ERJ 170 flight crew reported loss of aircraft control due to microburst and windshear on final approach. Flight crew regained aircraft control and conducted a go-around.
Synopsis
ERJ 170 flight crew reported loss of aircraft control due to microburst and windshear on final approach. Flight crew regained aircraft control and conducted a go-around.
Narrative
During our 3rd leg of the day from ZZZ1 to ZZZ we encountered a microburst while on the missed approach for Runway XXL in ZZZ. The following is a narrative of this event. I was the pilot flying and the FO (First Officer) was pilot monitoring. Momentarily after being given the approach clearance for Runway XXL into ZZZ and being told to switch to Tower; a microburst alert came across for the Approach frequency for Runway XXL. The First Officer on my command immediately canceled the approach clearance. We were given a heading of 220 and instructions to climb to 5000 ft. The heading didn't turn us away from the weather and then subsequently flew us through the weather. I asked the FO to get a heading away from the weather to avoid the microburst. However; he was unable to get a word in with ATC as he tried to call them at least 4 times and due to the fact that we were in IMC conditions in one of the world's busiest airspace and surrounded by weather; I was reluctant to turn more than a few degrees without permission.After initiating the go-around as instructed we initiated the climb and go-around procedures. I selected the heading of 220; dialed in 5000 ft.; selected flight level change speed 210. We were already at flaps 2 so we went to flaps 1 and while climbing through 3800 ft. the plane encountered a microburst and lost all lift. I announced windshear and commanded max thrust and pushed the nose forward to gain airspeed and prevent a full stall. I will note we never received an annunciated winds shear alert nor did we get a shaker or a pusher indication. I will also note the exact altitude loss and airspeed loss is unknown. I estimate the altitude loss was around 2000 ft. and the airspeed loss was around 50 kt. Once I recovered to the point where the plane regained lift; we initiated a climb back to our assigned altitude of 5000 ft. and entered a severe updraft that made us blow through 5000 ft. up to 8000 ft. before I was able to regain control of the aircraft. Once control was regained I commanded the FO to recover." It took several minutes for the FD (Flight Director) to become useful again. The FO during the windshear recovery and on my command informed ATC as to the fact that we were recovering from windshear. Once we were at a safe altitude and I was able to get the autopilot on; I made an announcement on the radio to help articulate how bad the microburst and windshear were in hopes of stopping other planes from flying through it. In closing; this situation could have been minimized had the ATC controller turned us away from the weather on the missed. We were able to recover control of the aircraft with no injuries or aircraft damage of any sort. In the future I will instruct the FO to tell ATC we need an immediate heading away from the weather when on a missed approach anywhere near a microburst."
Second reporter narrative
We were enroute from ZZZ1 to ZZZ and getting vectored for the ILS XXL. I was pilot monitoring and the Captain was pilot flying. The controller told us; Aircraft X; maintain 180 kt. until ZZZZZ and contact Tower XXX.X." I repeated the clearance back; then literally 1 second after my repeat and before I switched to Tower the controller announced; "Attention all aircraft; low level microburst alert; 30-kt. loss on 3-mile final." My Captain told me to cancel our approach clearance and without wasting any time; after an aircraft had already asked to cancel theirs; I said "we can't take that either" and "we'd like to cancel our approach due to the microburst." Then the controller instructed us to "fly heading 220 and maintain 5000." The final approach course to the ILS XXL is a 219 heading so the 220 heading sent us straight into the weather. My Captain asked me to get a different heading to avoid the weather. I called about 4 times before we were finally told; "I gave you a heading of 220; but you can have whatever heading you want;" a few moments later. At that point we had already flown through the worst of the weather.Being in the position that we were; ZZZ2; and ZZZ3 to our left and ZZZ4 traffic to our right; we were hesitant to deviate from our instructions more than a few degrees given it's one of the busiest airspace in the world with jets everywhere. We initiated a soft go-around and climbed to 5000 with flight level change 210; and selected a heading of 220. We were slightly configured with flaps 2 and in our climb we selected flaps 1. Around 4000 ft. or so we encountered a microburst. The aircraft lost an incredible amount of lift and we began to lose altitude fast. The Captain announced wind shear and moved the thrust levers to max. I announced what altitude we were at during the microburst and looked at our airspeed and was shocked to see how much airspeed we had lost. I told him we need to push the nose down more and I looked to left left and saw the yoke full forward. After about 20 seconds we were out of it and hit an updraft and shot up to 8000 ft. before we could start to recover. After that the Captain told me to "recover" and I selected heading and we cleaned up the aircraft and regained control. After going through the microburst; the flight director automation of the aircraft was not cooperating with our inputs and he hand-flew the aircraft until we got it to work. Towards the end of the ordeal I told ATC we were recovering from wind shear. The Captain made a comment to air traffic control of what we had went through in hopes of not sending any more aircraft through the weather we went in. My suggestion is that air traffic controller should've realized the heading of 220 was essentially our current heading into the weather and thus given us a different heading. Also; given the microburst alert; they should've alerted us better and given us instructions to avoid the weather. Had we switched over to Tower and not heard the microburst alert on the Approach frequency we might've been in an even more dire situation."
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.