Co-pilot error makes passenger plane fly almost upside down

More than 100 people aboard a Japanese passenger plane got the scare of their lives while flying over Japan earlier this month, after the co-pilot who worked on the wrong controls made the plane fly almost upside-down. A report by tech site Gizmodo said the Boeing 737-700 flew "belly-up" after the co-pilot mistook the rudder trim knob for the cockpit door lock. "(When the co-pilot) 'opened the door' for his captain, he actually caused the jet to roll and drop 1,900 meters in 30 seconds. According to internal investigations, 'the narrow-body aircraft continued to roll until it reached 131.7 degrees to the left, leaving it almost belly-up,'" it said. Citing an internal investigation report, Gizmodo said the plane's nose pointed down as much as 35 degrees at one point. Miraculously, only two flight attendants of the All Nippon Airways (ANA) plane were hurt while a few passengers complained about "feeling weird." The Gizmodo article posted a photo showing the rudder knob and cockpit door lock switch are just 10 cm apart. "Unlocking the door (the small knob) and moving the rudder left (the big knob) is the same direction," it said. A separate article on Interactive Intelligence cited a Kyodo report indicating the incident occurred off Shizuoka Prefecture en route to Tokyo early this month. It cited a Kyodo report quoting the Japan Transport Safety Board as saying Flight 140 from Naha to Haneda, with 117 crew and passengers on board, managed to land at the Tokyo airport despite dropping about 1,900 meters from a height of about 12,500 meters in 30 seconds. The safety board's head, Norihiro Goto, said data on the Boeing 737-700's digital flight recorder showed that in the incident, which occurred at 10:50 p.m. Sept. 6, the twin-engine jet rolled to the left and descended after slightly rolling to the right when a copilot mistakenly operated the rudder trim knob in the cockpit. "The centrifugal force (exerted by the maneuver) may have helped lessen the impact on the passengers," Goto said. ANA Senior Executive Vice President Shin Nagase apologized for the "tremendous trouble and anxiety" to its passengers. The transport safety board is investigating the incident. — LBG, GMA News