B78X, vicinity Abu Dhabi UAE, 2020

B78X, vicinity Abu Dhabi UAE, 2020

Summary

On 6 June 2020, a Boeing 787-10 on approach at Abu Dhabi began a low go around from an RNAV(RNP) approach when it became obvious to the crew that the aircraft was far lower than it should have been but were unaware why this occurred until an ATC query led them to recognise that the wrong QNH had been set with recognition of the excessively low altitude delayed by haze limiting the PAPI range. The Investigation found that advice of MSAW activations which would have enabled the flight crew to recognise their error were not advised to them.

Description

On 6 June 2020, a Boeing 787-10 (A6-BMD) being operated by Etihad Airways on a non- scheduled international cargo flight from Beijing to Abu Dhabi as EK9878 with an augmented crew was on short final to runway 31L at destination in day VMC when the Captain observed that the PAPI was showing all red and instructed the First Officer acting as Pilot Flying to go around. Whilst the flight was positioning for a second approach, ATC asked the crew to check their QNH setting and they discovered that they had unknowingly set the QNH incorrectly prior to making the first approach. MSAW alerts triggered during the first approach by the incorrect altimeter setting were not advised to the flight. 

Investigation

A Serious Incident investigation was carried out by the UAE GCAA Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS). Relevant data were available from the FDR component of both the installed EAFRs and from recorded ATC data but relevant data on the CVR component of the EAFRs was overwritten before the seriousness of the event was recognised which was only after the Captain’s post flight ASR reporting the event was correlated with the OFDM process.     

The full content of this page is available to registered users only.
Please Log in or Register

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by: