CAPT OF AN MLG BELIEVED THAT HE EXCEEDED THE ACFT XWIND FACTOR WHEN LNDG IN A GUSTY XWIND.

Date: 1994-03 · Aircraft: B737-400

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-other-unknown|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|other-unspecified

Synopsis

CAPT OF AN MLG BELIEVED THAT HE EXCEEDED THE ACFT XWIND FACTOR WHEN LNDG IN A GUSTY XWIND.

Narrative

ARRIVING AT PIT; ATIS WAS GIVING STRONG WINDS (210 DEGS; 18 KTS; GUST 30) IN VFR. WIND SHEAR OF 10-15 KTS POSSIBLE. AFTER TURNING FINAL 6 MI OUT WE SWITCHED TO TWR WHERE HE GAVE US WINDS AT (200 DEGS; 15-36 KTS). THIS COUPLED WITH A LOT OF TURB; PRESENTED ME WITH A PROB -- TIME MGMNT IN SETTING PRIORITIES. LNDG CHKLIST WAS DIFFICULT TO READ AND SEE; WATCHING THE FO'S PERFORMANCE IN ACFT CTL; LOOKING IN MANUAL FOR XWIND LIMITATIONS CHART AND SELECTING AN ALTERNATE IF APCH WAS ABORTED -- ALL WITHIN A MIN OR SO! I ELECTED TO 'STAY WITH' THE COPLT AND ACFT THROUGH LNDG. AFTER LNDG THE XWIND CHART REVEALED WE HAD EXCEEDED XWIND LIMITATIONS. SEGMENTS HAD BEEN ISSUED FOR POSSIBLE WIND SHEAR/STRONG WINDS/SEVERE TURB. ATIS CONFIRMED WITH STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS. TURNING FINAL AND RECEIVING CLRNC TO LAND; WE ASSUMED IT WAS OKAY BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE HAD DONE IT. I NEVER VERIFIED THE XWIND COMPONENT BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE TIME! I ASSUMED WE COULD DO IT -- LEGALLY. PROFESSIONAL PLTS ARE BECOMING TOO DEPENDENT ON COMPANY POLICY BECAUSE OF A LEGALISTIC SOCIETY (FAA; NTSB INCLUDED). OUR THOUGHTS AND STRESS ARE CONTINUAL NOW BECAUSE OF THE 'LETTER OF THE POLICY.' IF WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE DECISIONS AS TO SAFETY; NOT THE LAW; THEN WE NEED TO RELAX SOME OF THESE REQUIREMENTS -- ALLOW US TO USE OUR JUDGEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH AN ATP. (EXAMPLE OF POLICIES THAT ARE IGNORED). WE DO FLY IN SEGMENT AREAS OF SEVERE TURB; WE DO APCH WITH 'CALLS' CLOSE TO THE FIELD (WITHIN 5 MI); WE LAND WITH TAIL WINDS ETC AND WITH TKOF AND LAND WITH WIND SHEAR ADVISORIES AND WE FLY IN MODERATE TURB; WE ADD NO 'GUST FACTORS SPD' ON TKOF ETC.

More incidents for this aircraft family →

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