Description

On 17 July 2011, the crew of an ATR 72-200 being operated by Aer Arann on a scheduled passenger flight from Manchester to Shannon mishandled a daylight landing on 3199 metre long runway 24 at destination in normal visibility but gusty crosswind conditions and the nose landing gear collapsed. A MAYDAY was declared as directional control was lost and the aircraft gradually veered left, exiting the runway paved surface onto the grass before coming to a stop at the left edge of Taxiway Alpha. The 25 occupants were uninjured and an emergency evacuation was not necessary but the damage was such that the aircraft was declared to be beyond economic repair.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Irish AAIU. DFDR and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) data was successfully downloaded and ATC and useful airport CCTV recordings were also available. It was found that the final stopping position was on the left hand edge of Taxiway Alpha parallel with its centreline and some 1200 metres from the initial impact marks on the runway. During its ground track to this position, the aircraft left hand propeller was found to have struck a runway sign, demolishing it and damaging one propeller blade and a runway edge light was also destroyed.

It was found that the Captain, PF for the accident landing, had recently been promoted to command after acquiring the majority of her flying experience as a First Officer on the accident type with the operator. Having achieved just over 200 hours in command, she was clear of restrictions placed on new commanders. The First Officer had over a year’s experience on type with the operator.