Description

On 7th February 2001, an Airbus A320-200 being operated by Iberia on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Barcelona to Bilbao with pilot early-stage line training in progress and a safety pilot present was about to make a night touch down in VMC and light surface winds when it experienced unexpected windshear and a very hard landing followed. The aircraft did not leave the paved surface but severe airframe structural damage was sustained and there were injuries to 25 of the 143 occupants, one serious, during the subsequent evacuation.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Investigation Agency, the Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes de Aviación Civil (CIAIAC).

Using DFDR and CVR data, the Investigation found that below 100 feet agl, both the trainee First Officer as PF and the aircraft commander has simultaneously made sidestick inputs in an attempt to arrest a descent caused by a sharp downdraft but their combined sudden input had triggered the threshold for AOA protection which had negated their control input. It was noted that the actual AOA was not abnormal and that the protection activation was attributable to a predictive algorithm in the software involved. An attempt by the aircraft commander to begin a go around had not had the intended effect before the aircraft hit the runway in a slightly nose down attitude at 4.35g. The nose landing gear had collapsed and the aircraft had come to a stop after an 1100 metre ground run. As the aircraft approached its final resting place, directional control had been lost but the aircraft had remained on the runway. Airframe damage was so extensive that the aircraft was declared a hull loss.