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Cases › DCA16LA100 · Part 121 airline

EMBRAER EMB145TRANS STATES AIRLINES INC

St Louis, MO, USA · 2016-02-24·N856HK

0
fatal
0
serious
No injury
highest injury
Substantial
damage
Replay the flight data226,044 samples · 31 parameters22:30:00.0 – 23:34:23.9Read the cockpit voice recorder268 lines23:04:30.0 – 23:31:28.8AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket16 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

The airplane was landing on runway 30L at STL in gusty crosswind conditions and the first officer was the pilot flying. The first officer questioned the captain on the use of flaps 45 on two occasions during the approach but ultimately decided to land with flaps 45. There were no airport limitations in effect for runway 6 at the time of the accident that would have precluded the flight crew's use of the runway 6. The flight crew had the performance numbers available to land on runway 6 which was more aligned with the wind conditions and would have reduced the crosswind component by more than half. During the flare, with the engines at flight idle, the airplane rolled left and then right when they encountered a wind gust. The left wingtip struck the runway followed by the right wingtip as the first officer advanced the thrust levers for a go-around. After the first officer advanced the thrust levers as the pilot flying, the captain, as pilot monitoring, reduced the engine power to idle for about 1 second before advancing them back to max thrust without a positive transfer of control. After the go-around, the first officer transferred control to the captain who subsequently performed an uneventful landing at flaps 22 on runway 30L.

Photographs

1the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
Trans States Airlines E-145(LR), N856HK (13683341264)
Charles from Port Chester, New York · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Probable cause

the Board's determination
the flight crews' failure to consider all available runways for landing to minimize the gusty crosswind component. Contributing to the accident was the captain's reduction of the engine thrust for about 1 second at low altitude immediately after the first officer applied maximum thrust to conduct a go-around.

Occurrence sequence

1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Landing
    Abnormal runway contact
    defining event

Findings

2 causal · 0 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparation › Weather planning — Flight crew
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action › Incorrect action selection — Pilot

Sequence of events

14 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-sonnet-5
  1. 23:06:00 CSTDescentp.3
    Descent begins from pressure altitude of about 20,000 ft (start of Figures 2 and 3 data range)
  2. 23:15:33 CSTDescentp.3
    Autopilot status transitioned from engaged to not engaged and remained not engaged for the remainder of the flight, while descending through a pressure altitude of approximately 10,500 ft (about 41 minutes after takeoff)
  3. 23:19:39 CSTApproachp.3
    While descending through a pressure altitude of approximately 3,387 ft, radio altitude decreased from its maximum value of 2,550 ft to 2,532 ft and continued to decrease
  4. 23:22:15 CSTMissed Approachp.3
    Start of missed approach data window (Figures 4 and 5)
  5. 23:22:52 CSTApproach/Landingp.3
    While at a radio altitude of 4 ft, gear weight on wheels changed from air to ground then switched back to air less than a second later while the master warning changed from off to on
  6. 23:23:03 CSTMissed Approachp.3
    Master warning changed to off
  7. 23:23:06 CSTMissed Approachp.3
    Master warning changed back to on, 3 seconds after previous change
  8. 23:23:10 CSTMissed Approachp.3
    Master warning changed back to off and remained off for the remainder of the flight; radio altitude had increased to 210 ft
  9. 23:23:30 CSTMissed Approachp.3
    End of missed approach data window (Figures 4 and 5)
  10. 23:24:16 CSTGo-around/Climbp.3
    Radio altitude had increased to approximately 2,400 ft
  11. 23:27:13 CSTFinal Approachp.4
    The aircraft began its final descent
  12. 23:30:32 CSTLandingp.4
    Gear weight on wheels transitioned to ground
  13. 23:32:00 CSTLanding Rollp.3
    End of data range for Figures 2 and 3, about 1 minute and 28 seconds after final touchdown
  14. 23:34:24 CSTPost-landingp.3
    End of the event flight data

NTSB analysis

from the final report

The airplane was landing on runway 30L at STL in gusty crosswind conditions and the first officer was the pilot flying. The first officer questioned the captain on the use of flaps 45 on two occasions during the approach but ultimately decided to land with flaps 45. There were no airport limitations in effect for runway 6 at the time of the accident that would have precluded the flight crew's use of the runway 6. The flight crew had the performance numbers available to land on runway 6 which was more aligned with the wind conditions and would have reduced the crosswind component by more than half. During the flare, with the engines at flight idle, the airplane rolled left and then right when they encountered a wind gust. The left wingtip struck the runway followed by the right wingtip as the first officer advanced the thrust levers for a go-around. After the first officer advanced the thrust levers as the pilot flying, the captain, as pilot monitoring, reduced the engine power to idle for about 1 second before advancing them back to max thrust without a positive transfer of control. After the go-around, the first officer transferred control to the captain who subsequently performed an uneventful landing at flaps 22 on runway 30L.