A300 FLC HAS SPOILERS DEPLOY DURING APCH CAUSING ACFT TO LOSE ALT AND AIRSPD.
Synopsis
A300 FLC HAS SPOILERS DEPLOY DURING APCH CAUSING ACFT TO LOSE ALT AND AIRSPD.
Narrative
SPOILER FAULT 3 AND 5. MAINT DID A BYTE CHK -- FOUND NOTHING. ON APCH TO JFK VOR RWY 13L CRI TO VISUAL RWY 13L; ON EXTENDING FLAPS TO 20 DEGS AND SLOWING TO 170 KTS; PRIMARY FLT DISPLAY HOOK INDICATED THIS SPD TOO LOW. FMC HAD GIVEN FINAL APCH SPD 130 KTS. EXPERIENCED LOSS OF ALT FROM 800 FT MDA AND LOSS OF AIRSPACE. HAD TO USE CONSIDERABLY MORE PWR THAN NORMAL TO REGAIN MINIMUM ALT AND KEEP SPD ABOVE THE HOOK. CHKED STATIC INSTS TO XCHK. NO ECAM MESSAGES. RESEATED SLAT HANDLE; LEFT IT STOWED; WENT TO 40 DEGS FLAPS. AIRSPD TO STAY AT THE HOOK WAS 150+ KTS AND INDICATOR ON PFD SHOWED APCHING HIGH SPD FOR 40 DEGS FLAPS. THESE INDICATIONS PLUS VIBRATIONS WERE INDICATIVE TO US THAT 2 OR MORE SPOILERS WERE DEPLOYED AND NOT AIR DATA COMPUTER PROB. REF TO APCH SPD IN FMC HAD DISAPPEARED. I DID NOT WANT TO SLOW TO THIS ORIGINAL APCH SPD AS I FELT THE ACFT WOULD STALL. WE WERE VERY CLOSE TO THE GND AND SHOOTING THIS APCH FASTER THAN NORMAL WITH CONSIDERABLY MORE PWR REQUIRED -- A DIFFERENT APCH ATTITUDE THAN NORMAL. THIS UNSETTLED THE FLT ATTENDANTS AND THEY RPTED SO. FROM EXPERIENCE SEEING THE PFD AND HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS; WHEN FLAPS ARE EXTENDED AND THE SLATS HAVE BEEN INADVERTENTLY LEFT OUT; THIS IS HOW IT FELT -- BUT WE COULD NOT STOW THE SLATS IN THIS INSTANCE. LANDED AT 148 KTS. DID NOT HAVE TIME TO MONITOR N1 ETC. LNDG SMOOTH. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR INDICATED THAT THE FO PLACED THE SPOILER HANDLE INTO THE STOWED POS; HOWEVER; THE ACFT PERFORMANCE REMAINED THE SAME. THE AIRSPD INDICATION ON THE PDF SHOWED THAT THE ACFT WAS APCHING THE OVERSPD FOR THE FLAPS 40 DEG SELECTION AND HE WAS AFRAID THAT THE FLAPS WOULD BLOW UP IF HE EXCEEDED THE SPD CAUSING THE ACFT TO STALL. ADDITIONALLY; THE PDF INDICATED THAT THE ACFT WAS CLOSE TO THE ALPHA FLOOR (STALL SPD) AND HE COULD NOT REDUCE HSI SPD. THE RPTR FELT THAT HE WAS TASK SATURATED AND COULD ONLY CONCENTRATE ON THE AIRSPD AND LNDG.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.