2016 Embraer ERJ-190 runway overrun at Cuenca Airport

Overview and flight details On 28 April 2016, an Embraer ERJ-190 operating a commercial scheduled passenger service was on a Quito–Cuenca sector. The aircraft carried 93 people on board, including the flight crew, three cabin crew members, a company maintenance mechanic, and 87 passengers. It departed Quito at 12:14:41 UTC and was cleared for a VOR ILS ZULU approach to runway 23 at Cuenca Airport (Mariscal Lamar). ## Approach and landing Approach control and aerodrome control provided weather information that included drizzle, a wet runway, and braking action reported as good to medium by an Airbus A319 that had landed earlier. The flight crew selected autobrake MEDIUM during pre-landing preparation. The aircraft touched down on runway 23 at 12:50:51 UTC, 277 m from the threshold. ## Runway excursion and damage Braking effectiveness was insufficient to stop the aircraft within the remaining runway length. The pilot performed a skid maneuver to stop on the grass area adjacent to the runway 05 threshold. The aircraft came to rest 49 m beyond the end of runway 23, oriented toward 023 degrees. Impact forces caused the left main landing-gear lock to fail and the gear to retract, broke engine mounts, damaged left-wing flaps, and deformed the lower fuselage. ## Investigation findings The Ecuadorian accident investigation board identified probable causes as a contaminated, slippery runway; an unstabilized approach with tailwind; and failure to apply the manufacturer-recommended Maximum Performance Landing procedure for contaminated runways. Contributing factors included extra fuel, omission of required runway-length calculations, crew decisions on approach and go-around, incorrect use of thrust reversers, emergency braking that inhibited antiskid, and crew resource management and training issues.