ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 299441
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| Date: | Monday 7 June 2021 |
| Time: | 11:50 UTC |
| Type: |  Embraer ERJ-170LR |
| Owner/operator: | Eastern Airways |
| Registration: | G-CIXW |
| MSN: | 17000230 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2008 |
| Engine model: | General Electric CF34-8E5A1 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 23 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | near Birmingham Airport -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger |
| Departure airport: | Gibraltar-North Front Airport (GIB/LXGB) |
| Birmingham International Airport (BHX/EGBB) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Eastern Airways flight 975 was flying from Gibraltar to Birmingham Airport. The pilots began the descent into Birmingham from FL380 and during the descent, about 90 nm from landing, an amber pitch trim fail caution illuminated on the Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System (EICAS). On seeing the message, the PF disconnected the autopilot (AP) to counter the potential threat from a pitch trim runaway. Shortly thereafter, the ap fail caution illuminated, indicating the loss of the AP.
The pilots continued the descent into Birmingham and actioned the checklist in the quick reference handbook (QRH) for pitch trim fail. They determined, both from the forces required to maintain the flight path and the trim indication, that neither the primary nor secondary trim systems were functioning and, as a consequence, nor was the AP.
The pilots did not declare an emergency and continued the descent as ATC vectored the aircraft for the ILS approach to Runway 15 at Birmingham. On the final approach, the PF found that he required more effort than usual to control the pitch of the aircraft. To counter this, the pilots decided that the PF would have both hands on the yoke to maintain control of the aircraft’s flight path, while the PM would guard the throttle (since autothrottle remained engaged).
On landing, a steer fail caution illuminated, together with a flt ctrl no dispatch caution.
The commander, who had been operating as PM and occupied the left seat, took control and stopped the aircraft on the runway. The pilots then completed the steer fail checklist in the QRH. The commander taxied the aircraft off the runway and onto the stand using differential braking and asymmetric power in accordance with the relevant abnormal checklist. On shutdown the commander advised the operator’s maintenance control that the failures resulted in control issues both in the air and on the ground and made relevant entries into the aircraft technical log.
AAIB Conclusion
The failure of the pitch trim system probably occurred because of jamming of the horizontal stabiliser as a result of freezing of water ingression in the ball nut due to condensation. The investigation found that the operator had lubricated the horizontal stabiliser at the intervals specified by the manufacturer to prevent such an occurrence.
Jamming of the horizontal stabiliser resulted in the loss of the pitch trim functionality.
Consequently, the PF experienced greater than normal nose-down pitch forces on the approach. The PF delegated the monitoring of the throttles, which were still in autothrottle, to the PM to allow him to use both hands on the yoke. The PF flew a stable approach and made a safe landing. However, on landing, the steer fail caution illuminated, as a result of an unrelated sensor failure. The commander took control and brought the aircraft to a safe stop and taxied the aircraft to stand using differential braking.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
AAIB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Oct-2022 08:38 | harro | Added |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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