The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) recently published an aviation occurrence investigation report that nicely highlights not only the importance of following procedures, but also how skipping a step early in a process can undermine later safety barriers intended to catch procedural errors.
The occurrence involved a Jetstar Airways Airbus A320 operating a scheduled domestic Australian passenger flight on Dec. 18, 2017. After a normal descent and touchdown at Gold Coast Airport, Queensland, the captain, who was the pilot flying, selected both engine thrust reversers. The left reverser failed to activate, but the flight crew decelerated to taxi speed using normal braking and taxied to the gate without further incident.
When the carrier’s engineering staff inspected the reverser, they found that a thrust reverser lockout pin, which had been installed during unscheduled maintenance …
