UK authorities investigate a serious incident regarding a Bristol flight to Gran Canaria

A report from Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB), dated yesterday, details a serious incident that happened on March 4th, on a flight that departed from Bristol to the Canary Islands.

On that day, March 4th, the flight that had taken off from Bristol Airport in the UK and was supposed to land in Gran Canaria and according to the report it took off too low, as it did not have enough thrust to safely take off.

The aircraft, a B737-800, carried 163 passengers, two pilots, and four cabin crew members. According to the AAIB, a technical failure with the autothrottles that control the engine thrust led the plane to be "only three meters above the ground," barely managing to take off at the end of the runway and hovering just 30 meters above the road: "It was far below the altitude it should have been at that moment."

When the plane, with difficulty, reached its altitude, it continued the flight normally to its destination in Gran Canaria. The report indicates that "although it is mandatory to check that the engine power is in the correct position during takeoff, the crew did not notice this until the actual takeoff, despite realizing they were approaching the end of the runway."

The AAIB emphasizes that "neither of the two pilots realized then that the thrust was incorrectly set, and it was not detected through the standard operating procedures (SOP)."