A319 FLT CREW SUSPECTED DEGRADED ACFT PERFORMANCE DURING CLIMBOUT. FLT CREW CONTACTED MAINT; AND DECIDED TO DIVERT; DECLARING EMER. FLT CREW DISCOVERED DURING APCH THAT LNDG GEAR HAD NEVER BEEN RETRACTED.

2007-05 · NASA ASRS report 738568

Date: 2007-05 · Aircraft: A320 · Phase: initial_climb

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A319 FLT CREW SUSPECTED DEGRADED ACFT PERFORMANCE DURING CLIMBOUT. FLT CREW CONTACTED MAINT; AND DECIDED TO DIVERT; DECLARING EMER. FLT CREW DISCOVERED DURING APCH THAT LNDG GEAR HAD NEVER BEEN RETRACTED.

Narrative

WHILE DEPARTING ZZZ ON THE NOISE ABATEMENT TKOF PROC; THE LNDG GEAR WAS NEVER RETRACTED. PRIOR TO FLT; THE PROC WAS BRIEFED; AND I WAS GOING TO BE THE PF. DURING THE TKOF; I FOCUSED ON THE HIGHER THAN NORMAL ROTATION TO A PITCH ATTITUDE OF 19 DEGS. AT 700 FT THE 19 DEG PITCH WAS REDUCED; THE ACFT CLBED TO 3000 FT; AND THE FLAPS WERE RETRACTED ON SPD. I CALLED 'FLAPS ZERO; AFTER TKOF CHKLIST' AND THE CHKLIST WAS COMPLETED BY THE PLT MONITORING. THINKING BACK; I DON'T RECALL THE PLT MONITORING STATING THE CALLOUT 'POSITIVE RATE.' I CONTINUED TO CONCENTRATE ON MAINTAINING SRS COMMANDS OF THE TARGET PITCH ATTITUDE; AND SHOULD HAVE COMMANDED 'GEAR UP' EVEN WITHOUT THE POSITIVE RATE CALLOUT. I THINK THE PLT MONITORING MISSED THE CALL BECAUSE; AS I WAS ROTATING ON TKOF; AND ADJUSTING THE PITCH; I RECALL HEARING FROM THE PLT MONITORING SAY; 'OK ROTATING TO 19; THERE'S 700 FT' ETC; THUS VERBALIZING THE PROFILE AS THE PLT MONITORING; EVEN THOUGH THE TARGET PITCH ATTITUDES WERE ACHIEVED PER THE PROFILE. I THINK THAT IS THE CRUX OF WHY THE LNDG GEAR WAS MISSED. INSTEAD OF HEARING THE STANDARD TKOF PROFILE CALLOUTS; I WAS HEARING NON-STANDARD (EXTRA VERBIAGE) CALLOUTS DURING TKOF. DURING CLBOUT; I THOUGHT THE GEAR HAD BEEN RETRACTED. WE DID HAVE A DISTR IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO TKOF. WHILE ON TWR FREQ; HOLDING SHORT OF THE RWY; THE FLT ATTENDANT CALLED AND SAID THERE IS A CHILD OVER TWO AS A LAP CHILD; AND WOULD HAVE TO BE MOVED. WE STARTED TO CALL ZZZ OPS; AND ADJUST THE PAX COUNT TO REFLECT THE CHANGE. THEN; THE FLT ATTENDANT CALLED BACK AND STATED THAT THE CHILD WAS IN FACT UNDER 2; AND WOULD REMAIN A LAP CHILD. BECAUSE IT WAS INTERRUPTED; THE TKOF BRIEFING WAS STARTED OVER; AND THE BEFORE TKOF CHKLIST WAS COMPLETED. WHILE CLBING; IT WAS THOUGHT THE FLAPS WERE DOWN; EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE INDICATING UP. THE FLT ATTENDANT CHKED AND STATED THEY LOOKED DOWN. LATER; A COMMUTING OFF-LINE AIRLINE PLT IN THE CABIN LOOKED; AND ADVISED THAT THE FLAPS WERE UP. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN APPARENT THE GEAR WAS STILL DOWN BECAUSE OF THE DECREASED PERFORMANCE; DECREASED 280 KTS REDLINE INDICATION ON THE PFD (FOR MAX SPD VLE); AND THE ECAM REMAINING ON THE WHEELS PAGE. I REMAINED THE PF; WHILE MAINT WAS CONTACTED. A DIVERSION TO ZZZ1 WAS MADE; WITH EMER DECLARED. WHILE CONFIGURING FOR LNDG; WHEN I CALLED; 'GEAR DOWN' THIS IS WHEN IT WAS REALIZED THE LNDG GEAR HANDLE AND LNDG GEAR WAS DOWN; AND ILLUMINATING 3 GREEN TRIANGLES. A VERY BRIGHT AFTERNOON SUN ON A CLR DAY PROBABLY MADE THE COCKPIT DISPLAYS LIGHTER; AND DID NOT HELP IN SEEING THE GEAR DOWN INDICATIONS EITHER. IN SUM; I WILL COMMAND GEAR UP; IRRESPECTIVE OF A MISSED POSITIVE RATE CALL; MAKE SURE I HEAR THE WORDS 'AFTER TKOF CHKLIST COMPLETE' FROM THE PLT MONITORING; AND SUGGEST THE AFTER TKOF CHKLIST BE MODIFIED FOR THE FIRST 2 ITEMS TO BE CHANGED TO A VERBAL CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE CHKLIST ITEM RATHER THAN A SILENT (PM) PLT MONITORING ITEM.

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

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