British Airways plane fire due to pilot confusing left and right hands closing Gatwick airport for 50 minutes

A British Airways pilot confusing his left and right hands caused the plane to catch fire resulting in Gatwick Airport closing for 50 minutes, an investigation has found. The co-pilot “expressed surprise” at his error and “reported being well-rested and feeling fine”.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze on the Boeing 777 jet’s brakes on the runway at Gatwick airport, West Sussex, a report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said. There were some 334 passengers and 13 crew were on board the aircraft at the time of the incident.

During take-off, the co-pilot of the plane “unintentionally” pulled his left hand back on the thrust lever – reducing the power output – when he should have taken his hand away, investigators said.

At the same time, he should have been preparing to pull back on the control column with his right hand, the report stated. He aborted the take-off after realising his error, and the plane came to a standstill “some distance before the end of the runway”, the AAIB said.

There were no reported injuries, however, the incident on June 28 last year caused the airport – the second busiest in the UK – to be closed for 50 minutes, the BBC reported.

The report stated that the co-pilot “expressed surprise in himself over the inadvertent thrust reduction” and “could not identify a reason for it”. It added that he “reported being well-rested and feeling fine”.

A British Airways spokesperson said: “Safety is always our highest priority and our pilots brought the aircraft to a safe stop. We apologised to our customers and our teams worked hard to get them on their way as quickly as possible.”

British Airways had issued a safety notice four days before the incident stating that pilots should “pause before execution and cognitively consider what the required action is”, the AAIB said.

The airline has included “mis-selections” in its pre-flight briefing material for flight crews, the report added.