An air carrier crew had to abort its approach after the autoplt coupler failed.

Attributes
ACN	319304
Time
Date	199510
Day	Wed
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	airport : eug
State Reference	OR
Altitude	msl bound lower : 1000 msl bound upper : 1000
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tracon : eug tower : eug artcc : mem
Operator	common carrier : air carrier
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	descent : approach landing : missed approach
Route In Use	approach : straight in
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain observation : company check pilot oversight : pic
Qualification	pilot : flight engineer pilot : instrument pilot : commercial pilot : cfi pilot : atp
Experience	flight time last 90 days : 150 flight time total : 10800 flight time type : 4700
ASRS Report	319304
Person 2
Affiliation	company : air carrier
Function	flight crew : captain
Qualification	pilot : atp
Events
Anomaly	aircraft equipment problem : less severe other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other flight crewa
Resolutory Action	other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Primary Problem	Aircraft
Air Traffic Incident	other

Narrative:

Flying an autoplt, coupled approach, autoplt failed and distracted PIC who took over manually and flew ILS that became unstable and resulted in go around. Pilots need to be aware of over-reliance on autoflt and maintain basic flying skills and be ready to recover if autoflt fails.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: AN ACR CREW HAD TO ABORT ITS APCH AFTER THE AUTOPLT COUPLER FAILED.

Narrative: FLYING AN AUTOPLT, COUPLED APCH, AUTOPLT FAILED AND DISTRACTED PIC WHO TOOK OVER MANUALLY AND FLEW ILS THAT BECAME UNSTABLE AND RESULTED IN GAR. PLTS NEED TO BE AWARE OF OVER-RELIANCE ON AUTOFLT AND MAINTAIN BASIC FLYING SKILLS AND BE READY TO RECOVER IF AUTOFLT FAILS.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.