The co-operation between the 45 year old captain, and 30 year old female co-pilot, was non existent as the plane they operated was cleared for takeoff.

The episode occurred on 27th November 2002, onboard a Scandinavian (SAS) flight from Oslo-Gardermoen to Stavanger-Sola in a Boeing 737-600.

After the plane had finished the de-ice, the two pilots forgot to run through the takeoff checklist. This resulted in the plane having flaps, slats, and stability trimming in the wrong position. Flaps/slats were not deployed as the plane rolled onto the runway, and the trimming was set to push the nose down.

After some debate, the captain decided that he would execute the takeoff. At 1000 feet, he would hand over to the co-pilot. But as they rolled onto the runway, and had lined the plane up, he suddenly changed his mind. As the plane was cleared for takeoff he said to the co-pilot "your controls" surprising her.

She accepted the command, and took over control, without a new brief before takeoff. She held the manual brakes on while giving power, resulting in the warning "takeoff power" becoming active. The captain interpreted this as a warning that the manual brakes were still on, and accepted the takeoff roll.

The warning kept going, and while the plane rolled down the runway, the co-pilot finally realized that the flaps were not set. She set the flaps and slats in correct takeoff position, and expected the captain to take over control, and abort takeoff. But the captain did not take over control. Takeoff was completed, but the plane was very heavy on the nose. Instead of lifting off at the usual 224 km/h, the plane didn't take off until the speed reached 298 km/h.

The rest of the flight went as normal, but both pilots requested the rest of the day off as they landed at Stavanger-Sola.

Thom@s

[Edited 2004-10-30 15:56:42]