Description

On 31 August 2007 an Airbus A340-600 being operated by Iberia on a scheduled passenger flight from Madrid to Quito made a hard landing with drift /side slip after a circling approach in normal day visibility and was disabled on the runway after sustaining significant damage to the landing gear, particularly many of the tyres. There was no other damage to the aircraft and there were no injuries to the 320 occupants who eventually disembarked normally from the aircraft at its final resting position.

Investigation

The event was notified to the State of the Operator by the Republic of Ecuador Accident Investigation Commission (Junta Investigadora de Accidentes - JIA) who subsequently delegated the Investigation to the Spanish CIAIAC. Flight Data Recorder (FDR) data was recovered but the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) had not been stopped and the relevant recording had been overwritten. It was found that Iberia procedures for stopping the CVR did exist but the task was designated to be carried out by maintenance personnel.

The Investigation found no evidence that there had been any relevant aircraft technical malfunctions, nor that any runway FOD had been present. It was established that the flight crew had consisted of the aircraft commander, a relief Captain and two Co Pilots. Both operating crew for the landing at Quito had been experienced on the aircraft type.