ERJ170 flight crew reported exceeding 250 kts below 10;000ft; citing possible wake turbulence as contributing.
Synopsis
ERJ170 flight crew reported exceeding 250 kts below 10;000ft; citing possible wake turbulence as contributing.
Narrative
During day 2 of our 3 day trip; leg 4; we departed EWR off of 4L on the EWR4. I was pilot monitoring.ATC climbed us to 6;000ft and gave us a left turn toward ELVAE. The autopilot and auto-throttles were on. We were told to expect higher closer to COL and stayed at 6;000ft. After ELVAE; ATC told us about an A320 crossing in front of us at 7;000ft; which we reported in sight. A minute after passing below the traffic; we were told to climb and maintain to 17;000ft and to contact a different frequency. As we did that; we felt some turbulence (possibly wake turbulence from the Airbus; possibly regular light turbulence). The FO (First Officer) had elected to use FLCH for the climb. Also happening at the same time; we had a quarterly tailwind from the right at 41kts at 6000; which became a quarterly headwind from the right at 70+ kts as the climb went. That; paired with the right turn at COL; even though the autopilot was ON; the airplane proceeded to accelerate to 270 kts at 7000 while I was switching frequencies. It did not look like it was trying to correct the speed either… we intervened promptly by overriding the throttles and continued an uneventful flight to ZZZ. A lot of things happened at once there. Obviously getting late; slightly delayed reaction time… My immediate concern when we felt the turbulence was that the plane could roll violently so my focus was set outside to make sure we kept a safe attitude. Evidently that was a little bit of tunnel vision there admittedly paired with some over reliance on automation. This serves as a good reminder to keep my eyes moving and not become complacent.
Second reporter narrative
We were operating EWR-ZZZ. I was pilot flying and the autopilot and auto throttles were engaged. Part of our routing included ELVAE COL WHITE. Between ELVAE and COL; we were told to maintain 6;000 and expect higher over COL. We were also warned about traffic 1000 feet above us going into LGA. We got the A320 in sight as they crossed ahead of us. As expected; as we started to turn over COL ATC gave us a climb. I set the higher altitude; PM confirmed it; and I hit FLCH. Just as we started the climb; we began to hit bumps. The Captain (PM) stated that it could be wake turbulence. I wasn't sure; and I looked out my side window to see if we were under the contrail of the traffic that had previously crossed in front of us. As I was looking; the Captain asked did you see that?". I assumed he was asking about the path of the crossing traffic and responded "yes". I then turned my attention back to the flight instruments; and at that time the Captain was pulling the thrust levers back and our speed was indicating 263 knots. I realized then he was talking about the speed increase with his previous question. With the throttles pulled back in the climb; the speed quickly came back to 250 knots and the Captain released the throttles for the autothrottles to maintain the speed. However; once again the speed jumped up past 250 knots and this time I pulled back the thrust levers to remain at 250 in the climb. Again with the thrust levers pulled back; the speed quickly came back to 250 knots. After this; we continued the flight uneventfully to ZZZ. We debriefed this event once in cruise. The Captain stated he had seen the speed go as high as 270 knots ( we were below 10;000 feet). I did not observe this; the highest airspeed I saw indicated was 263 knots. Cause: Prior to turning at COL; the wind was a strong quartering tailwind; which meant that any wake turbulence from overhead crossing traffic would have been getting blown towards our flight path at COL. We observed this and believe that it was a combination of wake turbulence and a shifting wind component as we turned at COL. This combined with the addition of thrust by the airplane as it began to climb resulted in the airspeed ballooning to well over the speed limit below 10;000. Solution: In order to prevent something like this from happening again; as PF (Pilot Flying); it is important to pay closer attention to the aircraft state. Perhaps using a different vertical mode to climb in the situation could have made a difference as well."
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.