A30B, Bratislava Slovakia, 2012

A30B, Bratislava Slovakia, 2012

Summary

On 16 November 2012, an Air Contractors Airbus A300 departed the left the side of the landing runway at Bratislava after an abnormal response to directional control inputs. Investigation found that incorrect and undetected re-assembly of the nose gear torque links had led to the excursion and that absence of clear instructions in maintenance manuals, since rectified, had facilitated this. It was also considered that the absence of any regulation requiring equipment in the vicinity of the runway to be designed to minimise potential damage to aircraft departing the paved surface had contributed to the damage caused by the accident.

Description

On 16 November 2012, an Airbus A300 (EI-EAC) being operated by Air Contractors on a scheduled cargo flight from Leipzig to Bratislava for DHL left the side of runway 22 at destination shortly after touching down off an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach in normal night visibility. The nose landing gear collapsed on impact with an obstruction and the aircraft came to a stop soon afterwards, having sustained significant damage but with the three operating crew members uninjured.

The aircraft in its final resting position (reproduced from the Official Report)

Investigation

The event was investigated by the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA). Recorded data from both the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) were successfully recovered and evidence that a malfunction of the nose landing gear diminishing its normal function was found on site.

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