverpinkf.7603]

Co-pilots last day with that airline.

[@user-ux5wt9np8p]

Well I think the pilots did a great job handling this terrible situation and got everyone back alive . Shit happens and it's not the first time.

[@alexhayden2303]

How much did 80 tons of Avgas cost and was it noticed on the ground?

[@RobertoAlvarado-ok6kq]

Does anyone knows why power is controlled by a computer instead a a pilot hands ?
Why take off power has to be computed ? Or reduced ? If every take off is set to max engine power take off weight will be reflected on the take off run. so if the take off occurs 1500 feet before what is the problem ?
I mean ... Isn't better to have more than enough ?

[@timothynechville8326]

Say what you want... The problem is to much dependence on microchips to fly the plane. It has the pilots more focused on the electronics than flying the plane.

[@99672]

It was right these two pilots were sacked. But why is it hard to find out who these clowns were? Let's hope they aren't still flying planes.

[@robertjeter5984]

We learned some stuff here without blood 🩸