David Kaminski-Morrow/London
Polish investigators have concluded that inadequate planning resulted in a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 crew's mistaking the location of Katowice airport on approach and descending far below the glideslope.
The twinjet reached a radio altimeter height of 247ft (75.2m) before the aircraft climbed away after aborting its approach.
Weather conditions were good and flight FR8226, arriving from Bristol on 10 March 2008, had been cleared for a visual approach to Runway 09, which meant flying towards the morning sun.
While the cockpit recorder was overwritten before analysis, flight-data recorder information shows the 737 left its cruise altitude of 41,000ft about 18min before the incident.
At 1,050ft the jet was in landing configuration, but Polish investigation agency PKBWL said the crew - whose forward visibility was "restricted" by the sun's position - had "mistakenly determined the location" of the airport, realising the error at about 500ft.
The 737 had descended from 24,000ft under 'idle' power, which the inquiry said was "inconsistent" for a stabilised approach. The engines took time to spool up and terrain warnings sounded at about 370ft, while the jet was still 3nm (5.55km) from the airport.
Despite the lack of cockpit voice data, PKBWL said "inadequate" crew resource management "probably contributed [to] a lack of information exchange" between the two pilots.
It also questioned whether the disparate levels of experience - the captain had 21,800h while the first officer had 1,020h - contributed to the situation. It said an "authority-apprentice" relationship is "extremely delicate".
After executing the go-around the aircraft returned to land safely. Katowice had an instrument landing system at the time, but on the opposite-direction Runway 27, while its navigation aids were limited to a non-directional beacon rather than distance-measuring equipment.
Source: Flight International
