On the night of July 18, 2018, a Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 pushed back from Brisbane Airport carrying 215 passengers bound for Kuala Lumpur. Within seconds of takeoff, every airspeed display in the cockpit went red — and the crew had no idea how fast they were flying or why. Join Alice and Zach as they unravel a near-disaster that played out in the dark over the Queensland coast, the chain of small failures that put this aircraft in the air, and the very specific Brisbane Airport problem that nobody at Malaysia Airlines had been told about. Buckle up — this one is a wild ride.

Sources:

• ATSB Final Investigation Report AO-2018-053 — Australian Transport Safety Bureau, March 2022
• "How Did EVERYONE Miss THIS!? | Malaysian Airlines Flight 134" — Mentour Pilot, YouTube
• "Malaysia Airlines mistakes led to 'serious incident' on packed A330" — Australian Aviation
• "Pitot covers left on made for tense BUSS ride" — Flight Safety Australia
• "A350 pitot probe covers left on prior to pushback demonstrates how assumptions, procedural omissions can lead to unsafe conditions" — Australian Transport Safety Bureau
• Malaysia Airlines Flight MH134 — Wikipedia

Find FINAL BOARDING CALL online: Website: finalboardingcallpodcast.com | Email: [email protected] | Instagram: @FinalBoardingCallPod | Facebook: Final Boarding Call | Patreon: patreon.com/finalboardingcall

Credits: Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.