<< >> NASA ASRS Report 1092921, June 2013

Air carrier flight crew reports diverting to a second alternate after their filed alternate and original destination are denied by ATC due to weather. During the non-precision approach the aircraft descends below MDA prior to arriving at the normal glide path. An emergency is declared during the diversion due to fuel and the aircraft lands with seven thousand pounds.

Attributes
ACN	1092921
Time
Date	201306
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZZ.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Relief Pilot Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT

Narrative:

After a divert from beijing then an alternate closing; we proceeded to the next suitable airport. Initially we were assigned to runway 15 and after tower offered runway 33; we switched to the VOR runway 33 approach. Fully configured at the FAF; the aircraft pitched over seemingly more than normal; but due to fatigue I did not notice the vsi. I was however; monitoring the altitude. I was not aware of the descent rate or that the aircraft had descended below MDA. We had sighted the runway off to our right and a turn was made to intercept final aways out. We had briefed a PAPI and saw we were below a normal glide path and I diverted my attention to monitoring altitude to make sure at that point no further descent was allowed. I assumed that the MDA was still set in the window and another cockpit crew member said the MDA of 650 was still in the window upon landing.

Related reports:

• When the main instrument runway was closed at the destinatio...

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.37000feet.com

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew reports diverting to a second alternate after their filed alternate and original destination are denied by ATC due to weather. During the non-precision approach the aircraft descends below MDA prior to arriving at the normal glide path. An emergency is declared during the diversion due to fuel and the aircraft lands with seven thousand pounds.

Narrative: After a divert from Beijing then an alternate closing; we proceeded to the next suitable airport. Initially we were assigned to Runway 15 and after Tower offered Runway 33; we switched to the VOR Runway 33 approach. Fully configured at the FAF; the aircraft pitched over seemingly more than normal; but due to fatigue I did not notice the VSI. I was however; monitoring the altitude. I was not aware of the descent rate or that the aircraft had descended below MDA. We had sighted the runway off to our right and a turn was made to intercept final aways out. We had briefed a PAPI and saw we were below a normal glide path and I diverted my attention to monitoring altitude to make sure at that point no further descent was allowed. I assumed that the MDA was still set in the window and another cockpit crew member said the MDA of 650 was still in the window upon landing.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.