China Southern B738 at Wuhan on Feb 25th 2013, collided with NDB antenna on approach but managed to climb away

Last Update: May 19, 2016 / 20:35:54 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 25, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
China Southern Airlines

Flight number
CZ-3367

Departure
Guangzhou, China

Destination
Wuhan, China

Aircraft Registration
B-5192

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

A China Southern Boeing 737-800, registration B-5192 performing flight CZ-3367 from Guangzhou to Wuhan (China), was on a NDB/DME approach (minimum 1200 meters visibily required, MDA 430 feet) to Wuhan's runway 04 in visibility of 1500 meters occasionally reduced to 1200 meters in light rain and light fog and cloud ceiling 690 feet. The aircraft had been configured for landing before reaching the final approach fix and was maintaining 1800 feet when the aircraft reached the final approach fix at the outer marker 5.1nm before the runway threshold. The aircraft descended with the captain being pilot flying, when descending through 1000 feet the captain disengaged the autopilot. When the aircraft reached 430 feet there was no visual contact with the runway, the first officer called for level flight, reset the flight director and selected the go-around altitude into the master control panel. Still no approach lights were seen, the aircraft appeared low. A ground proximity warning "too low" activated, the first officer called for a go-around without response from the captain, another GPWS "too low" sounded, this time the captain called "go-around" and initiated the go-around, unusual sounds however occurred while the aircraft was still rotating up and it became obvious the aircraft had hit obstacles, but the aircraft climbed out to safety. The crew subsequently decided to divert to Hefei for a landing without further incident.

The event became known through rumours that surfaced on China's Weibo service (similiar to Twitter) in February and got confirmed by a preliminary report by China's Civil Aviation Authority (CAAC) on Mar 5th 2013.

The CAAC reported that the aircraft sustained damage (penetrations and dents) to the left main gear door and left main gear gear proximity cover actuator, the left main gear outboard tyre received cuts. The antennas of the southern NDB "D" and inner marker were damaged, two other antenna pillars were damaged as well. The CAAC annotated that the approach was continued below MDA without necesssary visual reference putting the aircraft below the approach profile, in addition the crew did not initiate the go-around after the first ground proximity alert.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 25, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
China Southern Airlines

Flight number
CZ-3367

Departure
Guangzhou, China

Destination
Wuhan, China

Aircraft Registration
B-5192

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

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