Southwest B737 at Burbank on Feb 13th 2010, TCAS resolution

Last Update: February 13, 2013 / 13:57:30 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 13, 2010

Classification
Accident

Airline
Southwest Airlines

Flight number
WN-2534

Departure
Las Vegas, United States

Destination
Burbank, United States

Aircraft Registration
N221WN

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-700

ICAO Type Designator
B737

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N221WN performing flight WN-2534 from Las Vegas,NV to Burbank,CA (USA) with 80 passengers and 5 crew, was on approach to Burbank's runway 08 descending from 8000 to 6000 feet, when the flight crew responded to a Traffic and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Resolution Advisory (RA). At the same time ATC advised of a traffic at 5900 feet which should be no factor. The crew visually picked the traffic up a few moments later reporting they had already responded to a RA and continued for a safe landing on runway 08.

The FAA reported in their preliminaries, that as a result of the avoidance maneouver two cabin crew members received injuries. One received serious, the other minor injuries.

FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said, that the Southwest Airlines flight crew responded to a TCAS RA with a small private aircraft at 6000 feet about 20nm from Burbank requiring the Southwest Airlines to increase their descent, the minimum lateral distance between the aircraft on diverging trajectories was roughly 2nm. Subsequently the airplane climbed back to 6000 feet. A flight attendant fractured her shoulder, another flight attendant received bruises.

Southwest Airlines reported, that both flight attendants were taken to a local hospital and could already be released after treatment.

The NTSB have initiated an investigation into the accident.

On Feb 24th 2010 the NTSB reported, that the Boeing 737 was approaching 6000 feet MSL when the TCAS issued a RA. The crew initiated a descent of about 1500-2000 fpm and subsequently a climb of 1500-2000 fpm. The passengers were all seated with seat belt fastened, the three flight attendants were standing in the aft galley preparing for arrival. One flight attendant received serious, the other minor injuries.

On Feb 13th 2013 the NTSB released their brief final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

The pilotÂ’s abrupt airplane pitch change maneuver. Contributing to the accident was the flight crewÂ’s failure to maintain the heading specified by the air traffic controller, which would have avoided the near collision course with an unidentified airplane that triggered the traffic alert and collision avoidance system resolution advisory.

The NTSB added that the crew had inadvertently strayed off the heading 190 assigned by ATC by 27 degrees, the captain provided testimony that he had selected 190 into the MCP, the aircraft was still descending towards the cleared 6000 feet, the autopilot settings had been cross checked by the first officer. The crew subsequently was informed about traffic in their 11 o'clock position 4nm ahead and began scanning for the traffic, a TCAS traffic advisory activated identifying the conflicting traffic 500 feet below them, the captain reduced the rate of descent. After being queried by ATC regarding the heading the captain noticed he had permitted the aircraft to turn onto a heading of 163 degrees and steered the aircraft back onto 190, during that turn a TCAS resolution advisory to descend was issued, the crew initiated a TCAS response at about 1500-2000 feet per minute descent followed by a resolution advisory to climb at 2000+ fpm, which the crew also complied with. During that climb the crew sighted the conflicting traffic slightly above about 2nm ahead.

One of the flight attendant received a fractured left scapula as result of the avoidance maneouvers.
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
N221WN
Country of Registration
United States
Date of Registration
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TCDS Ident. No.
Ngmfg Subscribe to unlock
Manufacturer
BOEING
Aircraft Model / Type
737-7H4
Number of Seats
Fei Subscribe to unlock
ICAO Aircraft Type
B737
Year of Manufacture
D jg Subscribe to unlock
Serial Number
Gblbm Subscribe to unlock
Aircraft Address / Mode S Code (HEX)
Kjdjdi Subscribe to unlock
Engine Count
F Subscribe to unlock
Engine Manufacturer
Km Subscribe to unlock
Engine Model
HnmpbqAmi lc Subscribe to unlock
Engine Type
Mdcjleknd Subscribe to unlock
Pounds of Thrust
Libc Subscribe to unlock
Main Owner
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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 13, 2010

Classification
Accident

Airline
Southwest Airlines

Flight number
WN-2534

Departure
Las Vegas, United States

Destination
Burbank, United States

Aircraft Registration
N221WN

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-700

ICAO Type Designator
B737

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