Incident Overview

Date: Sunday 17 October 1999
Aircraft Type: McDonnell Douglas MD-11F
Owner/operator: FedEx
Registration Number: N581FE
Location: Subic Bay International Airport (SFS) – ÿ Philippines
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Component Affected: Flight Crew (Captain and First Officer)Flight Crew (Captain and First Officer)
Investigating Agency: AAIB PhilippinesAAIB Philippines
Category: Accident
A FedEx MD-11 experienced a significant near-miss during a cargo flight to Subic Bay International Airport, Philippines. Due to a misconfigured airspeed indicator, the aircraft descended to a reduced airspeed, triggering autopilot disconnection and subsequent excessive approach speed. The crew?s failure to verify the standby airspeed indicator and execute a missed approach contributed to the runway overshoot and landing complications. The incident highlights critical failure in airspeed monitoring and the importance of proper checklist adherence during critical phases of flight.A FedEx MD-11 experienced a significant near-miss during a cargo flight to Subic Bay International Airport, Philippines. Due to a misconfigured airspeed indicator, the aircraft descended to a reduced airspeed, triggering autopilot disconnection and subsequent excessive approach speed. The crew?s failure to verify the standby airspeed indicator and execute a missed approach contributed to the runway overshoot and landing complications. The incident highlights critical failure in airspeed monitoring and the importance of proper checklist adherence during critical phases of flight.

Description

FedEx flight 87 departed Shanghai-Hongqiao Airport, China, on a cargo flight to Subic Bay International Airport, Philippines. En route at FL370, about 43 minutes before landing, the MD-11 encountered moderate turbulence. Right at that time there was an airspeed ‘miscompare’ between the airspeed indicators of the captain and first officer. The difference increased to 12 knots in about 90 seconds, causing the autopilot to disconnect. The difference increased to about 45 knots as the airplane descended to sea level but at no point did the crew check the standby airspeed indicator. The FCOM procedures for ‘Lost, Suspect or Erratic’ airspeed were also not performed. As the crew entered the approach environment (i.e., 5,000 feet and flaps 15) they identified that the problems might have been caused by an ADC malfunction. Once the first officer switched her instruments to the captain’s ADC, the alerts extinguished and the autopilot and autothrottles became available. It is likely at this point the crew felt the problems had been resolved and that it was appropriate to commence the approach. As the airplane descended below 500 feet, cues and warnings were ignored by the flight crew that strongly suggested the approach could not be completed within acceptable parameters (e.g., multiple GPWS sink rate and pull up warnings, visual ales from the PAPI that the aircraft was high/long, and visual cues from the runway that the aircraft would land past the touchdown zone). The airplane touched down but could not be stopped on the remaining runway. It overran the end of runway 07, impacted an instrument landing system (ILS) antenna site, and continued off a ledge that dropped about 30 feet onto a road located on the shoreline of the airport. The airplane then entered the water and came to rest. The crew managed to evacuate the aircraft with slight injuries and were eventually rescued. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The failure of the flight crew to properly address an erroneous airspeed indication during descent and landing, their failure to verity and select the correct airspeed by checking the standby airspeed indicator, and their failure to execute a missed approach. These failures led to an excessive approach and landing speed that resulted in a runway overshoot. Contributing factors to the accident were clogged pitot tube drain holes, the MD-11’s insufficient alerting system for airspeed anomalies, and the failure of the SEL ELEV FEEL MAN and SEL FLAP LIM OVR D checklists to refer the crew to the standby airspeed indicator.”

Primary Cause

Failure to properly address an erroneous airspeed indication during descent and landing, including the failure to verify and select the correct airspeed by checking the standby airspeed indicator, and the failure to execute a missed approach.Failure to properly address an erroneous airspeed indication during descent and landing, including the failure to verify and select the correct airspeed by checking the standby airspeed indicator, and the failure to execute a missed approach.

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