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A B747-400 flight crew descending for landing at a foreign airport which utilizes a very low transition altitude of 4;000 MSL descended below their cleared altitude when the pilot flying failed to reset his altimeter to qnh passing the transition altitude.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1148081 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201402 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | EGVN.Airport |
| State Reference | FO |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Night |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | B747-400 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Approach |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Altimeter |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | First Officer Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Person 2 | |
| Function | Pilot Not Flying Check Pilot Captain |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter CFTT / CFIT |
Narrative:
IMC night; aircraft configured with gear down; flaps 10 on very tight vectors to ILS 08 localizer. [We were] cleared to descend to 2;300 on qnh 981 mb. Autopilot on; heading selected; descending in flch from 5;000 to 2;300 MSL. I failed to select local altimeter at the transition altitude of 4;000. Because I didn't look to confirm what button I pushed. My crosscheck failed to pick up the amber standard altimeter alert. The autopilot did what I had set up and descended through our assigned altitude since my altimeter setting was incorrect. I was monitoring the descent and [believed I] still had approximately 200 ft to level off. The captain caught the deviation; assumed control of the aircraft and initiated a go-around; simultaneous with an ATC altitude advisory. We reentered downwind and I landed uneventfully. My failure to transition to local qnh at transition altitude and the crew failure to run the approach check at transition altitude were causal in this deviation.follow SOP; back each other up; especially during night IMC when task saturated.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A B747-400 flight crew descending for landing at a foreign airport which utilizes a very low transition altitude of 4;000 MSL descended below their cleared altitude when the pilot flying failed to reset his altimeter to QNH passing the transition altitude.
Narrative: IMC night; aircraft configured with gear down; flaps 10 on very tight vectors to ILS 08 localizer. [We were] cleared to descend to 2;300 on QNH 981 mb. Autopilot on; HDG selected; descending in FLCH from 5;000 to 2;300 MSL. I failed to select local altimeter at the transition altitude of 4;000. Because I didn't look to confirm what button I pushed. My crosscheck failed to pick up the amber STD altimeter alert. The autopilot did what I had set up and descended through our assigned altitude since my altimeter setting was incorrect. I was monitoring the descent and [believed I] still had approximately 200 FT to level off. The Captain caught the deviation; assumed control of the aircraft and initiated a go-around; simultaneous with an ATC altitude advisory. We reentered downwind and I landed uneventfully. My failure to transition to local QNH at transition altitude and the crew failure to run the Approach Check at transition altitude were causal in this deviation.Follow SOP; back each other up; especially during night IMC when task saturated.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.