Flight International - January 13, 2015

ANALYSIS

flightglobal.com 13-19 January 2015 | Flight International | 25

unable to confirm a runway sighting.
The first officer subsequently identi-
fied the runway at 480ft, and the cap-
tain took control of the aircraft. At
240ft the first officer exclaimed that
he saw “four red” – a reference to
the precision approach path indicator
lamps, which showed the A319 was
far below the correct glidepath. The
inquiry says the adverse weather and
darkness, combined with the de-
scent over water, created a “black
hole” illusion which led the pilot to
believe the aircraft was high on the

approach. The A319 crossed over

the airport’s terminal VOR beacon at

a height of 92ft – less than half the

200ft expected for a normal

glideslope at that point. Thirty-four

passengers and a crew member suf-

fered minor injuries in the event.

■ Danish investigators reporting on

a 29 January 2014 Air Greenland de

Havilland Canada Dash 8-200 ac-

cident determined that the crew car-

ried out an unstable steep approach

to Ilulissat in above-limit crosswinds.

The resulting hard landing caused a

main-gear collapse and the aircraft

was destroyed as it skidded off run-

way 07 and down a snow-covered

slope, although only minor injuries

were sustained among the 15 occu-

pants. Danish investigation authority

HCL found that the crew had agreed

to a visual steep approach of 5.1 ̊

and a reference airspeed of 99kt

(183km/h). They also accepted a

crosswind limitation 6kt above the

operator’s limit of 25kt, so the land-

ing should have been abandoned.

The wind conditions and chosen low

flap setting of 15 ̊ “made it difficult”

to maintain stabilised approach cri-

teria. As it passed below 1,000ft the

Dash 8’s airspeed was still at 144kt

• exceeding the operator’s stable-
  approach maximum of 119kt for the
  aircraft’s configuration. The crew re-
  tarded the throttle levers to the flight-
  idle setting at 200ft, causing the
  aircraft to descend more rapidly – in
  excess of 1,000ft/min – and sink
  beneath the 5.1 ̊ glideslope. This
  descent rate increased to 1,100ft/
  min at 50ft, with the airspeed still at
  128kt. HCL says the crew developed

“target fixation” and a “mental block-

ing” of any decision to execute a

go-around. While still airborne, below

a height of 20ft, the crew retarded

the throttle below the flight-idle set-

ting into the ‘beta range’ designed

for use only on the ground. The HCL

observes: “At that point, no safety

barriers were left.” With a 6.6 ̊ left

bank, the Dash 8 touched down hard

on its left main landing-gear with an

impact of 2.4g, and it collapsed.

■ (^) The Japan Transport Safety Board
(JTSB) released findings from an in-
vestigation into the 16 January 2013
main battery incident aboard an All
Nippon Airways Boeing 787 which
resulted in an emergency landing
and contributed to a global grounding
of the type. While the 100-page
investigation report does not
Rex Features
❯❯
The latest on a 2013
LAM Mozambique
Embraer 190 crash
does little to counter
sabotage suspicions