Air India Regional CRJ7 at Kanpur on Jul 20th 2011, overran runway on landing

Last Update: May 18, 2012 / 14:24:47 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 20, 2011

Aircraft Registration
I-ADCD

Aircraft Type
Canadair CRJ-700

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ7

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:

The commander while landing in marginal visibility condition in rain on a wet runway with water patches floated on runway after the threshold and made a delayed touchdown.

Aircraft experiencing tail wind higher than the aircraft limitation during landing is a contributory factor to the incident.

The captain (53, ATPL, 9,670 hours total, 3,690 hours on type) was pilot flying, the first officer (21, CPL, 480 hours total, 259 hours on type) was pilot monitoring for the sector.

While on approach to Kanpur air traffic control informed the crew that visibility had dropped to 800 meters in rain prompting the crew to enter a holding pattern. After about 6-7 race tracks, 20 minutes after visibility had dropped to 800 meters, ATC reported visibility had improved to 1200 meters, the captain decided to attempt the approach, the aircraft was cleared for a VOR-ILS approach to runway 27 reporting the runway surface conditions as wet with water patches, surface winds were variable at 5 knots.

The crew configured the aircraft for a full flaps (45 degrees) landing, the crew was satisfied with the aircraft being fully established and within required parameters at 1000 and 500 feet AGL. At decision height both flight crew were visual with the runway. At about 40 feet the captain initiated the flare and retarded the throttle levers, the aircraft however floated and touched down several seconds later at a position the first officer reported past the ATC tower, which is lcoated at about the mid point of the runway.

The captain later said that he remained in full control of the aircraft as it rolled out along the runway center line. Shortly before the runway end the aircraft veered right of the center line, exited the runway end at 44 knots, the left wing collided with a localizer antenna and received a cut and 3 inch wide hole in the leading edge. The aircraft came to a stop after rolling over soft ground for about 200 feet. ATC was advised and assistance requested, the engines were shut down. No evacuation was initiated, the passengers disembarked normally via stairs.

No injuries occurred, the aircraft received a 3 inch hole to its left wing but remained undamaged otherwise. The localizer antenna sustained damage.

The weather station reported at the time of the overrun there were thunderstorms at the aerodrome with "thunder showers" and cumulonimbus cloud overhead the aerodrome, wind was coming from 100 degrees and visibility was 1200 meters with an increasing trend.

Data off the flight data recorder revealed that the flare was initiated at 49 feet AGL at 135 KIAS and 146 knots above ground, the aircraft subsequently maintained a height of 43-44 feet for 10 seconds and touched down 18 seconds after initiating the flare at a speed of 135 knots above ground. The DGCA stated that according to the FDR data upon initiating the flare the aircraft experienced a tail wind component of 11 knots whereas the tail wind limit for the aircraft was 10 knots.

After touch down the speed brakes deployed normally, thrust reversers were opened and reverse thrust applied at about 70% N1, the aircraft rolled for about 28 seconds until veering right and leaving the paved surface and came to a stop another 7 seconds later. The DGCA assessed the aircraft rolled 4235 feet on paved surface and another 201 feet on soft ground also stating that positive normal deceleration was recorded by the flight data recorder.

The DGCA quoted the air traffic controller, who similiar to the first officer's testimony stated the aircraft touched down past the middle marker of the runway about 4500 feet down the runway. He already anticipated the aircraft would not be able to stop within the runway boundaries and activated emergency services while the aircraft was still in the roll out. The crew soon reported they had overrun the runway, their nose gear had collapsed.

After the aircraft was dug out of the soft ground and returned to paved surface the DGCA removed brakes and wheels of both main gear struts from the aircraft and sent them for further examination. The examination found them in satisfactory condition. The nose gear leg was also found in satisfactory condition. The DGCA therefore analysed that "the serviceability of the aircraft is not a factor to the incident". The tailwind component of 11 knots however was a factor into the incident.

With the landing weight of 27 tons the aircraft would have needed 5000 feet of landing distance according to the quick reference hand book of the CRJ-700, the runway landing distance available was 9000 feet, however from point of touch down only 4235 feet remained available.

The DGCA analysed: "From the above it is inferred that during landing the aircraft floated for long and made delayed touchdown past the middle marker as a result the remaining runway was not enough to stop the aircraft on the runway surface since the remaining runway was less than the minimum required under wet runway conditions. The aircraft over ran the runway and entered into soft ground and resulted into an incident. Hence handling of the aircraft by Commander is a contributory factor to the incident."

Six safety recommendations were made as result of the investigation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 20, 2011

Aircraft Registration
I-ADCD

Aircraft Type
Canadair CRJ-700

ICAO Type Designator
CRJ7

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