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Large transport first officer reported descending below charted altitude on a non-precision approach to gum in heavy rain.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1304476 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201509 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | GUM.Airport |
| State Reference | GU |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | Marginal |
| Light | Dusk |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Large Transport |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Other RNAV 24R |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying First Officer |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Flight Engineer Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 88 Flight Crew Total 6400 Flight Crew Type 1270 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
On descent to the guam airport we flew an approach into guam for a landing on 24R. We began the final descent phase to the runway with weather which was above minimums. During the approach we encountered moderate turbulence and heavy rain. Upon reaching the MDA crew communications were somewhat hindered due to the extremely loud impacts of rain on the windshield. As a result of confusion and coordination we inadvertently descended below the MDA (while a non-flying crewmember was yelling altitudes AGL in the back of the cockpit); upon realizing this we also noticed the runway in sight ahead of us and being in this position with a clear descent path to the runway after executing a small correction to the left. The captain and I elected to continue to a landing. We landed approximately 3000 feet down the runway at the very end of the touchdown zone.the problem was most likely caused by fatigue (extremely long day and wake cycle including an earlier diversion); flying a non-precision approach in marginal weather; inability to communicate clearly due to the loud environment within the cockpit; and confusion caused by other individuals (acm) interfering with communications between pilots flying the aircraft.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Large transport First Officer reported descending below charted altitude on a non-precision approach to GUM in heavy rain.
Narrative: On descent to the Guam airport we flew an approach into Guam for a landing on 24R. We began the final descent phase to the runway with weather which was above minimums. During the approach we encountered moderate turbulence and heavy rain. Upon reaching the MDA crew communications were somewhat hindered due to the extremely loud impacts of rain on the windshield. As a result of confusion and coordination we inadvertently descended below the MDA (while a non-flying crewmember was yelling altitudes AGL in the back of the cockpit); upon realizing this we also noticed the runway in sight ahead of us and being in this position with a clear descent path to the runway after executing a small correction to the left. The Captain and I elected to continue to a landing. We landed approximately 3000 feet down the runway at the very end of the touchdown zone.The problem was most likely caused by fatigue (extremely long day and wake cycle including an earlier diversion); flying a non-precision approach in marginal weather; inability to communicate clearly due to the loud environment within the cockpit; and confusion caused by other individuals (ACM) interfering with communications between pilots flying the aircraft.
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.