Easyjet A319 at Bristol on Feb 16th 2016, flaps instead gear retracted

Last Update: August 11, 2016 / 15:33:51 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Easyjet G-EZFA, Airbus A319 — Easyjet G-EZFA, Airbus A319 (Photo credit: MercerMJ / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 16, 2016

Classification
Incident

Airline
Easyjet

Flight number
U2-6299

Departure
Bristol, United Kingdom

Destination
Gibraltar, Gibraltar

Aircraft Registration
G-EZFA

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

An Easyjet Airbus A319-100, registration G-EZFA performing flight U2-6299 from Bristol,EN (UK) to Gibraltar (Gibraltar) with 125 passengers and 6 crew, was departing Bristol's runway 27 and was climbing through 40 feet AGL when the flaps instead of the gear were retracted. The crew was able to recover, the aircraft continued the flight to Gibraltar and landed safely on Gibraltar's runway 09 about 2 hours later.

The French BEA reported based on preliminary information by the AAIB that the occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated by the AAIB.

On Aug 11th 2016 the AAIB released their bulletin concluding the probable cause of the occurrence was:

The operator assessed that the co-pilot had been distracted by the rattling noise during takeoff which caused him to make an ‘action error’ in mis-selecting the flap. The operator noted that, in a similar event, the pilots re-selected the flap lever to position 1 and the aircraft maintained a positive climb rate and a speed above VLS. In the case of G-EZFA, however, the crew did not fully appreciate what had happened until after TOGA had been selected and, by the time they considered re-selecting flap, the aircraft was recovering to climbing flight.

The AAIB reported that the captain (38, ATPL, 9,333 hours total, 5,702 hours on type) was pilot flying, the first officer was pilot monitoring. During the takeoff run a rattling sound came from the center console, the first officer put his hand on it, aft of the thrust levers, to reduce the noise. After becoming airborne, at a height of 46 feet AGL at a rate of climb of 1300 fpm and 158 KIAS, the first officer moved the flap lever from position 1 to position 0 instead of selecting the landing gear up as requested by the captain. The aircraft continued climb through 138 feet AGL at 1900 fpm ROC (Rate of Climb) at 160 KIAS. Climbing through 308 feet AGL the ROC had reduced to 1500fpm and the airspeed was 167 KIAS.

The captain noticed that the lowest selectable airspeed indication of the PFD increased rapidly but did not realize the flaps were retracting. 7 seconds after the flap lever was moved the captain lowered the nose of the aircraft and three seconds later selected TOGA thrust, aircraft was at 418 feet AGL at 700 fpm ROC. After reaching 438 feet AGL the aircraft began to descend, the gear was selected up at that point. The GPWS activated issuing alert "Don't Sink! Don't Sink!", the rate of descent had reached 1300 fpm and the aircraft descended through 393 feet AGL at 194 KIAS. The captain applied nose up input, airspeed was 205 KIAS, and 2 seconds later the aircraft began to climb.

The AAIB reported that the crew had selected 1+F configuration and commenced a reduced thrust takeoff.

The AAIB analysed that the stall speed with slats and flaps retracted was 155 KIAS, when the flap lever was selected to 0 the speed was 158 KIAS and accelerating. At the point the flaps and slats had fully retracted the aircraft was accelerating through 183 KIAS and descending through 440 feet AGL at 1000 fpm rate of descent.