CRJ-700 flight crew reported temporary loss of aircraft control due to severe turbulence on approach.
Synopsis
CRJ-700 flight crew reported temporary loss of aircraft control due to severe turbulence on approach.
Narrative
The following events occurred on Day 0 operating flight ZZZ - ZZZ1.This was the second flight of the day. During preflight I briefed the flight attendants that about halfway to ZZZ1 we might start to pick up some light to moderate chop. During the preflight brief I also talked with the FO; that the winds at ZZZ1 were gusting but they didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. If I recall the winds during preflight were somewhere in the range of 250 12/G21 which lined up well with runway XX. The taxi; takeoff; departure; and cruise were all normal. During the second half of cruise we started to pickup some light chop so I went ahead and told the flight attendants to finish up what they are doing and prepare to sit down for the rest of the flight. They informed me they had already completed service. ATC started us down to 9000 at the ZZZ VOR I wondered why they descended us earlier than normal as it meant we were burning a bit more fuel than normal. The ATIS reported the same gusty conditions and mentioned low level wind shear advisories were in effect. ATC also told us that below 6000 we could expect light to moderate turbulence. After receiving this report I asked the FO to tell the flight attendants to remain seated for the rest of the flight which he did. They kept us at 9000 while vectoring us to the east of the field and eventually dropped us to 7000. When we were parallel to the airport ATC told us a citation was on a 20 mile final for runway XX. As we continued to be vectored east of the field the citation confirmed the report of light to moderate saying the moderate was occasional. He then reported a plus and minus 5 knot wind on short final which we heard. ATC asked us if we had the field in sight; we reported yes; and then cleared us for the visual runway XX. I pointed the aircraft towards the tail end of the leg between ZZZZZ and ZZZZZ1 and descended to 5000. I started the left turn to intercept the course and continued the descent to 4700. Once on the GPS course between ZZZZ1 and ZZZZZ I descended to 3700. I configured the aircraft for landing and started the descent after ZZZZZ to land. We started to really pick up some turbulence after we passed the mountain on the left. I think the aircraft was a bit too low for my taste so I disabled autopilot and start hand-flying. A few seconds after disabling the autopilot the aircraft started to rapidly gain speed. At this point I was already flying about 10 knots faster then the increase in speed resulted in a speed of about ~160 whereas was 128 if I recall. We were still above the 1000ft so I started to slow it down but as I was slowing ZZZ1 Tower reported a windshear alert on the runway. I was focused on flying the aircraft so I didn't catch the whole thing but I remember hearing 20 knots. At this point I decided I was going around. The go around was descent with the only errors failing to capture the altitude of 5000 so we ended up at 6000. ATC originally told us to fly the published missed but then corrected it to a heading and altitude. As we were turning my mind went back to my thought of the fuel earlier. For a few second I said lets make one more attempt but as those words were coming out of my mouth my mind was convincing me otherwise. We had about 3300lbs of fuel during the missed approach and were suppose to originally land with 3200. In my mind doing another attempt would have likely resulted in similar results as the first approach and considering the LLWS alert system was going off in ZZZ1 and hearing my FO state similar thoughts we decided to divert.Being very familiar with the area as I did all my flight training out of ZZZ2 I decided between ZZZ3 and ZZZ4. ZZZ3 was further away making the fuel issue worse while ZZZ4 was just 60 miles away but still somewhat close to the mountains. I knew ZZZ4 was a bit to the east of the main mountain range; not in the middle; so I assumed that the lower altitudes on approach would not be nearly as bad as ZZZ1. After a quick discussion we settled on ZZZ4. We requested a diversion to ZZZ4 and got direct to ZZZ4 and a climb to 7000. FO offered to fly the aircraft while I did some calculations; message dispatch; and start setting up the approach in ZZZ4. I then let the flight attendants know about the diversion and also informed the passengers at that time. After setting up the approach; getting landing numbers; and briefing the approach I took back over to flying the aircraft. ATC told us that he was going to vector us around the mountains in front of us to avoid the light to moderate turbulence. This would of taken us to the east and then up around ZZZ4 before we could fly the approach. I was still aware of the low fuel and knew we would already be landing with fuel below the reserve. I elected to continue to fly straight to the field assuming that the previous bumps we felt at 6 and 7000 around ZZZ1 would be the same in this area. About halfway through in the range of the ZZZ VOR we hit what both I and the FO would describe as severe turbulence. The aircraft remained on autopilot but we were constantly rolling; losing and gaining airspeed. We even experienced what felt like a drop similar to some amusement park rides that make the forward flight attendant scream and other passengers scream too. If I had a cup of coffee in the cup holder I would have no doubts that it would be empty by the time it finished. We were overflying a smaller mountain at the time so we kept flying in a straight line to get by it as quickly as possible. Knowing that once we were on the other side it we would be in a clearer spot with no more mountains between us and the airport. Once we rode out the turbulence; which took about 60 seconds; I immediately shifted my focus back to our fuel and making this approach. We were cleared for the visual approach into runway XY. I had the GPS Y XY for back up guidance. I descended down making the base turn; getting to 2400 feet before ZZZZZ2; but overflying to course by a bit. I disabled autopilot and my flight director and flew the rest of the way in by hand taking care of the small hill to the left of the approach course. While the first part of the approach was a bit high we got it onto the right glidepath and landed the aircraft safely on the runway. I did fly the approach about Vref+10 which did cause us to float a bit down the runway but we taxied the aircraft off the runway at the intersection. Taxi to the ramp was normal. After shutdown checklist was complete I made an announcement to the passengers; talked with the ground crew; and began making numerous phone calls including dispatch; maintenance control; and the duty pilot. After discussing the events with my crew; it was apparent that neither of the flight attendants; nor the FO was fit to continue flying that day. I myself thought I was fine but my hand started to shake as I was talking with the duty pilot as I started to come out of my adrenaline rush and also made the decision to ground myself for the rest of the day. Assuming a previous aircraft conditions during their approach would be the same for us. During the approach we were told light to moderate turbulence and a plus/minus 5 knot of final. A citation flew in before us and didn't report anything out of the ordinary. I was aware that LLWS was in affect but the citation flew in fine so I fell into a false belief that it was going to be fine for us too. And the approach was fine until the wind shear occurred which resulted in the go around. Note; the aircraft never gave us a windshear caution but if I was a betting man it was very close to giving one. ATC was the one that issued a LLWS alert and we saw it reflected in our airspeed.Assuming one area of the mountains would behave the same as another spot only 30 miles away. The turbulence we experienced near ZZZ1 was only light to moderate. So that is what I expected when flying to ZZZ4 and was even told by ATC that it would be light to moderate but we then encountered the severe turbulence.Light aircraft. I need to start thinking about light aircraft differently and some of their challenges. The fact that we were on the lower side of fuel; a 700; and only 40% full made us have a very low VREF because of how light we were. Turbulence will affect lighter aircraft more and make it more difficult to control going into the approach environment. In the future if I have a light aircraft and am going into an airport with gusty choppy winds; especially mountain airports. I may request extra fuel to make the aircraft a bit heavier but also give myself the option to attempt more than one approach; especially on a clear day where we won't have any alternate. I could also get a precautionary alternate in the future and will probably make sure I have one for airports like ZZZ4 and ZZZ5 where I have experienced bad turbulence on windy days. I know dispatch mentioned to my FO that he could have given us more fuel because of the gusty winds but I don't blame him at all. He saw the same thing that I did; an airport with some gusty wind conditions. I have only really had two bad windshear/turbulence events at my time at my company that were not thunderstorm related and they are both related to the airports in the mountains; ZZZ5 and ZZZ1. Maybe special care with fuel planning should be made to these airports especially in a 700 as that aircraft always seems to be right around projected landing fuel when we land. To note; I flew the assigned cruise speed on this flight. I should also not assume that another aircrafts approach into the airport does not reflect how my approach will be.Overall I am happy with how my FO and I handled this flight. The FO did a fantastic job of providing input at the perfect time and even offering to fly the aircraft so I could take care of talking with dispatch; flight attendants and setting up the FMS for ZZZ4.
Second reporter narrative
The flight was a smooth operation until the decent process into ZZZ. I; the first officer was PM for the leg and the Capitan was PF.To begin; the decent we were level at 9k and smooth. We were then given a decent to 7k. During this time we were doing 250 knots and given vectors towards runway XX into ZZZ. During the decent to 9k it was mostly smooth with maybe light chop. As we approached 7k the turbulence was light to moderate. As we continued closer we had the field insight and cleared for the visual runway into ZZZ. After cleared the caption started configuring and maneuvering to interpret the runway XX. During the intercept we started to get reports from tower and other aircraft of windshear and turbulence. As we intercepted and started descending on the runway XX we started to experience moderate turbulence and received a warning from the tower of windshear and reported winds at the time. I do not remember the winds exactly and don't want to speculate but after hearing them both the captain and I realized that we were not going to be able to maintain stable approach criteria so we elected to execute a go around. During the go around we climbed to 5/6k feet and given a heading back towards the approach end to set us up to try again. The captain and I had a short conversation about what to do next. We took a look at our fuel and determined that we were barely above reserve fuel. We did not think it was a wise decision to try again at ZZZ for two reasons. Reason one being the amount of fuel remaining. Reason two being that the turbulence and winshear reports were enough for both me and the Captain to decide that it would have not been smart to go through that again and expect a different result.During the diversion process we discussed ZZZ1 and ZZZ2 as our two options which were suggested by the captain. We elected to go to ZZZ1 and asked ATC for vectors while we set up the FMS and other procedures. At this time I; the FO took control of the aircraft while the Captain was loading and briefing all the appropriate people Pax; FA; Disbatch;" etc… I was given the altitude of 7k and headed to ZZZ1.After about 5/7 minutes or so we had everything loaded and briefed. I handed the controls back to the captain and he continued as PF for the remainder of the flight. As we crossed back over the mountains toward ZZZ1 we received more turbulence but this time it was severe turbulence. We stuck to course the best we could and asked for direct airport to save as much fuel as possible. We then were cleared for the visual to runway XY in ZZZ1 and started our decent to the runway. We set up for a right base to final and experienced light to moderate turbulence throughout the approach to land smoothly as we approached the runway. Captain landed the aircraft with no further issues.Extra notes: possible speed violations of 250 below 10;000 feet due to turbulence and other factors during the diversion process. As well as altitude due to turbulence.Cause: The weather"
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.