An Airbus A380 operated by Emirates made a runway excursion while landing in Singapore when the Pilot Flying (PF) failed to acknowledge “go around” callouts from the Pilot Monitoring (PM).
The serious incident occurred on 2 March 2023 at 14:27 local time in heavy rain, according to a final report published by Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB).
The aircraft (A6-EVJ) was operating a service from Dubai. As the aircraft conducted an ILS approach to runway 02L the rain picked up, according to the PF. Without elaborating, he said that heavier rain affected his handling of the aircraft.
At 180ft, the PF disengaged the autopilot and both crew observed the aircraft drifting to the right of the runway centreline. Left stick and rudder inputs were applied to correct this. Although the PF saw the aircraft was not aligned with the centreline, he still felt a safe landing was possible.
At 30ft above ground level, the PM called out “go around,” but the PF replied with “no it’s ok” and continued the approach.
“The PF told the investigation team that he actually did not understand what the PM had said but he did not ask the PM to repeat or clarify what he had said and he had responded to the PM with “no it’s OK” just so that he could get on with focusing on landing the aircraft,” says the TSIB.
The PM again called out “go-around” as the aircraft was touching down. The PF did not respond and continued the landing roll. Later the PF told investigators that he didn’t’ hear the second “go-around” callout.
There were no injuries to passengers or crew, although three runway lights were damaged and one of the aircraft’s tires was punctured.
Emirates took several actions after the incident, such as sharing the details of the excursion with all crews on 17 March, and including a case study about the event as part of pilots’ recurring training.
Moreover, during annual crew resources management and technical training, Emirates reminds crews that once the PM calls for a “go-around”, then the go-around must be executed. The PM also needs to be ready to take control and fly a missed approach even if the aircraft has touched the ground.
