<< >> NASA ASRS Report 924508, December 2010

An A319 flight crew was surprised when the autoflight system; armed to capture the ILS; inexplicably began a descent while increasing thrust. The automation was disconnected; the ILS captured and a successful manually flown approach and landing accomplished.

Attributes
ACN	924508
Time
Date	201012
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	LAS.Airport
State Reference	NV
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A319
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Autoflight System
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control

Narrative:

We were being vectored to the ILS 25L at las and were slowed on downwind to 140 KTS. Altitude was 5;000 when turned on the localizer. Approach was activated and confirmed. Last clearance was [to] maintain 5;000 until established on the localizer; cleared ILS 25L. Localizer was captured outside of shand; we armed the approach mode and were waiting for the glideslope to come alive. For reasons I cannot explain the aircraft started down and the thrust started to increase while in the selected mode. I disconnected both the autopilot and the autothrottle. As a result we were 500 to 600 ft low; but we had the runway in sight; recaptured the glideslope and landed. Tower advised us of low altitude warning and said nothing else. Had it been IMC conditions a go-around would have been initiated.

Related reports:

• A cessna 560XL diverted to a nearby airport when the aircraf...
• B737 captain reported that three of the four flight attendan...
• An A320 flight crew received a reroute clearance prior to ta...
• A boeing 737-700 crew; conducting operations under the const...
• An A300 flight crew descending via the fnchr RNAV STAR to me...
• ZLA controller and two flight crews describe a serious airbo...

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.37000feet.com

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A319 flight crew was surprised when the autoflight system; armed to capture the ILS; inexplicably began a descent while increasing thrust. The automation was disconnected; the ILS captured and a successful manually flown approach and landing accomplished.

Narrative: We were being vectored to the ILS 25L at LAS and were slowed on downwind to 140 KTS. Altitude was 5;000 when turned on the localizer. Approach was activated and confirmed. Last clearance was [to] maintain 5;000 until established on the localizer; cleared ILS 25L. Localizer was captured outside of SHAND; we armed the approach mode and were waiting for the glideslope to come alive. For reasons I cannot explain the aircraft started down and the thrust started to increase while in the selected mode. I disconnected both the autopilot and the autothrottle. As a result we were 500 to 600 FT low; but we had the runway in sight; recaptured the glideslope and landed. Tower advised us of low altitude warning and said nothing else. Had it been IMC conditions a go-around would have been initiated.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.