The Virgin Australia procedures did not require its flight crews to, whenever practicable, announce flight mode changes.
The ATSB is satisfied that the change in policy requiring the announcement of flight mode changes has adequately addressed the safety issue.
Virgin Australia reported that, on 7 June 2013, the following changes were made to its flight policies:
Flight Mode Annunciator Changes. Virgin Australia policy is that Flight Mode Annunciator [FMA] changes should be announced by the PF [pilot flying].
Due to high workload, FMA changes below 500AFE [above field elevation] only need to be made if required by specific aircraft operations manual.
The PM [pilot monitoring] should announce the change if missed by the PF.
