TAP A320 at Copenhagen on Apr 8th 2022, reverser opened on TOGA, overflew buildings at very low height on go around

Last Update: April 19, 2022 / 16:12:44 GMT/Zulu time

Bookmark this article

Photo of TAP Air Portugal CS-TNV, Airbus A320 — TAP Air Portugal CS-TNV, Airbus A320 (Photo credit: FlugZüge / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 8, 2022

Classification
Incident

Airline
TAP Air Portugal

Flight number
TP-754

Departure
Lisbon, Portugal

Destination
Copenhagen, Denmark

Aircraft Registration
CS-TNV

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

Airport
Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, Copenhagen

Airport ICAO Code
EKCH

A TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320-200, registration CS-TNV performing flight TP-754 from Lisbon (Portugal) to Copenhagen (Denmark) with 102 passengers and 7 crew, was landing on Copenhagen's runway 30 at about 12:05L (10:05Z), when according to ADS-B data transmitted by the aircraft the aircraft veered to the left, the speed over ground reduced sharply from about 133 to about 120 knots, the crew initiated a go around, the aircraft however did not climb but also did not build up speed. With the airport perimeter and houses of the Maglebylille community in the way the aircraft began to slowly climb and crossed the first houses at around 300 feet AGL, the speed over ground further reduced to 101 knots. Once the aircraft had climbed to about 900 feet AGL (1700 feet MSL according to standard pressure 1013 hPa, deduct 800 feet from all transponder altitude readings to get to AGL according to QNH 986 hPa) airspeed began to build up again. The aircraft levelled off at 3000 feet MSL and thereafter accelerated to normal speeds. The aircraft subsequently positioned for another approach to runway 22L and landed without further incident about 20 minutes after the go around.

The aircraft is still on the ground in Copenhagen on Apr 12th 2022 about 104.5 hours after landing.

Ground witnesses reported the aircraft struck its left wing onto the runway, it even appeared the left hand engine (CFM56) made contact with the runway, turned to the left, nearly collided with an antenna (editorial note: appears to be the glideslope antenna runway 12) and buildings before the aircraft finally managed to climb out to safety.

Sources at the airport report the left hand engine's reverser was damaged.

On Apr 11th 2022 Denmark's Havarikommissionen (HCL, Danish Accident Investigation Board) reported they rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation. Preliminary results suggest there was no abnormal ground contact like wing or engine pod strike, and the aircraft remained undamaged. The HCL subsequently clarified that there are no visual indications or marks indicating the wing or engine made ground contact.

On Apr 11th 2022 the airline reported the flight aborted landing due to technical reasons while already over the runway. TAP is fully collaborating with the investigation. The airline does not have any report of damage to the aircraft. The flight trajectory and performance are being analysed in the safety investigation. The aircraft is going to return to Lisbon later today.

On Apr 12th 2022 the HCL reported the crew did declare emergency due to not achieving the needed climb performance. The investigation is now looking into why the required performance was not achieved on the left hand engine.

On Apr 15th 2022 the HCL reported the captain decided to initiate a go around, upon applying TOGA one thrust reverser inadvertently opened causing control problems during the go around.

On Apr 19th 2022 the HCL released a statement saying:

Aborted landing to runway 30 in Copenhagen (EKCH)

During the landing sequence, the flight crew decided to abort the landing, and the pilot flying initiated a goaround.

Upon applying Take-off/Go-around thrust (TOGA), the aircraft at low altitude started veering to the left and did neither climb nor accelerate as expected by the flight crew, which temporarily made it difficult for the flight crew to maintain control of the aircraft.

The flight crew noticed an indication for engine no. 1 thrust reverser door(s) to be unlocked. Engine no. 1 was at idle thrust.

The flight crew regained control of the aircraft and established a single engine climb toward a safe altitude.

During the climb, the flight crew declared an emergency (“Mayday”) and performed relevant checklists.

Air Traffic Control issued radar vectors for a priority landing on runway 22L.

Without any further occurrences, the aircraft landed on runway 22L.

The serious incident occurred in daylight and under Visual Meteorological conditions (VMC).

There were no injuries to the 109 persons onboard.

Preliminary safety investigation

An external inspection of runway 30, the grass areas surrounding runway 30, and the aircraft revealed:

- No imprints of aircraft ground contact.

- No external damages to the aircraft (including aircraft fuselage, wings, tail and engine nacelles).

- Three out of four thrust reverser doors on engine no. 1 were in the fully deployed position.

Metars:
EKCH 081220Z 27022G34KT 240V300 3000 +SHRA FEW012CB BKN033 02/M00 Q0987 BECMG 9999 NSW SCT020=
EKCH 081150Z 24021KT 9999 FEW020CB SCT060 07/02 Q0985 TEMPO 3000 SHRA BKN012CB=
EKCH 081120Z 25021KT 9999 FEW020CB SCT090 06/02 Q0986 NOSIG=
EKCH 081050Z 25021KT 9999 SCT020CB FEW090 05/02 Q0986 NOSIG=
EKCH 081020Z 25021KT 8000 -RA BKN012 FEW020CB 04/01 Q0985 BECMG 9999 SCT020=
EKCH 080950Z 26016KT 8000 -RA BKN012 FEW020CB 02/01 Q0986 BECMG 9999 SCT020=
EKCH 080920Z AUTO 26022G32KT 9999 BKN036/// 06/M02 Q0985 TEMPO SCT020CB=
EKCH 080850Z AUTO 27021G32KT 9999 SCT037/// 07/M01 Q0985 TEMPO SCT020CB=
EKCH 080820Z AUTO 27023G33KT 9999 SCT040/// 06/M03 Q0985 NOSIG=
EKCH 080750Z AUTO 26021KT 9999 SCT038/// 05/M02 Q0984 NOSIG=
EKCH 080720Z AUTO 27023KT 9999 NCD 05/M03 Q0984 NOSIG=
EKCH 080650Z AUTO 27024G37KT 9999 NCD 05/M03 Q0984 NOSIG=