Description

On 3 March 2009, a DHC8-Q400 being operated by UK Regional airline Flybe on a scheduled passenger flight from Edinburgh to Southampton was making its approach at the planned destination in night Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) and moderate turbulence when the aircraft was allowed to loose airspeed to below its minimum manoeuvring speed and a momentary stick shaker activation occurred. The associated automatic disconnection of the autopilot was followed by extreme pitch up and excessive roll left before the flight crew regained full control of the aircraft.

Investigation

The event was not reported by the flight crew to anybody and only became known to the Operator three days later as a result of their Flight Data Monitoring Programme. Operator response was limited to a request to the aircraft commander to raise a Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR), which was not received by the National Aviation Authority (NAA) until over three weeks after the event. The UK AAIB noted the MOR and determined that a Field Investigation by their organisation was required.