B738, Eindhoven Netherlands, 2012

B738, Eindhoven Netherlands, 2012

Summary

On 11 October 2012, the crew of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 did not change frequency to TWR when instructed to do so by GND whilst already backtracking the departure runway and then made a 180° turn and took off without clearance still on GND frequency. Whilst no actual loss of ground or airborne safety resulted, the Investigation found that when the Captain had queried the receipt of a take off clearance with the First Officer, he had received and accepted a hesitant confirmation. Crew non-compliance with related AIP ground manoeuvring restrictions replicated in their airport briefing was also noted.

Description

On 11 October 2012, a Boeing 737-800 (EI-DLD) being operated by Ryanair on a scheduled passenger flight from Eindhoven to London Stansted did not follow its pre-take off taxi clearance and did not change to TWR when instructed. Without further communication, it then took off from runway 04 in day VMC without clearance. No actual loss of ground or airborne safety resulted.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Dutch Safety Board with reference to the aircraft Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Voice Logging System in ATC. It was noted that the airport is a Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNAF) base regularly used by civil transport aircraft at which ATS is provided by RNAF controllers.

The 58 year-old aircraft Captain, who had been PF during the investigated event, had 19650 hours total flying time which included 5800 hours on type. The 45 year-old First Officer had 9500 hours total flying time which included 4000 hours on type. Both GND and TWR Controllers had been trained by the RNAF, qualifying 6 months prior to the event (TWR) and 2 years prior the event (GND).

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