The confluence of several issues while intercepting an ILS caused an A320 flight crew to forget the speed brakes were still deployed as they intercepted the glideslope.

Date: 2009-05 · Aircraft: A320 · Phase: approach

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|deviation-speed-all-types|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

The confluence of several issues while intercepting an ILS caused an A320 flight crew to forget the speed brakes were still deployed as they intercepted the glideslope.

Narrative

It was a midnight arrival. Cleared visual to 35L and keep final turn at Dymon. Overshooting winds 060/20; so that was set up to be difficult with the cut approach gave and then cleared visual. Approach mode was armed and 1/2 speed brakes in use. Autothrottle was on at the time. Got a false jump in the glideslope as passing through 35R and the glideslope created issues with flight director's and autothrottle; so I disengaged autothrottle similar to when you forget to activate and confirm. Got the plane controlled; however; I normally keep hand on speed brakes when in use; but the distraction of the glideslope and autothrottle issue broke that habit pattern. Gear down and speed was decaying so I corrected; but loss of situational awareness on the speed brakes caused me confusion as to why I needed this amount of thrust. Captain stowed speed brakes with the checklist and I was correcting for the overshooting winds and aircraft configuration changes and airspeed now returned to normal obviously. The airplane met visual stabilization criteria; no problem and we were not unsafe; but for 10 seconds; my situational awareness was lost due to a false lock on of glideslope; autothrottle jump; disconnecting the autothrottle; overshooting winds and taking my hand off the speed brakes while in use. Landing was uneventful. Another valuable lesson learned about habit patterns; possible fatigue; distractions and how they can create a quick error chain that can snow ball based on environment and circumstances.

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