B747-400 FLC DEPARTS ARPT WITH WINDSHEAR WARNING AND MICROBURST ALERT IN EFFECT.

Date: 2002-08 · Aircraft: B747-400 · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence

Synopsis

B747-400 FLC DEPARTS ARPT WITH WINDSHEAR WARNING AND MICROBURST ALERT IN EFFECT.

Narrative

UPON TAKING THE RWY FOR TKOF; THE PRECEDING ACFT RPTED WINDSHEAR AT 1300 FT; -10 KTS. THE TWR CTLR RPTED THE WINDSHEAR WARNING AT 1500 FT +/-10 KTS. THE CTLR THEN STARTED CALLING MICROBURST OVER THE FIELD; THEN MICROBURST ALERT OVER THE RWY. THE CTLR NEVER GAVE A SPECIFIC LOCATION; BUT ALWAYS USED THE WORD 'OVER' LEADING ME TO BELIEVE SHE WAS STILL REFERRING TO THE WINDSHEAR AT 1500 FT. IT WAS ALL 1 CONTINUOUS THOUGHT. WE BRIEFED A FULL PWR TKOF AND A SLOWER THAN NORMAL ROTATION. OUR TKOF WT WAS 684000 LBS. THERE WERE NONE OF THE FLT MANUAL WINDSHEAR PROBABILITY PARAMETERS (LIGHT RAIN AND THE ADVISORY FROM TWR). WX RADAR WAS ON AND NOTHING SIGNIFICANT WAS INDICATED. ACCELERATION WAS NORMAL WITH THE AIRSPD INCREASING SMOOTHLY WITH NEVER ANY HESITATION. CLBOUT NORMAL UP TO ABOUT 1200 FT. WHEN WE ENCOUNTERED TURB; AIRSPD JUMPED UP ABOUT 20 KTS AND THEN SETTLED BACK TO THE BUG; NEVER GETTING BELOW BUG -10. AT 1500 FT; 1 ACFT GENERATED WINDSHEAR WARNING; AIRSPD +/-10 KTS. INITIATED THE WINDSHEAR RECOVERY PROC. IMMEDIATELY RECOVERED WITH NO LOSS OF ALT ON EITHER ENCOUNTER. I BELIEVE THE USE OF THE WORD 'OVER' AND THE CLOSE AND CONTINUOUS ADVISORIES RELATIVE THE 1500 FT WINDSHEAR ADVISORY AND NO SPECIFIC LOCATION (POINT) LED US TO BELIEVE WE WERE DEALING WITH A WINDSHEAR AT 1500 FT ON DEP ONLY. HUMAN FACTORS: LANGUAGE USAGE DIFFERENCES AND THE TWR CTLR SEEMED RUSHED TO GET INFO OUT LEADING US TO BELIEVE SHE WAS USING INCORRECT PHRASEOLOGY (MICROBURST VERSUS WINDSHEAR). WE DON'T KNOW FOR A FACT IF A MICROBURST ALERT WAS ACTUALLY ISSUED FOR THE ARPT.

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