A Qatar Airways Boeing 787 lost up to 1,000 feet of altitude upon take-off from Hamad International Airport (DOH) in Doha, Qatar.
The Boeing 787-8, registered A7-BCO, was operating Qatar Airways Flight QR161 on January 10, 2023, which departed at 1:59 AM local time (UTC +3). Shortly after taking off from DOH, the Qatari airline’s 787-8 altitude peaked at 1,825 feet (556.2 meters) and the aircraft descended to 850 ft (259 m) at 2:01 AM local time (UTC +3). Subsequently, the jet picked up altitude and continued toward its destination, Copenhagen Airport (CPH) in Denmark.
It landed safely at 6:02 AM local time (UTC +1).
The loss of altitude occurred very suddenly. According to flightradar24.com data, at 2:01:07 AM local time (UTC +3), the Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 was still at 1,825 ft (556.2 m), while it reached an altitude of 850 ft (259 m) at 2:01:31 AM local time. 15 seconds later, the widebody jet managed to climb to 1,975 ft (601.9 m).
According to The Aviation Herald, the airline is aware of the incident and is currently conducting an internal investigation. Additionally, the carrier has reported the event to the Qatari authorities.
AeroTime approached Qatar Airways and the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) for comment. The latter handles all air accident investigations in Qatar.