Malaysia Airline flew in the wrong direction and the pilot didn't know

An investigation has been launched after a
Malaysia Airlines plane took off from Auckland
Airport on Christmas Day and surprised the pilot
with the direction it started flying.
Just eight minutes into the direct flight to Kuala
Lumpur, MH132's pilot queried why his Airbus
A330 was heading so far south.
He wondered why the plane was heading towards
Melbourne and not taking a more direct flight
path to the Malaysian capital.
It is understood passengers on board the flight,
which left at 2.23am Christmas Day, were not
alerted to the mix-up.
During discussions with air traffic controllers at
the Auckland Oceanic control centre, the pilot
was informed of the flight plan his airline had
given to Airways, which manages air traffic
control for New Zealand and South Pacific.

He then continued across the Tasman Sea before
heading northwest to Kuala Lumpur.
Although there were no apparent safety concerns
with the confusion, Airways yesterday confirmed
it was investigating.
"We have an internal safety team who will
investigate it," a spokeswoman said.

"The
flight plan the airline filed with us was going
to Kuala Lumpur but via a slightly different
route than the pilot was expecting."
Airways will "work closely" with the much-
maligned carrier to find out how the confusion
came about, the spokeswoman said.
Last year, 577 crew and passengers lost their
lives on two separate Malaysia Airlines flights.
Flight MH370 disappeared between Kuala Lumpur
and Beijing for unknown reasons in March and
MH17 was shot down by a Russian-made missile
over Ukraine in July.

New Zealand aviation commentator Peter Clark
praised the pilot for his actions.
"The pilot has done a very good job by
noticing it, querying it and not just blindly
flying off and ending up in the Southern
Ocean," he said.
He said if Malaysia Airlines was now a responsible
airline, "which I hope it is after everything that
has happened", it would ask for an explanation
and investigate.
Flights on the route often travel around the
bottom of Australia to avoid bad weather or head-
winds, Clark said.

"The pilot was probably not used to going
that far south."
WeatherWatch head analyst Philip Duncan said
he flew out of Auckland this week in "perfect
conditions". A large high was settling across the
Tasman Sea.

The weather between New Zealand and Kuala
Lumpur was "fairly calm", but Duncan said
thunderstorms across northern Australia and
Papua New Guinea may have influenced Malaysia
Airlines' preferred route.

Source: New Zealand Herald