What happened
On 14 June 2017, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Lockheed C-130, registration NZ7003, was operating a military flight from Baghdad International Airport to Al Minhad Airport in the United Arab Emirates. At the time of the incident, the aircraft was part of a sequence of three planes waiting for clearance to land due to heavy fog and low visibility at the destination.
As weather conditions improved, the aircraft was cleared for an ILS approach to runway 09. During the approach, the Air Traffic Control Officer (ATCO) instructed the crew to descend to 3,000 feet and subsequently to 2,000 feet. While being vectored to a heading of 030, the aircraft transitioned from a sector with a radar minimum sector altitude (RMA) of 2,000 feet into a new sector where the RMA was 2,800 feet. This descent into a higher-altitude restricted sector triggered an automatic minimum safe altitude warning on the air traffic control monitor. A second low-altitude warning was also triggered before the aircraft successfully established on the localizer. There were no injuries and the aircraft remained undamaged.
The investigation
The UAE Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS) initiated an inquiry after being notified of the incident via Dubai air traffic control. The investigation team was tasked with examining the sequence of events involving the descent instructions and the subsequent altitude warnings. The scope of the ongoing investigation includes an analysis of air traffic control equipment, operational procedures, and the human and organizational factors that contributed to the aircraft entering a restricted altitude sector.