Same Tiger pilot had control of planes in safety scares that led to grounding

THE same pilot was at the controls during the two recent safety scares that led to the grounding of Tiger Airways.

The Australian pilot, understood to be based at Avalon, was flying a Tiger Airbus aircraft on both occasions when it flew too low during landing approaches at Avalon and Melbourne.

The two safety breaches were the final straw for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which suspended Tiger’s licence to fly in Australia due to safety concerns.

Sources close to the investigations into the incidents told The Sunday Telegraph the captain was an experienced pilot who had flown Airbus A340s for Emirates before joining Tiger 18 months ago.

Two sources confirmed he was in charge when the aircraft breached minimum altitude requirements on June 7 and 30.

CASA, which had previously ordered Tiger to demonstrate why its operations certificate should not be revoked, reacted swiftly after the second low-flying breach, immediately grounding the low-cost carrier. The earliest the airline can fly is August 1, which will cost the company an estimated $18 million.

Australian Federation of Air Pilots industrial relations manager Lawrie Cox defended the pilot, but conceded “human error” in the cockpit had played a role in the breaches.

“They (CASA) are claiming that it (the low-flying incidents) was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but both of the incidents have been investigated and part of the investigation process has also been about the safety management processes at Tiger,” he said.

“The two incidents have been used as part of the excuse for the grounding. It’s our view that the Tiger pilot group is very experienced.”

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau last week released an interim report into the earlier incident at Tullamarine. It blamed conflicting navigation information for cockpit confusion that led to the jet dipping to 2000ft in a minimum 2500ft zone over Epping in Melbourne’s east.

Mr Cox said Tiger suspended the pilots from flying for two days while it launched an internal investigation.

Three weeks later, the same captain was flying a different A320 when it dropped to 900ft below the 2500ft limit on approach to Avalon Airport.

“At no stage was there any risk of crash or hitting terrain or anything associated with that,” Mr Cox said.

Tiger refused to comment.