Regional jet first officer reports a hard right turn during an ILS approach to bhm on autopilot. A g...

Narrative:

At night in IMC with gusty winds; we were vectored onto the ILS 6 into bhm. Near the fap while on the autopilot; the aircraft suddenly made a hard right turn nearly perpendicular to the localizer course while still descending on the glide slope. This was an apparent attempt by the automation to stay on what it thought was the localizer. I immediately called a go around and the pilot flying executed. We followed ATC instructions for the missed. We returned via vectors to the ILS 6 approach and landed without incident.after blocking in and discussing with the captain; we believe the fault was with some sort of disruption of the localizer signal. While the gusty winds may have contributed to the deviation; we believe something must have interfered with the signal (passenger cell phone; other vehicle near the localizer; etc). Approach/tower felt there were no other vehicles in the way of the localizer; but did not confirm. We feel the ILS system should be inspected by the FAA.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Regional Jet First Officer reports a hard right turn during an ILS approach to BHM on autopilot. A go around is initiated and the second approach is successful.

Narrative: At night in IMC with gusty winds; we were vectored onto the ILS 6 into BHM. Near the FAP while on the Autopilot; the aircraft suddenly made a hard right turn nearly perpendicular to the localizer course while still descending on the glide slope. This was an apparent attempt by the automation to stay on what it thought was the localizer. I immediately called a go around and the pilot flying executed. We followed ATC instructions for the missed. We returned via vectors to the ILS 6 approach and landed without incident.After blocking in and discussing with the Captain; we believe the fault was with some sort of disruption of the localizer signal. While the gusty winds may have contributed to the deviation; we believe something must have interfered with the signal (passenger cell phone; other vehicle near the localizer; etc). Approach/Tower felt there were no other vehicles in the way of the localizer; but did not confirm. We feel the ILS system should be inspected by the FAA.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	921383
Time
Date	201011
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	BHM.Airport
State Reference	AL
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet CL65 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types

Regional jet first officer reports a hard right turn during an ILS approach to bhm on autopilot. A go around is initiated and the second approach is successful.