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B767 captain reported that an autopilot malfunction during departure resulted in a clearance deviation.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1700991 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201911 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | STL.TRACON |
| State Reference | MO |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B767-300 and 300 ER |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Takeoff |
| Route In Use | SID JHART6 |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Altitude Hold/Capture |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Track / Heading All Types |
Narrative:
Captain was pilot flying and I was acting as right seat support. ATC completely changed our filed route of flight when we requested our clearance. Captain called dispatch and informed them of the changes. We took off from runway 30L on the jhart six departure. The takeoff weight was extremely light at approximately 232;000 pounds. LNAV was armed for takeoff and the VNAV and autopilot was engaged at 1000 ft. After lift off the plane climbed extremely quickly and did not track our course very well. The plane steered right of course. But not a lot. Our first level off was at 5;000 ft. But the plane did not appear to be leveling off quick enough and captain disengaged the autopilot and flew the plane. I saw the VNAV altitude in the FMA window. The plane was manually leveled off at 5;000 ft. It was an extremely busy time in the cockpit. About that time ATC cleared us to 15;000 ft. And direct jhart. After the clearance was received everything in the cockpit went back to normal and the auto pilot was re-engaged.this is the second time this week this is happened to me in a very light weight takeoff. The 767-300 auto pilot does not appear to be strong enough to handle light weight takeoff. I suggest we remove auto pilot must be used on RNAV one departures from our fcom. And give the captain the option to hand fly these departures if it is allowed by the FAA.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: B767 Captain reported that an autopilot malfunction during departure resulted in a clearance deviation.
Narrative: Captain was Pilot Flying and I was acting as right seat support. ATC completely changed our filed route of flight when we requested our clearance. Captain called Dispatch and informed them of the changes. We took off from Runway 30L on the JHART six departure. The takeoff weight was extremely light at approximately 232;000 pounds. LNAV was armed for takeoff and the VNAV and autopilot was engaged at 1000 ft. After lift off the plane climbed extremely quickly and did not track our course very well. The plane steered right of course. But not a lot. Our first level off was at 5;000 ft. but the plane did not appear to be leveling off quick enough and Captain disengaged the autopilot and flew the plane. I saw the VNAV ALT in the FMA window. The plane was manually leveled off at 5;000 ft. It was an extremely busy time in the cockpit. About that time ATC cleared us to 15;000 ft. and direct JHART. After the clearance was received everything in the cockpit went back to normal and the auto pilot was re-engaged.This is the second time this week this is happened to me in a very light weight takeoff. The 767-300 auto pilot does not appear to be strong enough to handle light weight takeoff. I suggest we remove auto pilot must be used on RNAV one departures from our FCOM. And give the Captain the option to hand fly these departures if it is allowed by the FAA.
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.