2024-12 · NASA ASRS report 2196557
Embraer 505 air taxi crew reported a loss of aircraft control during the climb in instrument conditions; where the autopilot failed to remain engaged and was not noticed by the crew; resulting in a descent and a terrain warning. The Captain took the flight controls and recovered the aircraft.
On departure from ZZZ ceilings at 500 feet; assigned left turn to 050 while climbing to 2;000 feet. Engaged auto pilot at 700 feet AGL. Autopilot initiated the turn and continued the climb. Near 2;000 feet we observed the plane had banked past 30° and had continued turning past the assigned heading. There was a slight descent; and the lowest we observed was about 1;850 feet; and received a terrain alert. We took control of the aircraft; turned back to assigned heading and climbed back to 2;000 feet. We were then cleared to 3;000 and reengaged the auto pilot. It appeared that the auto pilot had disengaged without aural alert or visual red flashing 'AP' on the FMA (flight mode annunciator). Task saturation played a factor as we were climbing; turning; and receiving new frequencies while entering IMC through 500 feet.Suggestions: Continue procedure of Crew announcing FMA changes as they occur to enhance situational awareness. Continue to closely monitor desired versus actual flight path while using automation.
Departed runway XX assigned a left turn heading 050. On departure engaged the autopilot at 700 feet AGL and initiated a left turn climbing to 2;000 feet. Shortly after was given a frequency change and told to contact departure. After checking in with departure noticed a slightly steeper than normal bank and a slow decent and saw the autopilot was no longer engaged. I immediately took control of the aircraft and leveled the wings and initiated a climb towards 2;000. At the same time we started climbing the terrain alert sounded; during the climb we went above 2;000 and were told to continue climbing to 3;000.Suggestions: In the future will be more vigilant on monitoring the FMA (flight mode annunciator) and not get distracted during times of higher workload so as to know without a doubt what the current condition of the aircraft and autopilot are.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.