AT75, en-route, near Almansa Spain, 2017

AT75, en-route, near Almansa Spain, 2017

Summary

On 9 September 2017, an ATR 72-500 crew temporarily lost control of their aircraft when it stalled whilst climbing in forecast moderate icing conditions after violation of applicable guidance. Recovery was then delayed because the correct stall recovery procedure was not followed. A MAYDAY declaration due to a perception of continuing  control problems was followed by a comprehensively unstabilised ILS approach to Madrid. The Investigation concluded that the stall and its sequel were attributable to deficient flight management and inappropriate use of automation. The operator involved was recommended to implement corrective actions to improve the competence of its crews.

Description

On 9 September 2017, an ATR 72-500 (EC-KKQ) being operated by Swiftair on a domestic passenger flight from Alicante to Madrid for Air Europa as AEA4050 was climbing in icing conditions when control of the aircraft was temporarily lost in day IMC. After recovery, the crew continued to report control problems and declared a MAYDAY requesting priority routing to their destination where the flight was completed with a high speed unstabilised approach. One of the 22 passengers required medical attention on arrival after appearing to suffer a prolonged anxiety attack following the stall episode; others with similar responses to it recovered quickly.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Spanish Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Incidents (CIAIAC). Both the CVR and FDR were removed from the aircraft and downloaded with their data used to assist the Investigation. CVR data was only available from just under half an hour before landing, beginning one minute after the MAYDAY had been declared. A full record of all relevant ATC communications was also available.

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