Incident Overview

Date: Wednesday 24 June 1992
Aircraft Type: Boeing 767-330ER
Owner/operator: Condor Flugdienst
Registration Number: D-ABUZ
Location: Cerro Copey – ÿ Venezuela
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 263
Component Affected: Aircraft Flight Control System (specifically, the flight management computer and pilot’s input).Aircraft Flight Control System (specifically, the flight management computer and pilot’s input).
Category: Accident
A 767 aircraft, departing runway 09 at Porlamar (PMV) on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, at approximately 22:00 hours local time, experienced a near-miss incident due to a pilot’s misunderstanding of the clearance. The pilot entered the flight management computer with an incorrect readback, leading to a deviation from runway heading and a turn to 032 degrees towards the Perry intersection. GPWS warnings triggered shortly after takeoff, indicating a potential hazard. The pilot responded with a gentle pull-up, but the aircraft subsequently deviated significantly, resulting in a significant damage event including a hole in the wing and fuel tank rupture.A 767 aircraft, departing runway 09 at Porlamar (PMV) on Isla Margarita, Venezuela, at approximately 22:00 hours local time, experienced a near-miss incident due to a pilot’s misunderstanding of the clearance. The pilot entered the flight management computer with an incorrect readback, leading to a deviation from runway heading and a turn to 032 degrees towards the Perry intersection. GPWS warnings triggered shortly after takeoff, indicating a potential hazard. The pilot responded with a gentle pull-up, but the aircraft subsequently deviated significantly, resulting in a significant damage event including a hole in the wing and fuel tank rupture.

Description

The 767 departed runway 09 at Porlamar (PMV) on Isla Margarita, Venezuela at about 22:00 hours local time. The departure clearance contained non-standard phraseology. The crew didn’t fully understand the clearance and the air traffic controller did not challenge the flight crew’s incorrect readback. The crew entered the first reporting point into the flight management computer. Instead of maintaining runway heading, the airplane turned left to 032 degrees on a heading direct towards the PERRY intersection (located in the Caribbean at 13ø 14′ 37N 63ø 5′ 14W, 150 miles away). Less than two minutes into the flight, GPWS warnings began: “Terrain! Terrain! Pull Up! Pull Up! Terrain! Terrain!” The First Officer responded with a gentle pull up from 9.3 to 12.5 degrees. After gaining 200 feet, he lowered the nose to 11.2 degrees, just before the airplane’s left wing clipped the last 20 feet of a 300-foot uncharted tower on top of a 3,000 foot mountain (Cerro Copey). After the incident, the crew raises the nose to 16.9 degrees and applied full thrust. The airplane returned to the departure airport, and landed with a six-foot long, two-foot deep hole in the left wing leading edge, a ruptured fuel tank, damage to the flap drive, stringers and front spar, and a scar of the tower’s red paint across the top of the wing.

Primary Cause

Pilot error ? incorrect readback of clearance, leading to deviation from runway heading.Pilot error ? incorrect readback of clearance, leading to deviation from runway heading.

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