Vueling A320 at Zurich on Sep 20th 2017, navigation problems

Last Update: July 23, 2021 / 12:07:03 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 20, 2017

Classification
Incident

Airline
Vueling

Flight number
VY-6249

Destination
Barcelona, Spain

Aircraft Registration
EC-HTD

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

A Vueling Airbus A320-200, registration EC-HTD performing flight VY-6249 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Barcelona,SP (Spain) with 126 passengers and 6 crew, was climbing out of Zurich's runway 28 when the crew stopped the climb at FL210 reporting navigation problems. The aircraft was provided with radar vectors for the return to Zurich and landed safely back on runway 14 about 30 minutes after departure. Emergency services received the aircraft and followed the aircraft to the apron.

Switzerland's SUST reported on Sep 26th 2017, that the crew was unable to operate any of the VHF Equipment, the aircraft was provided with radar vectors for the return and a visual approach to runway 14 and landed safely. The occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated by the SUST.

The Aviation Herald received information that apart from not being able to operate the navigation equipment additional faults occurred for IRS, EIS, GPWS, FCU and FADECs of both engines.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 41 hours, then positioned to Barcelona and returned to service about 7 hours after landing in Barcelona and about 50 hours after landing back in Zurich.

On Jul 23rd 2021 the SUST released their final summary report analysing and concluding:

The procedures specified by the aviation operator are in accordance with the aircraft manufacturer’s specifications. The recordings indicate that the flight crew did not consistently adhere to these requirements. This is most evident in the fact that the circuit breakers of both FMGCs were pulled virtually simultaneously, even though the relevant procedure explicitly prohibits this.

The task sharing between the two pilots for abnormal and emergency situations did not comply with the procedures. The principles of CRM9 and the standard phraseology were also followed inadequately. The commander’s decision to return to Zurich, for example, and his announcement to air traffic control was made without the involvement of the copilot.

In view of these findings, the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board does not expect the serious incident which is the subject of the investigation to yield any findings critical to the prevention of such an incident.

For this reason, the STSB has decided, based on Art. 45 of the Ordinance on the Safety Investigation of Transport Incidents (OSITI), to refrain from further investigatory activities and to conclude the investigation with the present summary report.

The definitive version of this report is the original in the German language.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 20, 2017

Classification
Incident

Airline
Vueling

Flight number
VY-6249

Destination
Barcelona, Spain

Aircraft Registration
EC-HTD

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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