What happened
A scheduled cargo operation traveling from Liège Airport to London Stansted Airport was diverted to Nottingham East Midlands Airport because of deteriorating weather conditions at the original destination. The arrival at East Midlands required a CAT IIIA approach and landing procedure.
While the aircraft was at an altitude of roughly 500 feet, air traffic control notified the crew of a company instruction to further divert the flight to Liverpool Airport. During the process of responding to this communication, the pilot accidentally disengaged both autopilot systems. In an attempt to stabilize the approach, the pilot tried to re-engage the automated flight systems, but the aircraft began drifting left of the runway centerline and experienced a rapid increase in descent rate.
Although the pilot initiated a go-around maneuver, the aircraft struck the grass approximately 90 meters to the left of the runway centerline. The impact caused the right main landing gear to detach from the airframe. Despite the damage, the aircraft managed to become airborne again, and the crew successfully performed an emergency landing at Birmingham Airport.
Findings
- The incident was triggered when the pilot inadvertently disconnected both autopilots while attempting to manage communications with air traffic control.