News: Strange Departure Mistake in London

A (Turkish registered) Boeing 737-800 departing London Stansted airport, flew level for 6 miles at 500 feet (150 meters) above ground (AGL), before climbing to a safer altitude. This incident occurred on 16th of October 2006, and the report has just been released.

The crew misinterpreted a note meaning “don't turn below 500 feet” and thought it was “stop climb at 500 feet”.

According to the report (link below) this was the second flight of the day for this crew, they were using a Standard Instrument Departure (SID) procedure, and they were ATP pilots. This one makes me scratch my head and wonder why they did not contact control to request a higher altitude or ask for clarification about the departure procedure before takeoff.

The METARs, issued 0 minutes before and 20 minutes after the incident, reported that the weather was 6 km visibility with scattered clouds at 6,000 ft" so the crew should have had sight of the ground the entire time. They even mentioned the fact that they were flying below the local minimum safe altitude (MSA). They must have thought that MSA was maximum safe altitude (if there was such a thing published).

Summary
TC-JGR was cleared to depart from Runway 05 at London Stansted Airport, Essex, on a 'Dover Five Sierra' Standard Instrument Departure for Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey. Soon after takeoff the aircraft was observed in a "steep" nose-down attitude. It then flew level, at 500 ft agl (900 ft msl), for approximately 6 nm before being instructed to climb immediately to 5,000 ft msl. Having been given further climb clearances, the aircraft subsequently reached its cruising level and later landed at Istanbul Ataturk Airport without further incident.

Source Non-Mobile: http://www.plasticpilot.net/blog/2007/12/09/a-strange-airline-incident/
Incident Report Non-Mobile: http://www.aaib.dft.gov.uk/publications/...

Tags: ATC, Airlines, Airports, Flying
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