Incident Overview

Description
The aircraft was engaged on a scheduled passenger flight from London-Heathrow, and was landing, at night, on runway 33 at Leeds/Bradford Airport. On arrival in the vicinity of Leeds, the pilot was passed the following weather: Wind 110 degrees /10 kts, visibility 2 km., sky obscured, vertical visibility 200 ft. He was also advised that snow bad fallen, but that runway 33 had been cleared to a width of 30 metres, leaving snowbanks on either side, some 12 to 15 inches in height, and that a recent check on the runway surface had shown braking action to be “Good “. On receipt of this information, the pilot decided that he would make a radar approach to runway 33, accepting a tail-wind component of about 5 kts. (No radar letdown procedure was available for runway 15 because of work being done to extend the runway). During the approach, intermittent sight of the ground was obtained from 600/700 ft. and continuous visual reference was established at 250 ft. At about four miles, the pilot re-checked that the tailwind component was still acceptable and, when he was able to see all the approach and runway lights, selected full flap. After touch-down, the aircraft drifted, or slid, to port, and the pilot was unable to correct this movement before the port wheels struck the bank of snow at the side of the cleared runway. The pilot reported that he found braking action to be poor and that he was unable to get the aircraft back on to the centre line before the nosewheels also struck the snowbank. The pilot brought the aircraft to a standstill on the runway, some 900 metres from the 33 threshold, and was able to taxi to the apron. Examination of the aircraft revealed damage to the nosewheel members, and to the wing root and port flap. A check on the braking action after the accident showed it still to be “Good”.
Primary Cause
Poor braking action during the approach, compounded by the presence of snowbanks and a lack of radar guidance, leading to loss of control and a slide to port.Poor braking action during the approach, compounded by the presence of snowbanks and a lack of radar guidance, leading to loss of control and a slide to port.Share on: