C172 FLT INSTR AND STUDENT ACCEPT S46 KPTW MISSED APCH CLRNC. THE INSTR RECOGNIZES THAT FLYING THE MAP WILL RESULT IN CFIT.

2001-10 · NASA ASRS report 528109

Date: 2001-10 · Aircraft: Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 · Phase: landing

Anomalies: deviation-track-heading-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit

Synopsis

C172 FLT INSTR AND STUDENT ACCEPT S46 KPTW MISSED APCH CLRNC. THE INSTR RECOGNIZES THAT FLYING THE MAP WILL RESULT IN CFIT.

Narrative

WHILE CONDUCTING AN IFR TRAINING FLT INTO KPWT (BREMERTON ARPT.) WE ASKED FOR AND WERE CLRED FOR THE NDB RWY 01 APCH. WE WERE ISSUED INSTRUCTIONS TO MAINTAIN 3500 FT UNTIL THE BEACON; THEN CLRED FOR THE NDB RWY 01 APCH. MISSED APCH INSTRUCTIONS WERE PROVIDED SEPARATELY. BOTH MY STUDENT AND I UNDERSTOOD THE CTLR TO SAY 'UPON EXECUTING MISSED APCH; FLY HEADING 290 DEG; MAINTAIN 2000! THE STUDENT COPIED DOWN THE INSTRUCTIONS; READ BACK THE PHRASE. DURING THE PROCEDURE TURN; INBND; I REVIEWED HIS NOTES AND BELIEVED THEM TO BE CORRECT. COMMUNICATION WITH THE CTLR HAD BEEN DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF WORKLOAD ON THE CTLR'S PART. IN EXECUTING THE MISSED APCH INSTRUCTIONS; IT BECAME APPARENT TO ME THAT THE ASSIGNED HDG WOULD TAKE US INTO TERRAIN WITHIN A FEW MINS. I WAS PUZZLED WHY THE CTLR WOULD ASSIGN THIS HEADING. THE FREQ CONGESTION PREVENTED ME FROM QUERYING THE CTLR; HOWEVER WE WERE IN VMC CONDITIONS AT THE TIME WITH THE TERRAIN IN SIGHT. HE EVENTUALLY DISCOVERED OUR POSITION AND REQUESTED WE TURN TO A HDG OF 090 DEG. HE THEN COMMENTED ON HOW IMPORTANT THE 090 DEG HEADING WAS ON THAT APCH. IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE MISSED APCH INSTRUCTIONS FOR RWY 17 AT KTIW (CLOSE BY); WHICH THE CTLR WAS WORKING SEVERAL ACFT CONDUCTING APCHES; REQUIRES A HDG OF 290 AND ALTITUDE 2000 FT. THE CTLR ASKED US TO CALL THE FACILITY UPON LNDG AT KTIW. IN MY DISCUSSION WITH THE SUPERVISOR. HE INDICATED THAT WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THE MISSED APCH WAS IN ERROR. THE TRACON IN THIS AREA CONSTANTLY CHANGES THE PUBLISHED MISSED APCH DIRECTION FOR THESE TRAINING FLTS; AND IT IS HARD TO ARGUE WITH THEM BECAUSE OF THEIR WORKLOAD. THIS COULD HAVE CAUSED A CFIT CONDITION IF NOT FOR THE VMC CONDITIONS. THE OTHER FACTOR IS THAT WHEN THE CTLR EVENTUALLY RECOGNIZED WE WERE OFF COURSE AND BELOW MIN VECTORING ALTITUDE; HE DID NOT ISSUE A DIRECTIVE TO 'CLB IMMEDIATELY' OR 'TURN RIGHT IMMEDIATELY.' HE INSTEAD QUERIED US ON WHETHER WE WERE IN A RIGHT TURN TO 090- THE VECTOR HE THOUGHT HE ASSIGNED. HAD WE BEEN IN IMC CONDITIONS; HIS APPARENT LACK OF CONCERN WOULD HAVE TAKEN US DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE UPCOMING TERRAIN. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR ALLEGES THAT THE CTLR WAS WORKING OTHER CTL POSITIONS AT THE TIME BECAUSE HE COULD HEAR THE CTLR XMIT TO OTHER ACFT; BUT COULD NOT HEAR A RESPONSE. THE RPTR ALLEGES THAT THIS INCIDENT IS INDICATIVE OF WEEKEND EVENTS WITH SEATTLE TRACON-ONE CTLR WORKING MULTIPLE FREQS AND INSUFFICIENT TIME FOR CLARIFICATION DUE TO FREQ CONGESTION. WHEN THE TRACON 'ASKED' IF THE PLT WAS TURNING; THE INSTR HAD ALREADY INITIATED A TURN AWAY FROM TERRAIN; AND WAS WAITING FOR A BREAK IN THE FREQ TO QUESTION THE CTLR. THE INSTR ADVISED THAT HE WAS VERY CONCERNED DISCUSSING THE EVENT; WHEN AFTER CALLING THE TRACON; THE SUPVR ASKED HIM WHY HE WOULD EVEN ACCEPT SUCH A CLRNC. THE RPTR WONDERS HOW TO RESPOND TO THAT QUESTION WHEN HE EXPECTS ATC TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE A SAFE AND PROTECTED ENVIRONMENT FOR CONDUCTING STUDENT INSTRUMENT TRNG.

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

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

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.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

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.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

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.

Where does the route data come from?

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.