Ethiopian B738 at Entebbe on Jan 3rd 2019, overran runway on landing

Last Update: August 20, 2019 / 16:09:20 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 3, 2019

Classification
Incident

Cause
Overran runway on landing

Airline
Ethiopian Airlines

Flight number
ET-338

Departure
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Destination
Entebbe, Uganda

Aircraft Registration
ET-ATV

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

Airport
Entebbe International Airport, Kampala

Airport ICAO Code
HUEN

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration ET-ATV performing flight ET-338 (dep Jan 2nd) from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Entebbe (Uganda) with 139 people on board, landed on Entebbe's runway 17 (length 12,000 feet/3,658 meters) at 00:38L (21:38Z Jan 2nd) but overran the end of the runway and came to a stop about 125 meters/400 feet past the runway end with all gear on soft ground. There were no injuries, the passengers disembarked via stairs onto soft ground and were taken to the terminal. The aircraft sustained minor if any damage.

The airline confirmed the incident reporting the aircraft "skidded off the runway by a few meters". All passengers and crew disembarked safely, were taken to the terminal and cleared normally. The aircraft was not damaged.

A passenger reported: "ET338 almost crashed into Lake Victoria after running off the runway. All the people came out with mud on their feet."

The runway was closed for about 10 hours until the aircraft was towed to the apron.

On Jan 4th 2019 The Aviation Herald learned that the aircraft (no short field performance available) was landing at maximum landing weight (MLW) due to fuel tankering, engine #1 (left hand, CFM56) thrust reverser was deactivated under minimum equipment list requirements.

On Aug 20th 2019 The Aviation Herald received new information from Captain Bernd Kai von Hoesslin TRI B737/Ret. (former B738 and B38M Captain for Ethiopian Airlines having left the company in April 2019, who asked specifically to be identified as source) stating, that according to investigation results the aircraft landed at Maximum Landing Weight with thrust reverser #1 (left hand) inoperative (under minimum equipment list requirements). The aircraft floated along the runway, touched down at a higher speed than normal and ran about 100-150 meters past the end of the runway. The root cause was identified as: "Root cause of the incident is performing deep landing and poor decision of the PIC to continue landing while knowing that the a/c had flown well beyond the touch down zone."

Capt. Hoesslin had flown ET-ATV on Dec 4th 2018 and Dec 6th 2018 and compiled a captain's report on both flights each (see below). The left thrust reverser was inoperative on Dec 4th 2018 already.

Metars:
HUEN 022330Z 00000KT 9999 SCT018 FEW020CB 19/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022300Z 00000KT 9999 FEW018 FEW020CB 19/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022230Z 36003KT 9999 FEW019 FEW021CB 19/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022200Z 36002KT 9999 FEW019 FEW021CB 20/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022130Z 00000KT 9999 FEW019 FEW021CB 20/18 Q1016=
HUEN 022100Z 00000KT 9999 FEW019 FEW021CB 20/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022030Z 00000KT 9999 FEW021 FEW023CB 20/18 Q1017=
HUEN 022000Z 31005KT 9999 FEW021 FEW023CB 21/18 Q1017=
HUEN 021930Z 29003KT 9999 FEW021 FEW023CB 20/18 Q1017=
HUEN 021900Z 00000KT 9999 FEW021 FEW023CB 21/18 Q1017=