Qantas Airways has changed its loading procedures from BKK after an Airbus A330-300 aircraft departed with a 2,785kg load discrepancy owing to a miscommunication among ground staff.


The incident occurred on 23 July 2015 and involved the aircraft registered VH-QPJ, says the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATS in a statement. The aircraft was operating flight QF24 on the BKK - SYD route.


A miscommunication during two phone calls between loading supervisor in Bangkok and Qanta’s load controller in WAW led to a container being mistakenly left aboard the aircraft in position 23P.
As a result, the data the crew used to calculate reference speeds for take-off, fuel consumption rates, and initial climb altitude were inaccurate. Nonetheless, the aircraft took off at midday and the crew noticed no abnormal flight characteristics, or receive any warnings related to the A330s weight and balance.