Peace B735 at Port Harcourt on Jun 22nd 2019, runway excursion on landing

Last Update: November 18, 2019 / 14:50:12 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 22, 2019

Classification
Incident

Cause
Runway excursion

Airline
Air Peace

Flight number
P4-7291

Departure
Abuja, Nigeria

Destination
Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Aircraft Registration
5N-BRN

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-500

ICAO Type Designator
B735

An Air Peace Boeing 737-500, registration 5N-BRN performing flight P4-7291 from Abuja to Port Harcourt (Nigeria) with 87 passengers and 6 crew, went left off runway 21 while landing in Port Harcourt at about 15:42L (14:42Z) and came to a stop with all gear on soft ground about 1300 meters/4300 feet down the runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained minor if any damage. The passengers disembarked via mobile stairs onto the soft ground.

Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority reported: "An Air Peace flight numbered 5N BRN, flying from Abuja to Port Harcourt today, skidded off the Port Harcourt International Airport runway at about 1500hours." The occurrence happened during a heavy downpour.

The airline reported the aircraft landed in Port Harcourt at 15:42L but skidded off the runway due to flooding of the runway.

Nigeria's AIB (NAIB) reported the aircraft went about 1300 meters past and left of the threshold of runway 21.

No Metars and no local weather station data are available for Port Harcourt.

On Nov 18th 2019 the NAIB released their preliminary report stating the first officer (32, CPL, 533 hours total, 347 hours on type) was pilot flying, the captain (42, ATPL, 9,200 hours total, 2010 hours on type) was pilot monitoring. The NAIB described the sequence of events:

At 14:49 h, APK7291 at 29 NM was cleared by Approach unit to descend 2,400 ft, QNH 1011, and was cleared straight-in ILS approach runway 21 to report established, which the crew acknowledged. At this point, the crew enquired from Approach unit if it was raining over the station. About one minute later, Approach Unit replied, “negative rain overhead the station”.

At 14:54 h, APK7291 reported established on ILS 8 NM and the Approach Unit transferred APK7291 to the Control Tower (CT) for final landing clearance.

At 14:55 h, APK7291 contacted CT on frequency 119.2 MHz. CT subsequently cleared APK 7291 to land saying; “there is rain at the approach path, with the runway in sight check gears down and locked, wind is 070 at 03 knots, exercise caution on landing, runway surface wet, cleared to land runway 21”, and the crew acknowledged “cleared to land runway 21 APK7291, copied the caution. Thank you.”

During the Voice Recorder playback, below 1,000 ft, sound similar to that of wipers movement was heard continuously till the end of the flight. Shortly before 500 ft, PF announced “autopilot disengaged”. At about 300 ft, the crew called, “minimums, checked landing”. At this point, the captain (PM) announced “I have controls”.

The crew stated that, on short finals after obtaining landing clearance, it started drizzling but the runway lights were visible, the runway markings were identifiable and the ILS was functional. And that after touchdown on runway 21, the intensity of rain increased in strong winds, visibility reduced causing them to experience loss of directional control of the aircraft. The crew also stated that, due to wet runway, the aircraft skidded to the left of the runway centerline uncontrollably even with the application of brakes, rudder and ailerons. The aircraft subsequently veered to the left of the runway into the grass area.

Tyre tracks on the grass verge showed that the aircraft touched down with the left main wheel on the grass verge and the right main wheel on the runway shoulder, at about 1,260 m from the threshold. It continued on its landing roll until it came to a stop parallel to the runway at 1,620 m from the threshold, with the right wing-tip aligned with the edge of the runway shoulder and the landing gears stuck in the mud.

At 14:58 h, CT called “APK7291 I can see your light on the ground ahh time now 1358Z, confirm ops normal”. The crew then reported runway excursion and requested to disembark the passengers where the aircraft stopped. At 15:07 h, APK7291 confirmed the arrival of the movable passenger stairs which was positioned at the forward service door (R1) of the aircraft where all the passengers and crew disembarked with no injury.

The incident occurred at daylight in Instrument Meteorological Condition (IMC).

The aircraft received minor damage.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 22, 2019

Classification
Incident

Cause
Runway excursion

Airline
Air Peace

Flight number
P4-7291

Departure
Abuja, Nigeria

Destination
Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Aircraft Registration
5N-BRN

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-500

ICAO Type Designator
B735

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