A333, Kathmandu Nepal, 2015

A333, Kathmandu Nepal, 2015

Summary

On 4 March 2015, the crew of a Turkish Airlines A333 continued an automatic non precision RNAV approach below the prescribed minimum descent altitude without having obtained any element of visual reference and when this was acquired a few seconds before the attempted landing, the aircraft was not aligned with the runway centreline and during a 2.7g low-pitch landing, the left main gear touched down on the grass. The aircraft then left the runway completely before stopping with a collapsed nose gear and sufficient damage to be assessed a hull loss. None of 235 occupants sustained serious injury.

Description

On 4 March 2015, an Airbus A330-300 (TC-JOC) being operated by Turkish Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Istanbul to Kathmandu touched down at a higher than normal rate of descent at destination in very poor day visibility with the landing gear partly on the grass before leaving the runway completely. The aircraft was extensively damaged and subsequently declared a hull loss but only one minor injury to the 235 occupants was recorded to a passenger during the evacuation. Impact damage was caused to lighting and signage and there was superficial damage to the surface of one of the two taxiways crossed by the aircraft during its excursion.

The extensively damaged accident aircraft where it came to a stop (reproduced from the Official Report)

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Nepal Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission. Data from the FDR and 2 hour CVR were successfully downloaded.

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