Description

On 13 March 2011, a Boeing 737-800 being operated by Turkish Airlines on a passenger flight from London Stansted to Ankara stopped climb prematurely in day Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) soon after take from runway 22 on a CLN 8R SID. After earlier noting a normal take off and initial climb, the TWR controller subsequently observed the aircraft in a steep nose down attitude before it levelled off and began the prescribed SID left turn at that level. Although a frequency change to departure had not been given, the TWR controller was unable to make contact with the aircraft and advised the departure controller accordingly. The latter was eventually able to re-iterate the need to climb and the rest of the SID was flown normally.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. It was found that the reason for the failure to climb was the misreading of the SID procedure chart by the flight crew. Such misreading was also found to be the reason for a premature change of frequency to departure which had prevented TWR from making contact with the aircraft when the unexpected flight path was observed, since this UK standard procedure was re-iterated on the SID chart. The Jeppesen Chart used by the crew is reproduced below as included in the Investigation Report.