B738, vicinity Aberdeen UK, 2021

B738, vicinity Aberdeen UK, 2021

Summary

On 11 September 2021, a Boeing 737-800 was instructed to discontinue an ILS approach to runway 34 at Aberdeen, climb to 3000 feet and turn left onto a westerly heading. With the Autopilot disconnected it approached the cleared altitude but before reaching it rapidly descended to just over 1500 feet above terrain before climbing away, the whole event occurring in IMC. The episode was attributed to crew overload in manual flight consequent upon the combination of the heading instructions, flap configuration changes and a complete absence of pitch trim. Both pilots’ pandemic-related lack of the usual operational recency was noted.

Description

On 11 September 2021, a Boeing 737-800 (G-FDZF) being operated by TUI Airways on an international passenger flight from Palma to Aberdeen in day IMC was instructed to discontinue an ILS Cat 1 approach to runway 34 to destination but instead of climbing to and maintaining 3000 feet QNH as cleared, when it approached that altitude, a rapid descent began at an increasingly high speed towards terrain before a still high speed recovery climb was commenced at just over 1500 feet agl. The whole excursion occurred with the aircraft in cloud throughout. Once returned to the previous cleared altitude, further ATC instructions were followed and the remainder of the flight was uneventful.

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