Report on the Westjet aircraft that almost crash in the sea going into Sint Maarten...

[Jet Jockey]

Really not impressed with WestJet...

They (WestJet) considered this a "non event" and allowed the DFDR and CVR to be overwritten but thankfully the aircraft was equipped with a QAR aboard that revealed the truth to how close they came to crashing into the sea.

SUMMARY:

- The crew decided to make a visual approach.

- They were warned twice about moderate to heavy rain moving in on the approach.

- They decided to switch to the GNSS approach to RWY 10 while on final but the vis was already below the minimums for the approach (3400 meters).

- They continued the approach despite never seeing the airport or runway and in fact were lined up with a hotel.

- They continued to descent below MDA despite having no visual perception of height above the water. They actually descended to 39' AGL on the RAD ALT before initiating a Go Around.

- They continued to descent on their approach (off track/off centre line and below VPath despite not one but two EGWPS calls saying (Terrain Too Low) before initiating a Go Around.

I wonder if the pilots were discipline for this incident?


http://www.bst-tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-r ... 7f0052.pdf

[CpnCrunch]

- They were warned twice about low vis (2km or less) on the approach path with moderate rain moving in on the approach.

No. It says "At 1526, ATIS information November was issued, indicating that visibility was 2000 m. 10 The crew did not receive this updated visibility information...The controller did not inform the flight crew of the reduced visibility"

- They decided to switch to the GNSS approach to RWY 10 while on final but the vis was already below the minimums for the approach (3400 meters).

Which they didn't know.

[Jet Jockey]

- They were warned twice about low vis (2km or less) on the approach path with moderate rain moving in on the approach.

My bad, I mixed up the moderate to heavy rain comments from the tower with the vis... Fixed it in the initial post.

[rookiepilot]

They (WestJet) considered this a "non event" and allowed the DFDR and CVR to be overwritten

Why is a system in place where the airline, as an interested party, is even allowed to decide what is and what isn't a "non event"? Why do we have CVR's that can be overwritten instead of uploaded to the cloud?

We have on board passenger WIFI.....seems like it shouldn't be difficult?

[A346Dude]

Interesting how we now have two close calls (this and SFO) where the airlines involved initially brushed off significant incidents as non-events. I will have trouble taking their word for it in the future.

[C.W.E.]

And they both involved failing to maintain situational awareness in relatively benign weather conditions to the point they were seconds from disaster.

[Jet Jockey]

They (WestJet) considered this a "non event" and allowed the DFDR and CVR to be overwritten

Why is a system in place where the airline, as an interested party, is even allowed to decide what is and what isn't a "non event"? Why do we have CVR's that can be overwritten instead of uploaded to the cloud?

We have on board passenger WIFI.....seems like it shouldn't be difficult?

I have to agree with you and those are very good questions.

[photofly]

Historically, unions insisted that flight crew could erase CVRs at the end of a flight, if I recall correctly. They didn’t want management trawling through, looking for who said what about their chief pilot.

It’s still not popular:
https://www.eurocockpit.be/positions-pu ... underwater

[Ypilot]

Transport Canada is delegating all of their authority to in house safety departments. Those safety departments are supposed to be independent from managements.

[Jet Jockey]

Transport Canada is delegating all of their authority to in house safety departments. Those safety departments are supposed to be independent from managements.

LOL... We see how well that worked out.

[rookiepilot]

Historically, unions insisted that flight crew could erase CVRs at the end of a flight, if I recall correctly. They didn’t want management trawling through, looking for who said what about their chief pilot.

It’s still not popular:
https://www.eurocockpit.be/positions-pu ... underwater

On this position, I don't much care for that attitude. Accepting a position at the highest levels of public safety requires giving up the expectation of privacy. Shouldn't even come into the conversation.

"safety first"?

[photofly]

I don't thnk airline pilots very much care what you think