What happened
On the afternoon of the incident, an Iberia flight arriving from Madrid was cleared for an instrument approach to runway 35 at Quito. During the descent, the crew was alerted that previous aircraft had encountered medium to poor braking action. In response, the crew set the auto brake system to the 'High' setting.
As the aircraft approached the runway, air traffic control informed the crew of a wet runway surface and reported poor braking action, with winds at 170 degrees and 4 knots. Upon visual contact with the runway, the pilot in command chose to deviate from the established ILS glide path to intercept the PAPI lights. The aircraft type touched down approximately 200 meters beyond the runway threshold, experiencing a significant side load of 3.09g.
Following touchdown, the spoilers deployed, but the impact caused the tires on the third and eighth main gear positions to burst. During the sequence, the co-pilot inadvertently moved the flap lever from the full position to position 2. The crew attempted to use reverse thrust and manual braking; however, the auto brake system failed, leading the crew to disconnect the antiskid system to continue applying manual pressure. The aircraft exited the end of runway 35 at a ground speed of 90 knots after striking the ILS localizer, coming to a halt 232 meters beyond the runway end. An evacuation via the door 2R slide occurred thirty minutes later. There were zero fatalities and zero injuries among the passengers and crew, though the aircraft was determined to be a total loss.
Findings
The investigation concluded that the primary cause was an unstable approach configuration resulting from the crew's decision to continue the landing despite known poor weather, heavy aircraft weight, and degraded runway conditions. The pilot failed to execute a go-around after deviating from the ILS path to intercept the PAPI lights.
Additional contributing factors included:
- Inadequate operator briefing regarding specific procedures for Quito Airport under existing conditions.
- A lack of crew familiarity with the specific weather and operational challenges present at this airport.
- Deficiencies in in-flight calculations regarding runway length requirements.
- Failure to establish a detailed briefing that would have prevented deviations from the approach path.
- Adverse environmental factors, including moderate rain, visibility issues, and tailwinds.