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B737 captain reported an autopilot failure into IMC airport led to a diversion.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1581200 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201809 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.TRACON |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B737-700 |
| Flight Phase | Final Approach |
| Route In Use | Other RNAV (GPS) |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Autopilot |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 140 Flight Crew Type 2098.5 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue |
Narrative:
We were arriving ZZZ with weather reported at 700 overcast and 4 miles visibility. The ILS was out of service; so we briefed and flew the RNAV approach. This aircraft has no speed intervention. I was flying the approach with the autopilot connected; lnav and vnav active; flaps 5 and controlling speed with the throttles. We configured with gear down; flaps 15; then flaps 25. The autopilot disengaged; and would not reengage; so we requested vectors straight ahead and received clearance to maintain 2000 feet. We completed the missed approach; and received a climb and vectors for another approach. We set up and briefed the RNAV Y for this second attempt; then received vectors for approach. Again while configuring; the autopilot disengaged and we executed a missed approach. The weather was less than 1000/3; so there was no approach we could fly without the autopilot. Due to this and our fuel state I elected to divert to ZZZ1. Being in the high traffic approach environment I made this decision without contacting dispatch. Our dispatcher saw the two missed approaches and acars destination change. He contacted us by acars to let us know he was working with the ZZZ1 station and we let him know a short reason for the divert. We landed with 4200 pounds of fuel and the station did an excellent job with the short notice divert.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B737 Captain reported an autopilot failure into IMC airport led to a diversion.
Narrative: We were arriving ZZZ with weather reported at 700 overcast and 4 miles visibility. The ILS was out of service; so we briefed and flew the RNAV Approach. This aircraft has no speed intervention. I was flying the approach with the autopilot connected; Lnav and Vnav active; flaps 5 and controlling speed with the throttles. We configured with gear down; flaps 15; then flaps 25. The autopilot disengaged; and would not reengage; so we requested vectors straight ahead and received clearance to maintain 2000 feet. We completed the missed approach; and received a climb and vectors for another approach. We set up and briefed the RNAV Y for this second attempt; then received vectors for approach. Again while configuring; the autopilot disengaged and we executed a missed approach. The weather was less than 1000/3; so there was no approach we could fly without the autopilot. Due to this and our fuel state I elected to divert to ZZZ1. Being in the high traffic approach environment I made this decision without contacting dispatch. Our dispatcher saw the two missed approaches and acars destination change. He contacted us by acars to let us know he was working with the ZZZ1 station and we let him know a short reason for the divert. We landed with 4200 pounds of fuel and the station did an excellent job with the short notice divert.
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.