Md-11 flight crew reports' arriving vhhh during strong gusty winds with moderate turbulence. Due to ...

Narrative:

Arrival weather reports into vhhh included reports of windshear and moderate turbulence on approach which is common when winds are out of the south. We discussed this phenomenon and elected to adjust approach speed accordingly. We discussed the likelihood of gusty winds to about 400 feet which is when the condition typically dissipates at vhhh. On final; tower advised possible disruption of glidepath signal due to 2 aircraft crossing the active runway. We were aware of terrain issues causing this at the beginning of the approach electing to remain in navigation until aligned with final just inside lotus. As the aircraft crossed the runway; we encountered disruption of glidepath and localizer signals. The localizer disruption caused a slight weave of the aircraft as the autopilot was coupled. Turbulence was moderate as reported so we elected to keep the autopilot coupled until we broke out of the weather. We observed peak gusts to 29 knots breaking in magnitude to as low as 7 knots. Wind vector varied from 180 to 240. At this point; the aircraft was configured to flaps 28 with gear down. We broke out at around 1;600 feet with good visibility underneath; turbulence and gusts got worse. At 1;200 feet; I disconnected the autopilot because I wanted to get a feel for what I was going to deal with and we continued down the approach focusing too much on the rough ride; alert for windshear. We neglected to complete the configuration to flaps 35 and accomplish the landing checklist. At about 100 feet; we got an egpws alert 'too low flaps' and executed a go around. We were re-sequenced for a repeat approach which was uneventful resulting in a normal landing. Our lesson learned from this error is to plan a more conservative approach when informed of conditions that will require increased focus during that approach. The balance should lean towards an earlier configuration and away from efficiency in our case. Completing the landing checklist early allows more attention to adverse conditions.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: MD-11 flight crew reports' arriving VHHH during strong gusty winds with moderate turbulence. Due to the distraction of hand flying and moderate turbulence the final flap setting is forgotten until the EGPWS announces 'Too Low Flaps' and a go-around is initiated.

Narrative: Arrival weather reports into VHHH included reports of windshear and moderate turbulence on approach which is common when winds are out of the south. We discussed this phenomenon and elected to adjust approach speed accordingly. We discussed the likelihood of gusty winds to about 400 feet which is when the condition typically dissipates at VHHH. On final; Tower advised possible disruption of glidepath signal due to 2 aircraft crossing the active runway. We were aware of terrain issues causing this at the beginning of the approach electing to remain in NAV until aligned with final just inside LOTUS. As the aircraft crossed the runway; we encountered disruption of glidepath and localizer signals. The localizer disruption caused a slight weave of the aircraft as the autopilot was coupled. Turbulence was moderate as reported so we elected to keep the autopilot coupled until we broke out of the weather. We observed peak gusts to 29 knots breaking in magnitude to as low as 7 knots. Wind vector varied from 180 to 240. At this point; the aircraft was configured to flaps 28 with gear down. We broke out at around 1;600 feet with good visibility underneath; turbulence and gusts got worse. At 1;200 feet; I disconnected the autopilot because I wanted to get a feel for what I was going to deal with and we continued down the approach focusing too much on the rough ride; alert for windshear. We neglected to complete the configuration to flaps 35 and accomplish the landing checklist. At about 100 feet; we got an EGPWS alert 'Too Low Flaps' and executed a go around. We were re-sequenced for a repeat approach which was uneventful resulting in a normal landing. Our lesson learned from this error is to plan a more conservative approach when informed of conditions that will require increased focus during that approach. The balance should lean towards an earlier configuration and away from efficiency in our case. Completing the landing checklist early allows more attention to adverse conditions.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1255810
Time
Date	201504
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	VHHH.Airport
State Reference	FO
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	MD-11
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 82 Flight Crew Total 21000 Flight Crew Type 4012
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 70 Flight Crew Total 15000 Flight Crew Type 3000
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Md-11 flight crew reports' arriving vhhh during strong gusty winds with moderate turbulence. Due to the distraction of hand flying and moderate turbulence the final flap setting is forgotten until the egpws announces 'too low flaps' and a go-around is initiated.