Sightings2011

Air Canada 878 pitches down after first officer mistakes Venus for an aircraft

When: 14 Jan 2011
Where: North Atlantic Ocean
Sources: 1 public source

An Air Canada Boeing 767-300ER, the aircraft type flying as Flight 878 in January 2011 Jean-Philippe Boulet, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Over the mid-Atlantic, the first officer on an Air Canada Boeing 767 first took Venus for an aircraft, then misjudged real oncoming traffic and pushed the nose down. Canada's Transportation Safety Board found 14 passengers and 2 flight attendants were injured.

Sources

OfficialAviation Investigation Report A11F0012: Pitch Excursion, Air Canada Boeing 767-333 C-GHLQ, North Atlantic Ocean, 14 January 2011 (opens in a new tab)Transportation Safety Board of Canada

How sources are chosen and tiered

Where it fits

Earlier in SightingsLos Angeles 'mystery missile' contrail8 Nov 2010 Later in SightingsTissint fireball drops a Martian meteorite in Morocco18 Jul 2011

See it on the timeline More in Sightings