COMMUTER ACFT LAND WITHOUT CLRNC. UNAUTHORIZED LNDG.

Date: 1992-02 · Aircraft: Medium Transport; High Wing; 2 Turboprop Eng

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance

Synopsis

COMMUTER ACFT LAND WITHOUT CLRNC. UNAUTHORIZED LNDG.

Narrative

WERE FLYING INTO DCA. CAPT HAD 6 MONTH CHKRIDE THE NEXT EVENING AND DECIDED TO PRACTICE RAW DATA (NO FLT DIRECTOR) ILS APCHS. WX AT DCA WAS 1 MI AND 300-400 FT CEILING. APCH CTL WAS VECTORING US FOR THE ILS 36; TURNED US ON FINAL WITH INSTRUCTION TO CONTACT THE TWR AT OXONN. AS MENTIONED; CAPT WAS FLYING WITHOUT FLT DIRECTOR (SEMI- UNUSUAL) AND HAD SOME PROBLEMS GETTING ESTABLISHED AND STABILIZED ON APCH. THAT CAUSED ME TO FOCUS MY ATTN ON WHAT HE WAS DOING. BTWN CALLOUTS; GEAR; FLAPS; CHKLISTS; ETC; I GOT BUSY AND SIMPLY FORGOT TO CONTACT THE TWR. IT WASN'T UNTIL WE HAD TAXIED CLR OF THE RWY AND I LOOKED AT THE RADIO TO SWITCH FREQ THAT I REALIZED WHAT HAD HAPPENED. IMMEDIATELY TOLD CAPT WHO ASKED GND TO CONFIRM WITH TWR THAT THERE WERE NO PROBLEMS. TWR CONFIRMED THAT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: CAPT AND I HAD JUST COME OFF A 3- DAY TRIP WHICH INCLUDED A MIN REST OVERNIGHT; AND WE WERE BOTH TIRED. IN ADDITION; RPT THAT MORNING WAS VERY EARLY. APCH CTLR CONTRIBUTED BY PUTTING RESPONSIBILITY FOR CALLING TWR ON US AT A TIME WHEN OUR WORKLOAD WAS AT A HIGH. IN CONCLUSION; SOMETHING I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IMPOSSIBLE DID HAPPEN. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR GAVE RUNDOWN ON WORK SCHEDULE FOR PAST 2 DAYS. CITED FATIGUE FACTOR AS CONTRIBUTING TO INCIDENT. SAYS PIC WAS KEEPING SPD UP FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON AND DID NOT GET THE APCH STABILIZED UNTIL WELL INSIDE LOM. SAYS IT WOULD BE BETTER PROC FOR APCH CTLR TO GIVE FREQ CHANGE AT TIME IT IS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. THINKS CTLRS AT DCA GET MAX TFC IN AND OUT OF SMALL ARPT; BUT IN DOING SO THEY HAVE TO MAKE TOO MANY CHANGES. THEY CONSTANTLY CHANGE TYPE OF APCH. RWY ASSIGNMENT; SPD ASSIGNMENT; HDG; ETC. FLC PLANNING IS DIFFICULT. WX WAS IMC AND NO VFR TFC TO CONFLICT WITH. THINKS CLOSEST ACFT WAS BEHIND THEM ABOUT 5 MI ON ILS. SAYS SHE IS SURE TWR CTLR WAS AWARE OF THEIR POS AT ALL TIMES; BUT DID NOT TRY TO GET THEM ON PROPER FREQ. SINCE INCIDENT SHE HAS ADOPTED TECHNIQUE OF MENTIONING 'CLRED TO LAND' ON FINAL GEAR AND ALT CALLOUT.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.