Lufthansa A343 and Lufthansa Cityline CRJ9 at Frankfurt on Jul 13th 2019, loss of separation on departure and go around

Last Update: July 18, 2019 / 10:16:24 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Lufthansa D-AIGO, Airbus A340-300 — Lufthansa D-AIGO, Airbus A340-300 (Photo credit: Hyougushi / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 13, 2019

Classification
Incident

Airline
Lufthansa

Flight number
LH-780

Departure
Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Destination
Nanjing, China

Aircraft Registration
D-AIGO

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300

ICAO Type Designator
A343

A Lufthansa Airbus A340-300, registration D-AIGO performing flight LH-780 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Nanjing (China), was lined up and waiting for takeoff from Frankfurt's runway 25C.

A Lufthansa Cityline Canadair CRJ-900, registration D-ACND performing flight LH-1015 from Brussels (Belgium) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), was on final approach to Frankfurt's runway 25R.

While LH-1015 was still on final approach tower cleared LH-780 for takeoff, the A340 commenced their takeoff roll. The crew of the CRJ however initiated a go around. After the crew reported the go around, Tower immediately restricted the climb of the CRJ to 2000 feet and instructed a right hand turn, LH-780 was instructed to turn left. The crew of LH-780 reported they had a TCAS warning now in a left hand turn at about 2400 feet. After the developing conflict was resolved, the CRJ crew reported they had the A340 always on their TCAS and in sight, there wasn't any issue, they had to go around, descending through 300 feet they couldn't hold the aircraft, it was nearly uncontrollable. The CRJ crew reported on downwind that they had received a TCAS resolution advisory for a very short period of time.

The A340 continued to Nanjing for a safe landing, the CRJ positioned for another approach land landed safely on runway 25R about 15 minutes after the go around. ATC explained to other traffic that the LH-780 had turned right, they detected/recognized the go around very late, that's why it got very tight, otherwise they could have separated them better.

According to the noise monitor of Frankfurt Airport both aircraft came as close as 50 feet vertical and 900 meters/0.49nm lateral separation at 18:40L (16:40Z). LH-780 started a left turn immediately afterwards and LH-1015 entered a right turn.

Standard Departures out of runways 25C and 25L provide for right hand turns, in some cases for left hand turns after becoming airborne.

Germany's BFU rated the occurrence an incident and have not opened an investigation into the occurrence.

Metars:
EDDF 131820Z 15004KT 100V180 9999 FEW030CB SCT044 20/14 Q1017 BECMG 32006KT=
EDDF 131750Z VRB02KT 9999 FEW030CB 21/13 Q1017 BECMG 32006KT=
EDDF 131720Z VRB05KT 9999 VCSH FEW030CB 21/13 Q1016 BECMG 32006KT=
EDDF 131650Z 01013KT 9999 -SHRA FEW020 SCT030CB 22/14 Q1016 TEMPO SHRA=
EDDF 131620Z 23007KT 9999 VCSH FEW015 FEW025CB 21/15 Q1016 TEMPO SHRA=
EDDF 131550Z 25009KT 220V280 9999 VCSH FEW015 FEW025CB 20/15 Q1017 NOSIG=
EDDF 131520Z 26008KT 230V290 9999 VCSH FEW022CB 20/15 Q1017 NOSIG=
EDDF 131450Z 23008KT 200V260 9999 VCSH FEW020CB 19/15 Q1017 NOSIG=
EDDF 131420Z 22007KT 9999 VCSH FEW020CB 18/16 Q1017 NOSIG=
EDDF 131350Z 25006KT 9999 -SHRA FEW015 FEW019CB 18/16 Q1017 RESHRA NOSIG=
COR EDDF 131320Z 30010KT 280V340 9999 SHRA FEW015 SCT019CB 18/15 Q1017 BECMG NSW=