WAIT WHAT: Cathay Dragon Flight Turns Around With Passengers Because Captain Forgot To Load A Map?

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I’ve found rather interesting news on the internet, but nothing as interesting as this. During a Cathay Dragon flight to Komatsu (which I’m assuming is a charter, as it isn’t bookable), an A320 had to turn back to Hong Kong Airport because they forgot to load the needed maps for Komatsu onto the flight.

a plane flying in the skyCathay Dragon Airbus A320 Departing Hong Kong Airport (similar to the one involved)

I’m just dumbfounded at the news, as the world seems to rely so heavily on digital technology nowadays.

B-HSD, the Dragonair A320 running KA 8348 on June 1st, seemed to depart Hong Kong at around 10 AM, have an “oh crap” moment at around 10:55, and turn back to Hong Kong at a strangely low altitude of around ~20000 ft descending into Hong Kong at around 12:40 PM. The flight then stood around for a while (presumably as the captain was trying to sort himself out) before departing again at around 2 PM, arriving Komatsu around four hours later than expected.

a map of a city

The tour group has been (in my opinion, exceedingly) nice about the incident, saying that they had little to do upon arrival, as per Gary Leff from View From The Wing.

Bottom Line

I find it rather confusing on the management front of Cathay Dragon. A captain should always make sure that they have all the equipment needed before taking off, or else they shall bear the liability of the incident and do whatever they can to compensate for all affected passengers. The fact that this hasn’t been escalated (as it happened a week ago) is rather baffling, in my opinion.

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