AT75, vicinity Cork Ireland, 2014

AT75, vicinity Cork Ireland, 2014

Summary

On 2 January 2014, the crew of an ATR 72-212A lost forward visibility due to the accumulation of a thick layer of salt deposits on the windshield whilst the aircraft was being radar positioned to an approach at Cork on a track which took it close to and at times over the sea in the presence of strong onshore winds. The Investigation concluded that the prevailing strong winds over and near to the sea in relatively dry air with little visible moisture present had been conducive to high concentrations of salt particles at low levels.

Description

On 2 January 2014, an ATR 72-212A (EI-REL) operating a scheduled passenger flight from Manchester to Cork at night in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) made a go around from its first approach due to the aircraft becoming unstable in turbulent conditions. During radar positioning for a second approach, forward visibility was obscured by the accretion of what were suspected at the time to be salt particles and a second go around was flown. After part of the windscreen had become transparent again, a third approach was successfully flown to an uneventful landing.

Investigation

The event was Investigated by the Irish AAIU. It was established that surface wind direction at Cork had been generally around runway heading with a mean speed of around 30 knots and some gusts as high as 50 knots. Warnings of severe turbulence and low level windshear were in force.

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