Turkish 737-800 badly damaged after crew botched
crabbed landing
20 November 2020
Ukrainian
investigators have concluded that a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 crew used
an inadvisable technique to land during a strong crosswind, failing to maintain
directional control before an excursion which badly damaged the aircraft.
The aircraft
(TC-JGZ) had been conducting an ILS approach to Odessa’s runway 16 on 21
November last year, following a service from Istanbul.
Its crew had
already executed a go-around after destabilisation of the previous approach to
the same runway.
Meteorological
information compiled at 20:32, just over 20min before the accident, showed
variable winds from the north-east to south-east at 19kt but gusting to 33kt.
Ukrainian
investigation authority NBAAI says Odessa air traffic control provided the crew
“several times” with only average wind direction information, without informing
of its “significant deviations”.
The inquiry says
the captain was flying at the time of the landing.
It states that,
with over 5,600h on 737s, he was far more experienced than the first officer,
who had just 175h. But he did not discuss with the first officer which
crosswind landing technique would be used, nor did the two pilots talk about
other aspects of the touchdown including reverse-thrust and braking.
Source: NBAAI
Pictured after the
Odessa accident, TC-JGZ with substantial damage to its nose-gear
Investigators
found that the crew attempted a touchdown “in crab” – a technique whereby the
aircraft counters a crosswind by deliberately misaligning from the runway
heading, until the point of touchdown.
But the inquiry
says this technique is “not recommended” for landings on a dry runway,
according to the 737-800’s flightcrew training manual.
Crabbed landings
require rudder input after main-gear touchdown, in order to re-align the
aircraft with the runway axis before the nose-gear is lowered, while the
ailerons are deflected in the windward direction.
“However, the crew
did not do so,” says the inquiry. Instead the Turkish aircraft de-rotated while
on a heading of 151°, some 6° to the left of the runway axis. The crew also
“prematurely” applied reverse-thrust before turning the aircraft parallel, the
inquiry adds.
Once the nose-gear
made contact, the investigators state, it was “difficult” to turn the aircraft
back to the correct course, exacerbated by the “significant” landing weight of
63t.
The aircraft deviated to the left and veered off the side of the runway, travelling on rough ground for 550m and destroying the nose-gear, before returning to the runway with its forward fuselage in contact with the surface.
Source: NBAAI
After veering off
the side of the runway the jet also suffered engine damage
It came to a halt
1,612m from the threshold, having suffered substantial damage to its fuselage
underside, its engines – particularly the left-hand powerplant – and its
undercarriage.
Passengers were evacuated from the
aircraft, but none of the 142 occupants was injured in the course of the
accident.
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