Srilankan A343 at London on Feb 5th 2012, takeoff without proper performance computation

Last Update: December 13, 2012 / 15:52:06 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 5, 2012

Classification
Report

Airline
Srilankan Airlines

Flight number
UL-506

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Aircraft Registration
4R-ADG

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300

ICAO Type Designator
A343

A Srilankan Airlines Airbus A340-300, registration 4R-ADG performing flight UL-506 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Colombo (Sri Lanka) with 245 passengers and 15 crew, departed Heathrow's runway 09R. The aerodrome controller observed the aircraft become airborne at a point much farther down the runway than he would expect, a photographer just outside the aerodrome perimeter fence observed the aircraft noticeably lower than normal. The aircraft continued for a safe landing in Colombo.

The British AAIB opened an investigation and released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:

The aircraft departed from an intersection for which no performance data was available in the aircraft. The performance calculation, using a chart for a different runway, did not consider obstacles relevant to the runway in use. The operator has provided additional guidance on the procedure its pilots should follow in these circumstances.

The AAIB reported the crew, consisting of the commander (61, ATPL, 16,600 hours total, 2,500 hours on type) in the left hand seat, the first officer in the right hand seat and a cruise captain in the observer's seat, had planned for a full length departure from runway 09R. When requesting ATC clearance the crew was asked however whether they could accept a departure from intersection SB7 about 850 meters/2790 feet down from the full length departure. The crew had no RTOW chart available for departure from intersection SB7, the commander thus referred to another aerodrome's (crew could not remember which aerodrome's) runway of similiar length, computed the resulting takeoff speeds and assumed (flexible takeoff) temperatures, the first officer cross checked the computations. The results were entered into the MCDU. The first officer suggested to perform a full power takeoff, after some consideration the crew decided however to go ahead with the computed flexible takeoff.

While the aircraft was accelerating the cruise captain thought acceleration was slightly slow and recommended to use full power for takeoff, his call however was not heard by captain and first officer. The takeoff was continued with flex power selected, both captain and first officer considered the takeoff in line with their expectations and experience.

Due to delay in notifying the AAIB about the incident the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorders had been overwritten, an additional technical problem with the quick access recorders meant no actual flight data were available for the investigation. The ground radar data provided by London Heathrow however indicated that the aircraft became airborne 2650 +/- 50 meters down from intersection SB7, approximately 150 +/- 50 meters short of the runway end.

Two safety recommendations were issued as result of the investigation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 5, 2012

Classification
Report

Airline
Srilankan Airlines

Flight number
UL-506

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Aircraft Registration
4R-ADG

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300

ICAO Type Designator
A343

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