What happened
On 31 October 2008, an Air Europa Boeing 737-800, registration EC-HJQ, was performing a non-scheduled passenger flight from Glasgow to Lanzarote. During the descent, the crew requested a change in landing runway from 03 to 21. This change led to a delay of approximately two minutes as the pilot flying struggled to reprogram the Flight Management Computer (FMC) for the new arrival route.
As the aircraft approached runway 21, the descent became vertically unstable. The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) issued multiple warnings, including "SINK RATE" and "TOO LOW TERRAIN," between 900 ft and 80 ft altitudes. The aircraft crossed the threshold at a high speed of 175 kt, significantly above the reference speed. Due to the wet runway surface, the aircraft touched down approximately 1,300 m past the threshold.
Following touchdown, the autobrake system was inadvertently disengaged, and the engine reversers were not engaged until 13 seconds after contact. The engines were unable to reach sufficient RPM to provide effective deceleration. The aircraft traveled across the runway and through the stopway, eventually coming to a stop one meter from the jet blast barrier at the opposite end of the airport. There were no fatalities and no injuries among the 74 passengers and 6 crew members, though the aircraft sustained damage to its tires and two approach lights were struck.
The investigation
The CIAIAC investigation focused on the crew's management of the runway change and the stability of the approach. Investigators examined the flight data, cockpit voice recorder, and maintenance records. The inquiry established that the aircraft was airworthy and the crew was properly licensed. The investigation also reviewed the airport's communication protocols regarding runway surface conditions and the effectiveness of the airline's Crew Resource Management (CRM) training.
Findings
- The primary cause was a high-energy unstabilized approach followed by a landing with excessive speed on a wet runway.
- The crew failed to use the autobrake and reversers efficiently due to delays in throttle input and inadvertent disengagement of the autobrake.
- A significant contributing factor was a breakdown in CRM; the captain requested a runway change without consulting the pilot flying and failed to call out the 500-ft altitude instability threshold.
- The pilot flying was over-reliant on the FMC, which caused a delay in preparing for the new arrival.
- The ATIS and tower controllers did not inform the crew that the runway surface was wet.
- The engine response time was delayed because the throttles were not advanced promptly to activate reversers.