An AirAsia X flight bound for Malaysia ended up in Melbourne after the pilot entered the wrong data into the flight's computer. Flight 223 which was bound for Kuala Lumpur at 11.55am on March 10, 2015 is said to have turned the wrong way and had to be guided to Melbourne.
A report published on Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau revealed the captain entered the wrong longitudinal position into the A330's computer.
The position was reportedly out by 11,000km which adversely affected the aircraft's navigation systems and some alerting systems.
The aircraft turned left instead of right after takeoff and Air Traffic Control at Sydney Airport's International Terminal had to hold up an aircraft on another runway when the AirAsia flight turned in its path.
The mistake with the longitudinal position wasn't noticed until the aircraft became airborne and began tracking in the wrong direction.
The crew reportedly elected to discontinue the flight, but couldn't return to Sydney because the weather had deteriorated, so the aircraft was diverted to Melbourne where it landed at 2.03pm.
The plane then spent two hours and 50 minutes on the ground in Melbourne, before departing for Kuala Lumpur with the same captain and cabin crew.
