DH8A, Nuuk Greenland, 2011

DH8A, Nuuk Greenland, 2011

Summary

On 4 March 2011, an aircraft left the runway during a mishandled landing at Nuuk, Greenland which resulted in the collapse of the right main landing gear due to excessive 'g' loading. The landing followed an unstabilised VMC approach in challenging weather conditions. The Investigation concluded that the crew had become focussed solely on landing and that task saturation had mentally blocked any decision to go around. The aircraft commander had less than 50 hours experience on the aircraft type and had only been released from supervised line training 6 days earlier.

Description

On 4 March 2011, a De Havilland DHC8-100 (TF-JMB) being operated by Air Iceland on a scheduled passenger flight from Reykjavik, Iceland to Nuuk, Greenland with a pre-planned en route technical stop as Kulusuk, Greenland for fuel uplift. The landing at Nuuk after a day Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) approach resulted in a runway excursion. The aircraft sustained significant damage and all 34 occupants were uninjured and no immediate evacuation was deemed necessary given the prevailing extreme weather conditions.

The aircraft in its final resting position. (Reproduced from the Official Report)

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Danish AIB. Recorded data relevant to the Investigation was recovered from the SSFDR, SSCVR and Quick Access Recorder.

The Investigation undertook an extensive investigation of the pre-crash airworthiness and loading of the aircraft and concluded that neither had played any part in the accident.

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