Qantas B738 at Perth on Dec 4th 2012, windshear on takeoff run past V1
Last Update: May 17, 2013 / 13:45:07 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 4, 2012
Classification
Report
Airline
Qantas
Flight number
QF-718
Departure
Perth, Australia
Destination
Canberra, Australia
Aircraft Registration
VH-VZL
Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800
ICAO Type Designator
B738
Tower advised the following departure of the pilot report of windshear on the runway and added that the tower instruments were now showing a threshold 06 wind of 060 degrees at 10 knots, an airfield center wind of 280 degrees at 15 knots signifying a substantial windshear about mid runway. Departures from runway 06 were temporarily halted.
Australia's Transportation Safety Board released their final report into the abbreviated investigation releasing following safety message:
This incident serves as a reminder to pilots that significant wind changes can occur during takeoff, can be difficult to predict, and can occur in the absence of thunderstorm activity. The wind conditions at each end of a runway may differ significantly so that headwind conditions can exist at one end and tailwind conditions at the other end.
Although it did not assist in this case, it is important to monitor the available windsocks before takeoff as it is the final opportunity to detect wind changes before the take-off roll begins.
The ATSB reported that cumulonimbus cloud were about 20-30nm from the aerodrome at the time of the occurrence, there was no indication of an impending change of winds.
The airport anemometer recordings, averaged over a minute, showed a significant change of wind exactly at the time of the takeoff roll of QF-718 with the wind suddenly changing from about 100 to 135 degrees at 7 knots to 227 degrees at 18 knots and further changing to 271 degrees at 25 knots a minute later. The actual anemometer reading just after the aircraft became airborne was 282 degrees at 25 knots.
Radar recordings showed the aircraft passed the end of the runway at a height of 10 feet. the crew did not receive a windshear alert, the quick access recorder did not record a windshear alert. The ATSB stated with regards to windshear alerts: "New warnings were inhibited after the aircraft reached 100 kt until it was over 50 ft above ground level."
The quick access recorder showed the airspeed stagnated at 134 knots for about 3-4 seconds, just below V1, at that point autothrottle was disconnected and maximum thrust was set, ground speed however was smoothly increasing at that time.
The ATSB reported: "The aircraft was equipped with two CFM56-7B24/3 engines, which enabled takeoffs to be planned up to a maximum thrust of 24,200 lbs (24K). In addition, during takeoff, there was a ‘take-off bump’ feature where ‘fire-walling’ the thrust levers could temporarily provide 27,300 lbs (27K) thrust irrespective of whether a 24K thrust setting had been selected."
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 4, 2012
Classification
Report
Airline
Qantas
Flight number
QF-718
Departure
Perth, Australia
Destination
Canberra, Australia
Aircraft Registration
VH-VZL
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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