The business rescue practitioners (BRPs) for South African Airways (SAA) have issued a statement confirming that there had been an ‘Alpha Floor’ incident involving one of the airline’s aircraft on February 24. The aircraft, unidentified in the statement but reported to be an Airbus A340, was operating flight SA4272 to Brussels. 

State-owned SAA is still under business rescue, which it was placed into in December 2019. Prior to going into business rescue, SAA operated a fleet of 49 aircraft, but only nine of these were actually owned by the airline, these being five A340-300s and four A340-600s. The A340 has four engines and so has become uneconomical to operate as the alternative modern airliners in the same category (including Airbus’ A330) all have only two engines.

An Alpha Floor is an automatic safety system intended to prevent the aircraft from stalling (losing lift because it is going too slowly). If the aircraft’s speed drops and approaches the point at which lift will become inadequate and the plane will stall, the Alpha Floor system will automatically engage the engines’ auto thrust system and accelerate the aircraft. The Alpha Floor system will also transmit a signal that it is about to activate, a signal which would be received by both the airline and the manufacturer.  

According to press reports, the Alpha Floor was signalled during the airliner’s takeoff. The statement by the BRPs states that the pilots identified the “symptoms” and took the correct actions before the Alpha Floor system engaged (but this had to be after the Alpha Floor had transmitted its warning signal). 

The statement further affirmed that the flight crew’s actions meant that there were no more warnings and that the aircraft accelerated properly and proceeded to Brussels. “There have been a number of exaggerated and inaccurate reports in the media concerning this incident which are unfortunate given that the incident is currently being investigated,” said BRP Siviwe Dongwana.

The statement further pointed out that a full investigation was being carried by SAA’s Safety Department, in accordance with its approved safety manual. The airline informed the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) of the incident and was cooperating with the authority in its investigation. The statement made no mention of allegations that SAA had not immediately informed the SACAA of the incident. 

“Once the investigation has been completed, and SAA has identified the reasons for this event, the airline will implement the identified appropriate systemic remedial actions which may address any deficiencies in the organisational system,” concluded the BRPs’ statement. “It would be irresponsible to speculate before the investigations are completed as to why the warning was signalled.”