A recently published report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) into an incident involving a Ryanair Boeing 737-Max8200 at London Stansted shows the pilots temporarily lost control of the aircraft during a go-around procedure, at one point descending so rapidly the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EWGPS) was triggered.
The incident occurred on the 4th of December last year when the Ryanair Flight from Klagenfurt Airport approached London Stansted (STN/EGSS) at around 11am.
On the initial approach the Ryanair pilots, flying EI-HET, initiated a manual go-around procedure due to being unstable in the approach at an altitude of 1,940ft amsl and around 3.6nm from the runway.
The problems began when the altitude was not changed on the autopilot control panel to the go-around altitude from the current setting of 100ft which mean that the aircraft climbed to an altitude of over 4,000ft busting its authorised level of 3,000ft.
The pilot flying, the captain of the aircraft, realised they had exceeded 3,000ft and was also prompted by Air Traffic Control at Stansted. They then initiated a descent pushing the aircraft into a nose down attitude of 17.7° and the aircraft accelerated to 295 KIAS, with Flaps 5 extended descending at a peak of 8,800 fpm. The lowest recorded altitude was 1,740ft amsl during which the pilot recovered the aircraft and the EWGPS alarm triggered with “Sink Rate, Pull Up”.
The aircraft was then recovered to 3,000ft and landing without any further event.
The AAIB noted that “several serious incidents which occurred during go-arounds with similar factors to that found in this investigation involving EI-HET. Although EI-HET is a Boeing 737-8200 [MAX], the incident could have occurred in any variant of the Boeing 737, or any other type of aircraft with similar autopilot and flight director systems.”
They also noted that a sensation called “Somatogravic illusion” may also have been a factor which meant that the pilots are likely to have become spatially disorientated resulting in excessive control inputs. Somatogravic illusion is a type of spatial disorientation that can occur when a pilot experiences sustained acceleration or deceleration
As a result of the incident Ryanair has introduced a new “Discontinued Approach Procedure” which was reviewed by Boeing and approved by the Irish regulators which issues the Operators certificate for Ryanair.
Just clarifies to me, I’ve made the right decision to never fly on an AirMax or with Ryanair.