An EasyJet Airbus, with 157 passengers on board, found itself dangerously close to the surface of Lake Geneva during its approach to the airport on November 5, the daily Tribune de Genève revealed on Tuesday.
For an as yet unexplained reason, the Airbus A320 Neo registered G-UZLO, which was flying from Edinburgh in Scotland to Geneva, found itself some 230 meters (approximately 750 feet) from the surface of the water at a place where its altitude would have been must have been more than three times higher, indicates the daily.
“During the approach to runway 22, the plane descended significantly below the glideslope and the flight crew initiated a go-around,”
confirms the Swiss Safety Investigation Service (SESE). ) - the authority responsible for carrying out investigations into accidents and incidents occurring in particular in the field of civil aviation - in a very succinct so-called first information report published on January 16.
EasyJet is a low-cost airline created in 1995 and has never experienced a crash.
Geneva airport is one of the main hubs of the company, which is the second low-cost airline in Europe, behind Ryanair.
According to the Tribune de Genève, the control tower at Geneva Cointrin airport alerted the crew at the same time as they were also warned of the altitude being too low by the on-board warning system.
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No explanation yet
For the moment, there is no explanation for the fact that the plane was flying much too low, but a pilot and a former air traffic controller, who wished to remain anonymous and interviewed by the newspaper, seem to point the finger human error.
“I don’t know what happened in the cockpit that day, but that’s where the key to the explanation must lie
,” analyzes the pilot interviewed by the Tribune de Genève.
The geographical specificities of Geneva and the approach attributed to the plane coming from Scotland could have played a role in the incident, because it requires the crews to begin a rapid descent after passing the Jura, underlines the daily .
The company questioned did not respond immediately but indicated to the Tribune de Genève that the pilots were temporarily suspended from their duties,
“which corresponds to EasyJet's practices and procedures”
.