High workload distracts pilots as plane suffers ‘severe hard landing’

PILOTS flying from Edinburgh Airport were distracted by a “high workload” before their plane suffered a “severe hard landing” which damaged the nose and landing gear.

An investigation report into the EasyJet flight from Edinburgh to Munich noted that an onboard computer froze distracting the pilots as they approached the runway in Germany

The plane, an Airbus A319-111 with 139 passengers and six crew on board, sustained damage to its nose and right main landing gear in the incident at Munich Airport on July 3 last year.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report said: “The crew were unable to alter the target approach speed, and the engines began to spool up un-commanded. The pilot flying disconnected the autopilot and autothrust and the rest of the approach was flown manually.

“Below 50ft the pitch attitude of the aircraft was reduced slightly just before the aircraft was flared for landing, and it touched down heavily in a relatively flat attitude.

“The normal acceleration recorded at touchdown was 3.01g, which is classified as a severe hard landing. All three landing gear legs were replaced, although subsequent examination revealed that only the nose and right main gear were damaged.”

The co-pilot flying the plane had just over two years’ flying experience EasyJet during which he had completed 1,644 hours flying on Airbus A320 series aircraft.

The flight commander was initially dealing with the computer failure and the cabin pressure landing elevation fault and, from his perspective, the aircraft was on a normal stable approach. He had not noticed that the controls were in the nose-down position inputs because he was concentrating on the runway and touchdown point.

A split second before landing, the commander called out “watch it”, as he detected the aircraft was not in the usual attitude for landing, but the aircraft had touched down before he had time to react in any way which might have altered the outcome.

The aircraft was inspected for a severe hard landing as required by the manufacturer’s aircraft maintenance manual. This inspection revealed damage to the nose landing gear and the right main landing gear, as well as some cracking of the paint and sealant in the nose gear bay and avionics bay. The inspection showed there was no other damage to the aircraft.

The AAIB report concluded: “Following an approach during which a flight management guidance computer failed, neither pilot realised that the aircraft was in the incorrect attitude for landing until it was too late to take corrective action.

“As a result, the aircraft landed heavily causing damage to the nose and right main landing gear.

“It is possible that distractions and high workload during the approach contributed to the nose-down pitch input being made immediately before touchdown.”

The AAIB report does not discuss the reasons for the apparent failure of the flight management guidance computer on the plane.

An EasyJet spokesman said: “EasyJet fully cooperated with the AAIB and at no point was the safety of the passengers onboard compromised.”

The crew were unable to alter the target approach speed