According to an Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) report, neither pilot knew how close they were to the ground when attempting to land in fog at Guernsey Airport last year.
The ATR72-500, which was being chartered by Aurigny Air Services, descended well below the approach ban altitude with the runway visual range (RVR) significantly reduced.
Pilots flew the aircraft to just 70 ft Above Ground Level (AGL) and even when a go-around was initiated remained 60-80ft AGL for around 15 seconds before it started to climb away and diverted to Southampton Airport.
The AAIB report stated that as the aircraft passed below the minimum altitude (decision height) there was confusion and misunderstanding between the pilots which is why the aircraft remained level in a landing configuration rather than executing a missed approach.
The decision height at Guernsey Airport for a CAT1 ILS approach is 536ft above sea level (AMSL) and as the aircraft descended towards that point Air Traffic Control made the crew aware of the reduced runway visual range, which was just 325 metres.
Pilots flying this approach must acquire visual references before passing the decision height to land which both pilots did according to the report, however, there was confusion and this led to the pilot calling for the go-around but despite this, the aircraft did not initiate a climb for another 15 seconds leading to it flying over the runway at just 60ft AGL,
The flight, which was from Southampton to Guernsey, had 52 passengers onboard and 5 crew.
Since the incident, the operator has undertaken several safety actions to improve the selection and training of its crews as well as implementing a Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) programme.
Read the full report https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b5a6ab4a80c6718b55bf6d/ATR_72-500_LY-JUP_04-25.pdf
