DC9-33 CREW HIT A RWY END LIGHT WHILE MAKING AN APCH TO MINIMUMS AT MIA.

2001-11 · NASA ASRS report 530452

Date: 2001-11 · Aircraft: DC-9 30

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|ground-event-encounter-other-unknown|inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|other-cockpit-workload-mgmnt

Synopsis

DC9-33 CREW HIT A RWY END LIGHT WHILE MAKING AN APCH TO MINIMUMS AT MIA.

Narrative

AT 160 NM FROM MIAMI INTL WE GOT THE ATIS WHICH WAS WINDS AT 290 DEGS 5 KTS; 1/4 MI VISIBILITY W1 19/19 ALTIMETER 29.99. ILS TO RWY 27R (MINIMUM ARE 4000 FT RVR). I ASKED ZMA FOR RVR RPTS. THEY SAID TOUCHDOWN RUR WAS 5000 FT WE BRIEFED THE ILS TO RWY 27R WITH THE FO FLYING AN AUTOPLT COUPLED APCH. MISTAKE #1: THE CAPT SHOULD HAVE FLOWN THE APCH BECAUSE OF THE WX. INDEFINITE 100 FT. UPON SWITCHING TO MIA APCH; WE WERE TOLD TO EXPECT RWY 27R. A COUPLE OF MINS LATER APCH SAID THEY WERE CLOSING RWY 27R TO EXPECT THE ILS TO RWY 27L. AS PNF; I BRIEFED THE ILS TO RWY 27L (MINIMUMS) ((5000 FT RVR). WE INTERCEPTED THE RWY 27L LOC ABOUT 15 MI OUT. SHORTLY APCH SAID THE RWY 27L TOUCHDOWN RVR WAS DOWN TO 3500 FT (BELOW MINIMUMS) AND GAVE US A HDG TO INTERCEPT RWY 27R LOC. I REBRIEFED THE IMPORTANT POINTS FOR THE ILS TO RWY 27R AND WE INTERCEPTED THE LOC FOR RWY 27R. RWY 27R WAS REOPENED AND WE WERE CLRED THE APCH TO RWY 27R. THE RWY 27R TOUCHDOWN RVR WAS OTS; MID WAS 5000 FT RVR; ROLLOUT WAS 6000 FT RVR. THE COUPLED APCH WAS RIGHT ON THE LOC AND GS ALL THE WAY DOWN TO MINIMUMS OF 208 FT MSL. I CALLED THE APCH LIGHTS IN SIGHT 12 O'CLOCK POS. THE FO CALLED GOING VISUAL. WE BOTH HAD THE THRESHOLD AND RWY IN SIGHT. THE GS WARNING SOUNDED AND I CALLED FOR PWR. THE FO ADDED PWR AND WE LANDED IN THE FIRST 100-200 FT OF THE RWY. MIA ARPT MAINT RPTED THAT WE BROKE THE GLASS LENS ON ONE OF THE THRESHOLD LIGHTS. LESSONS LEARNED: 1) I; THE CAPT; SHOULD HAVE FLOWN THE APCH. 2) THE RVR RPTS OF 5000-6000 FT LULLED US INTO THINKING THIS WOULD BE AN EASY ENOUGH APCH. NO ACTUAL APCHS ARE EASY. 3) MY SCAN WAS SLOW GETTING FROM OUTSIDE TO SEE THE APCH LIGHTS OR RWY TO BACK INSIDE TO SEE HOW THE ELECTRONIC GS WAS DONE. I DID NOT CATCH THE DUCK UNDER. 4) WHEN THE GS WARNING SOUNDED I SHOULD HAVE EXECUTED A MISSED APCH AT THAT POINT; BECAUSE WE WERE UNDER THE ELECTRONIC GS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 530956: WX ATIS WAS 300 DEGS AT 4 KTS; 1/4 MI VISIBILITY IN FOG INDEFINITE 100 FT 19/19 ALTIMETER 29.92; NOTAMS RWY 27R MALS OTS. TOLD THAT RWY 27R HAD EQUIP PROBS RWY 27L ILS APCH TO MIA WAS BRIEFED. AFTER BEING VECTORED AND CLRED FOR ILS RWY 27L APCH; WE HEARD THE RVR GO BELOW MINIMUMS (TD 3000 FT MID 5000 FT ROLLOUT 6000 FT). WE TOLD APCH CTL AND WERE THEN VECTORED TO THE RWY 27R ILS. TOLD THE RVR WAS MID 5000 FT AND ROLLOUT 6000 FT. TOUCHDOWN RVR WAS OTS. WE REBRIEFED THE APCH AND FLEW AN AUTOPLT APCH. AT MINIMUMS (200 FT AGL) WE CALLED RWY IN SIGHT. IT WAS SOMEWHAT CONFUSING DUE TO THE FACT THAT THE MALS WERE NOTAMED OTS BUT APPEARED ON. I SET UP A VISUAL GLIDE PATH REFING THE RWY END AND CTR LIGHTS. I DRIFTED LOW ON GLIDE PATH AND THE CAPT CALLED FOR PWR. PWR WAS ADDED AND A LNDG WAS MADE ON THE RWY CTRLINE SHORT OF THE NORMAL 1000-3000 FT LNDG ZONE. LATER WE WERE INFORMED BY AN ARPT MAINT PERSONNEL THAT WE MIGHT HAVE STRUCK A RWY END LIGHT DURING LNDG. HOWEVER; THERE WAS NO INDICATION OF DAMAGE TO THE ACFT. IN RETROSPECT; THE PROPER DECISION AT MINIMUMS WAS TO GO MISSED APCH. THE VISIBILITY AT MINIMUMS WAS LOWER THAN REQUIRED FOR THE APCH EVEN THOUGH WE SAW THE RWY. ONE OF THE KEYS WE SHOULD HAVE PICKED UP ON WAS THAT THE PARALLEL RWY 27L TD RVR WAS 3000 FT. ANOTHER FACTOR WAS THE RWY BEING 200 FT WIDE; WITH MINIMUM VISUAL CUES. AT MINIMUMS WE APPEARED HIGHER THAN NORMAL. BOTTOM LINE: WHEN IN DOUBT; GO AROUND.

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

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