In-flight upset - 154 km west of Learmonth, WA, 7 October 2008,

The crew decided that they needed to land the aircraft as soon as possible. Theywere concerned that further pitch-down movements could occur, and they wereaware that Learmonth was relatively close and that it was a suitable destination foran A330 landing. 17 In addition, when the first officer returned to the flight deck, headvised the other flight crew that there had been some injuries in the cabin.At 0449:05, the first officer made a PAN 18 broadcast to air traffic control, statingthat they had experienced ‘flight control computer problems’ and that some of theaircraft’s occupants had been injured. He requested a clearance to divert to andtrack direct to Learmonth. The controller cleared the crew to descend to FL350.The captain told the second officer to obtain further information from the cabinwhile the captain and first officer started preparing for the descent. At 0450:40, thesecond officer contacted the flight attendant at the Left 1 door position in the cabin(section 4.1.1) to get further information on the extent of the injuries.At 0451:25, the first officer requested further descent from air traffic control. Thecontroller cleared the crew to leave controlled airspace and proceed direct toLearmonth.After receiving advice from the cabin of several serious injuries, the captain askedthe first officer to declare a MAYDAY. 19 At 0454:25, the first officer declared theMAYDAY and advised air traffic control that they had multiple injuries on board.1.1.6 Remainder of the flightDuring the process of organising the diversion to Learmonth, the flight crew againreviewed what had happened, their current situation, and the ECAM messages.They noted that the NAV IR 1 FAULT and F/CTL PRIM 3 FAULT messages werestill occurring, together with several other caution messages. They concluded thatthe ECAM was not providing them with useful information or recommendedactions. Consequently, at 0456:05, the first officer contacted the operator’smaintenance watch unit 20 , located in Sydney, New South Wales, by a satellitecommunications system (SATPHONE) to brief them on the situation and to seekassistance.There were subsequently several communications between the flight crew andmaintenance watch about the fault messages and other flight deck indications. Inone discussion at 0510, maintenance watch advised the flight crew that ‘ADIRU 1’appeared to be common to the fault messages being displayed, but that there wasalso some conflicting information regarding elevator control. They provided norecommended actions at that stage. In a subsequent discussion, maintenance watchrecommended that, at the crew’s discretion, they could select PRIM 3 (or flight17181920The first upset event occurred when the aircraft was 154 km (83 NM) west of Learmonth.Learmonth was the closest airport suitable for an A330 landing.A PAN transmission is made in the case of an urgency condition which concerns the safety of anaircraft or its occupants, but where the flight crew does not require immediate assistance.A MAYDAY transmission is made in the case of a distress condition and where the flight crewrequires immediate assistance.Maintenance watch provided 24-hour assistance to en-route flight crews regarding technicalissues. The aircraft’s fault messages were automatically sent in real time to ground receivers, andcould be accessed by maintenance watch (section 1.9).- 6 -