Configuration

Flight NZ175 from Auckland to Perth was descending.

The passengers heard the whirr-thump of the wheels lowering and locking.

Then the even whine of the two Rolls Royce engines changed pitch to a roar and the aircraft accelerated into a climb.

Toppling the dominoes.

Landing slot with Air Traffic Control lost.

Ground crews, refuelers, caterers, baggage handlers reorganising themselves. 

Every extra minute costing the airline $170 in fuel.

350 passengers, their waiting families, taxis, flight connections, hotel transport, crew changes delayed.

Thousands of dollars lost and hundreds of people inconvenienced.

While still airborne and circling in the landing pattern again, the pilot made an announcement.

He had aborted the landing because he had made 'a configuration error'.

Dan, my Air Traffic Controller friend confirmed that a 'configuration error' probably means that the pilot had not set the flaps correctly for the landing.

How naïve of the pilot to make such an admission of his error.

How reckless of him to say 'Hey everyone still buckled up back there that I'm carrying aloft at several hundred kilometres an hour several thousand feet above the ground and who are still relying on me to get you back to earth - I screwed up.'

Yet on reflection - how refreshing.

Honest. Confident. Respectful. Brave.

The pilot wasn't naïve. He knew what he was doing.

Just what you want in the bloke controlling the metal tube you're travelling in 10 kilometres above the ground.