Germanwings A319 enroute on Mar 19th 2017, aircraft started descent uncommandedly two times

Last Update: June 26, 2017 / 14:28:49 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 19, 2017

Classification
Incident

Airline
Germanwings

Flight number
4U-493

Departure
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Destination
Cologne/Bonn, Germany

Aircraft Registration
D-AGWG

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

A Germanwings Airbus A319-100, registration D-AGWG performing flight 4U-493 from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) to Cologne/Bonn (Germany), was enroute when the flight mode changed from NAV to HDG several times, both with autopilot 1 or autopilot 2 in use. The aircraft subsequently twice unexpectedly, without pilot command or intention, entered a descent of about 700fpm causing altitude deviations of about 150 feet while enroute at FL340 and was stopped and returned to assigned altitude by pilot intervention. About two minutes after the last altitude deviation the crew decided to descend the aircraft to FL240 near Stuttgart (Germany) and continued for a safe landing in Cologne.

Germany's BFU reported on Jun 26th 2017 that the occurrence had not been reported to them.

The aircraft remained on the ground for 3 days for the subsequently engineering investigation including involvement by Airbus before returning to service. The history of the occurrence 3 days earlier, see Incident: Germanwings A319 enroute on Mar 16th 2017, speed scale removed from PFD 3 times, was included in the investigation and considerations. As result of the engineering investigation, that examined both flight management and guidance systems (FMGS) both testing okay, the FMGS #1 as well as another Air Data Module were replaced on recommendation by Airbus.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 19, 2017

Classification
Incident

Airline
Germanwings

Flight number
4U-493

Departure
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Destination
Cologne/Bonn, Germany

Aircraft Registration
D-AGWG

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

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