Preliminary Report from CLE Shuttle America accident

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Pilot Lost Sight Of Runway Briefly Just Before Touchdown

On Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board issued its Preliminary Report on a February 18 runway overrun incident at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. The unedited text of that report follows below.
NTSB Identification: CHI07MA072
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of Shuttle America (D.B.A. Delta Connection)
Accident occurred Sunday, February 18, 2007 in Cleveland, OH
Aircraft: Embraer ERJ-170, registration: N862RW
Injuries: 74 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On February 18, 2007, at 1506 eastern daylight time, an Embraer ERJ-170, N862RW, operated by Shuttle America, as Delta Connection flight 6448, was substantially damaged when it overrun the end of runway 28 (6,017 feet by 150 feet, snow covered) while landing at the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Cleveland, Ohio. The airplane contacted the localizer antenna and a fence prior to coming to rest approximately 150 feet off the end of the runway. The captain, first officer, 2 flight attendants, and 70 passengers were not injured. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed and the flight was operating on an instrument flight plan. The scheduled passenger flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121. The flight originated from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia, at 1331.

The first officer was flying the airplane at the time of the accident. The captain reported they were cleared for the ILS runway 24R approach. He stated that approximately 10 minutes prior to landing, air traffic control changed the landing runway to runway 28. The captain stated they were informed that the runway visual range (RVR) was 6,000 feet and that the braking action was fair. He reported that after passing the final approach fix, they were informed that the RVR had decreased to 2,000 feet. The captain stated he had the approach lights in sight and at 50 feet above the ground, he had the runway in sight. He stated the first officer then turned off the autopilot to land. The captain stated that at 30 feet above the ground he momentarily lost sight of the runway. He stated he then regained sight of the runway and the airplane was landed. He stated they encountered strong gusty winds during the landing flare and after touchdown they could barely see the runway lights and taxiway turn-offs. The captain reported that despite the use of full reverse and braking, the airplane did not seem to slow down. The airplane traveled off the runway and into the snow covered grass where the nose gear collapsed and the airplane came to rest. The crew and passengers deplaned using a ladder with assistance from the fire department.

The glideslope for the ILS runway 28 approach was unusable at the time of the accident due to the snow. The crew stated they were made aware of this by air traffic control when they were cleared for the approach to runway 28.

The weather reported at CLE at 1456 was: wind 300 degrees at 16 knots, 1/4 mile visibility, heavy snow, broken clouds at 600 feet, broken clouds at 1,500 feet, overcast clouds at 4,100 feet, temperature -7 degrees Celsius, dewpoint - 11 degrees Celsius, altimeter 30.01 inches of mercury.

The weather reported at CLE at 1517 was: wind 330 degrees at 13 knots gusting to 19 knots, 1/4 mile visibility, heavy snow, broken clouds at 300 feet, broken clouds at 1,000 feet, overcast clouds at 1,500 feet, temperature -8 degrees Celsius, dewpoint - 11 degrees Celsius, altimeter 30.03 inches of mercury.
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Apparently the crew didn't make an announcement for an hour while the pax sat in back waiting to be deplaned.
 
wheelsup said:
Apparently the crew didn't make an announcement for an hour while the pax sat in back waiting to be deplaned.
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Anybody know who was captain on this flight? A PM with initials would be nice, as I know a few S5 captains. Obviously do not post on the board.
 
GrantHubbell said:
Being from CLE, I can tell you that if you are going to over run a runway, 28 is not the one to do it on!!
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absolutely. had they not been able to stop it at the fence this would have been a very, very bad situation.

murl said:
Should the captain not go around in this situation? Were they going to fast or what?
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dont want to armchair quarterback this one, but there are some odd facts to this situation. The approach was the ILS 28, no glideslope and there was a notam raising the minimums for all categorys to the localizer only mins, and stating that while the GS was operational it may not be giving you the published angle (hence the raising of the minimums). The approach lights on that runway are MALSRs and the PAPI's were buried under snow and you could not see them (i landed 28 the day before the accident). MALSRs do not have red side row bars or red terminating bars so the lowest you can descend with the lights in sight is 100' AGL.
 
They tried to give us 28 the day before the accident and we refused due to the fact the runway was covered with snow and 24R (or whatever they were using for landing at the time) had just been plowed and braking action was reported good. I'm not a fan of CLE ATC, this is just another reason. I'd rather go fly circles in the sky for 15 minutes while they plow the runway and shoot the ILS instead of shoot a LOC approach to a snow covered runway.
 
If you're not on the ground and you lose sight of the runway, you are supposed to execute a missed approach.

Sounds like that wasn't the greatest day ever for finishing approaches...
 
I'm confused. It says the GS was not usable. How the heck did they get down to seeing just the approach lights and the runway at 50 feet (is S5 cat2 or cat3)?

Bedford did a number on the pilots in his monthly (or weekly) come-to-jesus newsletter.
 
28 is cat I only. The GS was operative but the angle was not guaranteed to be 3* which is why the mins were increased and cle was clearing people for the no glideslope approach.
 
BobDDuck said:
Bedford did a number on the pilots in his monthly (or weekly) come-to-jesus newsletter.
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He really only blasted them hard for not communicating ANYTHING to their passengers for an HOUR.

That my friend is totally unacceptable, espically when you just blasted through a localizer antenna, and fence, and is now at rest nose first in a ditch.
 
BobDDuck said:
I'm confused. It says the GS was not usable. How the heck did they get down to seeing just the approach lights and the runway at 50 feet (is S5 cat2 or cat3)?

Bedford did a number on the pilots in his monthly (or weekly) come-to-jesus newsletter.
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When I worked there S5 wasn't CAT II authorized. Another odd item I noticed was that the A/P wasn't turned off until to 50 feet. I can't remember the limit but I think it is higher than that. I wonder if they were using VNAV or the inaccurate GS?

We seem to have a lot more questions than answers. The union is going to have fun with this one.
 
The captain stated he had the approach lights in sight and at 50 feet above the ground, he had the runway in sight. He stated the first officer then turned off the autopilot to land. The captain stated that at 30 feet above the ground he momentarily lost sight of the runway. He stated he then regained sight of the runway and the airplane was landed.



So at they have the approach lights at mins, so they continue to 100' above TDZE. NO ALSF-2 on that runway, so how did they get to 50' before having the runway in sight?
 
viper548 said:
The captain stated he had the approach lights in sight and at 50 feet above the ground, he had the runway in sight. He stated the first officer then turned off the autopilot to land. The captain stated that at 30 feet above the ground he momentarily lost sight of the runway. He stated he then regained sight of the runway and the airplane was landed.



So at they have the approach lights at mins, so they continue to 100' above TDZE. NO ALSF-2 on that runway, so how did they get to 50' before having the runway in sight?
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Yeah...according to his explanation of everything, there were at least 2 times he should have gone missed!
 
So what will likely happen to the pilots in an incident like this? Will they be walked off the property, written up, or what?
 
Callous said:
So what will likely happen to the pilots in an incident like this? Will they be walked off the property, written up, or what?
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The company and the union generally have your back up until the point where you intentionally break the FARs, procedures or the op-specs.

That's a real basic answer, but as a pilot you're held to a much higher level of scrutiny than other employees.
 
Doug Taylor said:
The company and the union generally have your back up until the point where you intentionally break the FARs, procedures or the op-specs.

That's a real basic answer, but as a pilot you're held to a much higher level of scrutiny than other employees.
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But this idiot....in his own statment said he violated the FAR's twice...possibly three times!!!! What was going through this guys mind??? I hope the union doesn't have his back.
 
If any of you care to see the news coverage, i recorded it on my computer and uploaded it to youtube a few hours ago actually. The thing that makes me the most angry is that all of the news stations say "PLANE CRASHES AT CLEVELAND HOPKINS AIRPORT" Okay, the plane didn't CRASH, it skidded off the runway. [yt]OlJUHrTaTI0#GU5U2spHI_4[/yt]
 
It can be MUCH easier to skid off the end of the runway than you might think. Sure, these guys screwed up pretty bad; but you'd be supprised how easily you can get run off the runway with the right combo of mistakes.

There IS a point where you're dedicated to landing when you get into larger and larger aircraft, to the point that you can't just say "Oh this is going bad, take her around Joe!" when you're already a few thousand feet down the runway.
 
ERJFly2013 said:
The thing that makes me the most angry is that all of the news stations say "PLANE CRASHES AT CLEVELAND HOPKINS AIRPORT" Okay, the plane didn't CRASH, it skidded off the runway.
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Oh it crashed all right. I think it certainly broke noisily, it certainly underwent sudden damage on impact, I'm sure there was a sudden loud noise and no doubt the final movements were noisy and we know they caused damage.

Oh it crashed just fine.

crash 1 (krsh)
v. crashed, crash·ing, crash·es
v.intr.
1.
a. To break violently or noisily; smash.
b. To undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact: Their car crashed into a guardrail. The airplane crashed over the ocean.
2. To make a sudden loud noise: breakers crashing against the rocks.
3. To move noisily or so as to cause damage: went crashing through the woods.
4. To undergo a sudden severe downturn, as a market or economy.
 
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