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A321 captain reported the flying first officer mistakenly retracted the flaps instead of the speedbrakes on approach. Fatigue was cited as a factor.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1428946 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201703 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1801-2400 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | SCT.TRACON |
| State Reference | CA |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | A321 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 121 |
| Flight Phase | Descent |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain Pilot Not Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Deviation - Speed All Types |
Narrative:
First officer was hand flying and trying to slow the aircraft on a visual approach after being kept fast on arrival by ATC. Aircraft was at flaps 2; gear down and speed brakes out. First officer went to retract speed brakes and mistakenly grabbed the flap handle bringing the flaps back up to 0. First thing I noticed as pilot monitoring was the aircraft speeding up and the vls (lowest selectable speed) (hook) raising rapidly. That's when I said 'your speed brakes are still out' and brought the handle up. At that time he realized the mistake and said 'I brought the flaps up by mistake.' when I looked over the flap indicator appeared to be at 0; we got a quick 'over speed' annunciation and I believe the airspeed was accelerating from 180 to approximately 210 (just at the bottom of the barber pole). Aircraft was reconfigured and remaining approach/landing was normal.it's an unusual occurrence; but it can happen. We both were tired as this was a 2 day trip and after waking up on the east coast and now landing on the west coast it was [late] for us. Although we are all comfortable where things are in the cockpit; a visual look before moving a handle or switch is a good idea.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: A321 Captain reported the flying First Officer mistakenly retracted the flaps instead of the speedbrakes on approach. Fatigue was cited as a factor.
Narrative: First officer was hand flying and trying to slow the aircraft on a visual approach after being kept fast on arrival by ATC. Aircraft was at flaps 2; gear down and speed brakes out. First Officer went to retract speed brakes and mistakenly grabbed the flap handle bringing the flaps back up to 0. First thing I noticed as pilot monitoring was the aircraft speeding up and the VLS (lowest selectable speed) (hook) raising rapidly. That's when I said 'your speed brakes are still out' and brought the handle up. At that time he realized the mistake and said 'I brought the flaps up by mistake.' When I looked over the flap indicator appeared to be at 0; we got a quick 'over speed' annunciation and I believe the airspeed was accelerating from 180 to approximately 210 (just at the bottom of the barber pole). Aircraft was reconfigured and remaining approach/landing was normal.It's an unusual occurrence; but it can happen. We both were tired as this was a 2 day trip and after waking up on the east coast and now landing on the west coast it was [late] for us. Although we are all comfortable where things are in the cockpit; a visual look before moving a handle or switch is a good idea.
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.