Vietnam A21N at Hanoi on Nov 24th 2020, flaps extended instead gear retracted on departure

Last Update: December 3, 2020 / 19:54:59 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Nov 24, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
Vietnam Airlines

Flight number
VN-1543

Departure
Hanoi, Vietnam

Destination
Hue, Vietnam

Aircraft Registration
VN-A623

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321-Neo

ICAO Type Designator
A21N

Airport
Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi

Airport ICAO Code
VVNB

A Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321-200N, registration VN-A623 performing flight VN-1543 from Hanoi to Hue (Vietnam), was climbing through about 1700 feet MSL out of Hanoi's runway 11L at about 210 KIAS when the captain (pilot flying) commanded the gear up. The first officer (pilot monitoring), after reading back an ATC clearance to turn direct to TINLY, selected flaps from position 1 to position 3 instead of selecting the gear up causing an overspeed warning. The captain disconnected the autopilot and flight director and increased the pitch to slow the aircraft. At 3500 feet, speed 170 KIAS, the captain retracted the flaps from position 3 to position 0, which increased Vs to 200 KIAS, however, Alpha Floor Protection did not trigger with the criteria not being reached. The captain returned the flap lever to position 1, lowered the pitch angle to pick up speed and rolled the aircraft to the right to comply with the ATC clearance to TINLY. The crew requested to level off at 2500 feet due to a technical problem. At 2500 feet the aircraft stabilized at 220 KIAS, the flaps were now retracted and the flight continued to destination without further incident.

The aircraft had been dispatched under minimum equipment list requirements with a brake defect that required the gear retraction to be delayed by one minute. When the flaps were extended to position 3 while flying at 210 KIAS, the maximum speed reduced to 195 KIAS causing an overspeed warning for about 10 seconds. Following autopilot disconnection and pitch increase the aircraft climbed to 3500 feet stabilizing at 170 KIAS, when the flaps were retracted to position 0, now increasing the stall speed Vs to 200 KIAS and VLS (lowest selectable speed) to 185 KIAS. Alpha Floor Protection did not activate as the triggering criteria were not yet met. The flaps were returned to position 1, the pitch was lowered to accelerate reaching 3900 fpm sink rate and a bank angle of 45 degrees while turning towards TINLY. Once level at 2500 feet and achieving 220 KIAS the flaps were retracted, the autopilot was re-engaged and the flight continued to destination without further incident.

Metars:
VVNB 240230Z 11006KT 080V150 6000 SCT016 BKN035 25/20 Q1020 NOSIG=
VVNB 240200Z 08005KT 6000 SCT035 25/20 Q1020 NOSIG=
VVNB 240130Z 08006KT 7000 FEW035 25/20 Q1020 NOSIG=
VVNB 240100Z 08006KT 040V100 7000 FEW034 24/20 Q1019 NOSIG=
VVNB 240030Z 07004KT 6000 FEW010 BKN029 24/20 Q1019 NOSIG=
VVNB 240000Z 08003KT 4500 BR FEW010 BKN022 24/20 Q1019 NOSIG=
VVNB 232330Z 10003KT 4600 BR BKN023 23/20 Q1018 NOSIG=
VVNB 232300Z 11004KT 7000 BKN024 BKN031 23/19 Q1018 NOSIG=
VVNB 232230Z 11004KT 8000 BKN026 OVC043 23/19 Q1018 NOSIG=
VVNB 232200Z 10006KT 7000 FEW028 SCT038 24/19 Q1017 NOSIG=
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Nov 24, 2020

Classification
Incident

Airline
Vietnam Airlines

Flight number
VN-1543

Departure
Hanoi, Vietnam

Destination
Hue, Vietnam

Aircraft Registration
VN-A623

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321-Neo

ICAO Type Designator
A21N

Airport
Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi

Airport ICAO Code
VVNB

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