An investigation is under way after a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong had to abort a landing approach at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Flight CX840, which was under the command of a senior training captain at the end of a 16-hour flight, got into difficulties as it tried to land on May 31 with 305 passengers and crew on board.
Cathay aircrew general manager and director-designate of flight operations, Captain Richard Hall, said the crew of the Boeing 777 had made 'some procedural and technique errors' and had to conduct a 'go-around' - the industry term for when an aircraft aborts a landing, circles around and then comes in to land again.
At no time were the passengers or crew in any danger, he said.
'When the crew recognised that they had not met the company's stabilised approach criteria, they appropriately discontinued the approach in a regularly trained manoeuvre called a go-around,' Hall said.
An industry insider who is aware of the incident says the number of time zones through which a long flight passes, and a crew's irregular sleep during the rest periods on a flight, can lead to fatigue among long-haul pilots.
'The fact that pilots face their toughest challenges at the end of a flight during the approach and landing phase heightens the dangers involved,' the insider said.
