Iceland Air – Boeing B757-200 (TF-FIO) flight FI315

by | Feb 27, 2019 | Aviation Serious incident | 3 comments

On the 22nd of January 2002 a Boeing 757-208, TF-FIO, on Iceland Air flight FI315, made an approach to Oslo airport Gardermoen.

The descent and approach was made in strong tailwind. The unstabilized final approach was abandoned at low altitude, and during the go-around the aircraft entered an extreme manoeuvre with high positive and negative pitch attitudes, and the aircraft exceeded maximum negative and positive g-values.

At an altitude of approx. 580 ft AAL (Flight Data Recorder (FDR) radio altimeter reading) the Commander decided that he discontinued the unstabilized approach and initiated a missed approach. The time was 09:49:11 UTC. He announced his decision to the First Officer and started a “Go-Around”.

The status of the flight was as follows: The aircraft was above the GP, and the SOP calls for the GA altitude to be set when stabilized on GP, therefore the GA altitude was not set on the MCP.

Flaps were not in landing configuration, because landing Check List was not completed.

The Commander’s instrument panel indicated intermittent ILS failures of raw data without any flag warnings.

During the go-around the flight director pitch bar commanded a pitch attitude of 15° (The AFDS commanded a level off at 2 500 ft (the last assigned altitude by ATC).

The AFDS calculates the high closure rate to 2 500 ft and captures that altitude almost immediately; causing the A/T to change from Go-around mode to retard power to MCP selected speed (150 kt)).

The aircraft therefore climbed very rapidly through the MCP selected altitude of 2 500 ft and with the aircraft pitch increasing to 21°.

AAIB/N considers that the Commander at this time had lost situational awareness (being “behind the aircraft”).

As the Commander of Iceland Air flight FI315 noticed the speed to be rapidly decreasing, he pushed the control column forward. This was in order to follow the command of level off at 2 500 ft. Pushing the control column forward is also an elementary flying procedure to increase the speed and to prevent the aircraft from entering a stall.

The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 2 895 ft and the load factor reached a negative g-value of –0.6

The negative pitch reached a maximum value nose down of 49°.

Up to this time the First Officer had been somewhat passive and confused. Now he acted as an active and co-operative crew member and asked: “What are you doing” and next, he called out: “Pull up!” – “Pull up!”.

Both pilots pulled back on their control columns, and the aircraft, after reaching a maximum speed of 251 kt, recovered from the dive with a clearance of 321 ft (radio height) over the north end of the runway 01L.

During the pull-up the load factor of Iceland Air flight FI315 increased to positive g-value of 3.59

The speed limits were exceeded.

After the “upset”, Iceland Air flight FI315 was flown for another approach and landed at the airport .

The aircraft structure appeared not to be damaged. At the time of landing no report of the incident was made to the authorities.

The aircraft continued on the scheduled flight without a proper technical inspection.

  • The ICELAND AIR flight FI315 from Keflavik airport to Oslo airport Gardermoen was uneventful until the descent was started.
  • The descent and approach was made in strong tailwind.
  • The aircraft overshot of the LLZ initially.
  • The aircraft descended on the LLZ unstabilized in height and speed. e. After the Commander started the missed approach, the aircraft entered a dramatic manoeuvre with exceedences in pitch, speed and load factors.
  • After the landing, the Commander was concerned primarily regarding the ILS raw data failures and not so much regarding the exceedences
  • The flight continued to Stockholm airport Arlanda and back to Keflavik airport without a thorough technical inspection to be performed.
Download Report

Iceland Air – Boeing B757-200 (TF-FIO) flight FI315

Event date: 20020122
Airline / Operator:Iceland Air
Model: B757-200
Make: Boeing
Registration: TF-FIO
msn: 29436
Location: Gardermoen,Norway

You may like to review this event, with a similar cause:

Air France – Boeing – B777-200 (F-GSPP) flight AF471

The following elements are based on recorded data (QAR, FDR) and accounts from the flight crew.  The CVR, which was safeguarded by the crew, was erased by mistake before it could be read out by the BEA. The crew reported that the flight was proceeding with no...

3 Comments

  1. richard ranaudo

    I would like a pdf of the incident report. How do I obtain it

    Reply
    • Editor

      Hi Richard, just click on ‘Download Report’ on this page !

      Reply
  2. PB

    Yes indeed. ..
    Some “pilots” should never be allowed on a flight deck as they just CANNOT FLY.

    Reply

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