VARA AT72 at Moranbah on Jul 8th 2013, runway excursion

Last Update: March 31, 2016 / 13:43:18 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 8, 2013

Classification
Incident

Flight number
XR-1663

Aircraft Registration
VH-FVY

Aircraft Type
ATR ATR-72-200

ICAO Type Designator
AT72

A Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (Australia) Avion de Transport Regional ATR-72-600 on behalf of Virgin Australia, registration VH-FVY performing flight XR-1663/VA-1663 from Brisbane,QL to Moranbah,QL (Australia) with 60 people on board, landed on Moranbah's runway 34 but veered right and came to a stop with the right main landing gear off the runway. One minor injury and no damage occurred.

Australia's ATSB have opened an investigation into the occurrence rated a serious incident.

The incident aircraft resumed service on Jul 10th.

No weather data are available.

On Mar 31st 2016 the ATSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the serious incident was:

Consistent with pilot-induced oscillations, the captain's rudder and nose wheel steering inputs overcorrected heading deviations during the landing roll.

Other findings

The landing required crosswind control input, which was applied.

The ATSB reported the aircraft was on final approach to runway 34 at Moranbah, the captain (5,000 hours total experience, 4,500 hours on type) was pilot flying, the first officer (2,600 hours total, 1,800 hours on type) was pilot monitoring. The weather report for Moranbah indicated a crosswind of about 15 knots from the right (from 110 degrees). The aircraft touched down on runway 34 at 112 KIAS. When the aircraft slowed through 100 KIAS the crew felt the aircraft veered to the right, the captain applied rudder input and steered the aircraft back onto the runway center line, then handed the flight controls to the first officer while maintaining directional control via the nose wheel steering wheel. Slowing through 80 knots the aircraft again veered to the right and went temporarily beyond the runway edge, the captain regained directional control via nose wheel steering as the aircraft slowed through 20 knots.

The ATSB reported one passenger received a minor injury from lateral acceleration consistent with a whiplash.

A post flight examination of the aircraft showed no damage.

The ATSB described the touchdown and rollout according to recordings of the flight data recorder:

Recorded data indicated that neither brake was depressed during the touchdown sequence, although left rudder was being used.

Two seconds after touchdown, the left rudder input changed to a small right rudder input for less than 1 second. At the same time, a very small amount of right wheel brake pressure was applied. There was no indication that asymmetric wheel brake had a significant influence on directional control. The aircraft yawed right by less than 2°.

The right yaw was controlled by the application of full left rudder at 100 kt airspeed for about 2 seconds. The aircraft yawed left until beyond the runway centre-line.

Full right rudder was then applied at 90 kt airspeed, which stopped the left yaw. However, the aircraft then started a faster right yaw.

There was a momentary application of wheel brakes, with more brake pressure applied to the right landing gear. Again, there was no indication that asymmetric wheel brake had a significant influence on directional control. About 3 seconds later, after the aircraft had turned past the runway heading, full left rudder was applied at 80 kt airspeed. The right yaw was stopped after a 15° heading change.

During the next 4 seconds with full left rudder application, the aircraft yawed left through the runway heading. During this time, the aircraft continued right, departing the runway for a short period. The left wheel brake was increasingly applied until the aircraft passed through the runway heading. From then, symmetrical wheel braking was applied to the wheel brakes.

After the 4-second period and the aircraft had turned past the runway heading, rudder input was changed from full left to full right over 2 seconds at about 40 kt airspeed. The left yaw stopped after a 26° left heading change. The aircraft had slowed to about 40 kt ground speed by this time.

The aircraft then yawed 20° right as the aircraft slowed to a taxi speed. Full left rudder input was then applied and the left wheel brake pressure increased while the right wheel brake pressure reduced to zero.

Engine power was applied symmetrically to both engines throughout the landing sequence.

The ATSB analysed: "Pilot induced oscillations occur ‘when the pilot unintentionally commands an increasing series of control corrections in opposite directions…each one in an attempt to counteract the aircraft’s response to the previous input’ and result in an overcorrection in the opposite direction (Harris, 2011). They occur due to ‘a mis-match between the frequency of the pilot’s inputs and the response frequency of the aircraft’ and ‘…are a product of a large response lag in the system…’ (Harris, 2011). Management of such oscillations can be achieved through anumber of strategies. These include varying the sensitivity of aircraft controls at the design stage as well as pilot training, which highlights the importance of not over controlling the aircraft. As the aircraft slowed through about 80 kt airspeed, the captain followed normal procedures and used the tiller to control the aircraft’s direction via nose wheel steering. During the occurrence, directional control was not regained until the aircraft had reached a relatively low airspeed."
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
VH-FVY
Country of Registration
Australia
Date of Registration
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Airworthyness Category
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TCDS Ident. No.
Manufacturer
ATR - GIE AVIONS DE TRANSPORT REGIONAL
Aircraft Model / Type
ATR72-212A
ICAO Aircraft Type
AT75
Year of Manufacture
Serial Number
Maximum Take off Mass (MTOM) [kg]
Engine Count
Engine
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Main Owner
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Main Operator
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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 8, 2013

Classification
Incident

Flight number
XR-1663

Aircraft Registration
VH-FVY

Aircraft Type
ATR ATR-72-200

ICAO Type Designator
AT72

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