Air France A320 Incident at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (F-HEPE)

Flight Details and Event Overview On April 3, 2012, at 12:56 UTC, an Air France Airbus A320-214, registration F-HEPE, was operating a scheduled passenger flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport. The flight was crewed by a captain, a first officer, four cabin crew members, and 149 passengers. The weather at the destination was clear (CAVOK). The aircraft was cleared for an RNAV VISUAL approach to runway 26 via the KEREN waypoint. The flight data recorder (QAR) and radio communications were used for the investigation, as the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was no longer available at the time of notification. ## Approach and Speed Deviation At 12:49 UTC, the Tel Aviv controller cleared the crew for the approach. The aircraft was stable at 4,000 feet with the autopilot, auto-thrust, and flight directors engaged. The crew was instructed to reduce speed to below 180 knots from the DOVER waypoint. At 12:53:56 UTC, the aircraft passed the KEREN waypoint at 180 knots and 3,280 feet, which was higher than the 3,000 feet specified on the approach chart. The first officer, who was the pilot flying, felt the aircraft was “too high, too fast” but did not communicate this to the pilot not flying. The aircraft subsequently captured the 3,000-foot altitude. At 12:54:30 UTC, the crew selected an altitude of 1,000 feet and switched to OPEN DESCENT mode. The engines went to idle, and the crew extended the landing gear and flaps to configuration FULL, reducing the speed to the approach speed (Vapp) of 138 knots. ## Go-Around and System Activation At 12:56:05 UTC, before the final turn, the autopilot was manually disconnected at 1,540 feet. At 12:56:10 UTC, during the final turn with a 20-degree bank, the pilot flying applied a pitch-up input for approximately ten seconds. During this time, the flight directors were indicating a pitch-down command to maintain the target speed with engines at idle. The aircraft’s pitch increased from 0.7 degrees to 10 degrees, and the angle of attack rose from 5.5 degrees to 10.9 degrees. The speed decreased from 135 knots to 122 knots, which was 16 knots below Vapp. The crew heard the “SPEED, SPEED, SPEED” alarm. The pilot flying decided to perform a go-around without informing the pilot not flying and set the thrust levers to the TOGA detent. The pilot not flying briefly applied a pitch-down input, intending to continue the approach. Two seconds later, the ALPHA FLOOR mode engaged, followed by TOGA LOCK, which locked the engines at maximum thrust. The crew selected configuration 3 and an altitude of 3,000 feet. The pilot flying attempted to reduce thrust to CLIMB, but the TOGA LOCK mode prevented this. As the aircraft approached 2,000 feet, the crew selected that altitude, re-engaged the autopilot, retracted the gear, and selected configuration 1. The speed increased to 223 knots, exceeding the VFE of 215 knots for configuration 1, triggering an overspeed alarm. The pilot flying set the thrust levers to IDLE, which disengaged the auto-thrust and TOGA LOCK. The crew re-engaged the auto-thrust, performed a second approach, and landed without difficulty. ## Personnel and System Information The captain was 58 years old with approximately 20,000 flight hours, including 1,800 hours as a captain on the A320. The first officer was 27 years old with 500 flight hours, including 200 hours as a first officer on the A320. The A320’s auto-thrust system can operate in THRUST, SPEED, or ALPHA FLOOR modes. In ALPHA FLOOR mode, the system applies maximum TOGA thrust and locks it, which can only be disengaged by manually disconnecting the auto-thrust. The RNAV VISUAL approach concept was developed in the United States to address issues with visual approaches. At the time of the incident, this type of approach was not yet used in Europe and was not explicitly detailed in Air France’s technical manual. Tel Aviv was the only short/medium-haul destination in Air France’s network with this type of approach.