TWR RECEIVED LOW ALT ALERT ON GA SMT ON ILS APCH AND CALLED OUT PULL UP. LATER DETERMINED GLIDE SLOPE WAS MALFUNCTION OR ALERT WAS FALSE.

Date: 1988-05 · Aircraft: Small Transport; Low Wing; 2 Turbojet Eng · Phase: approach

Anomalies: inflight-event-encounter-cftt-cfit|other-unspecified

Synopsis

TWR RECEIVED LOW ALT ALERT ON GA SMT ON ILS APCH AND CALLED OUT PULL UP. LATER DETERMINED GLIDE SLOPE WAS MALFUNCTION OR ALERT WAS FALSE.

Narrative

ACFT WAS ON ILS APCH TO BUR BTWN BUDDE (OM) AND VINNE (LMM); WHEN BUR TWR CALLED 'ALT ALERT; PULL UP 400' IMMEDIATELY.' THIS INSTRUCTION WAS FOLLOWED EVEN THOUGH ILS G/S DISPLAYED FLY DOWN. AIRPLANE ALT WAS APPROX 2300'. TWR WAS SO ADVISED. 1BUR109.5 WAS SELECTED ON #2 NAV RECEIVER AND G/S DISPLAY AGREED WITH #1. AFTER PULL UP; BOTH G/S DISPLAYS SHOWED MAX FLY DOWN SIGNAL; AND WHEN RWY WAS SIGHTED; IT WAS APPARENT THAT AIRPLANE WAS TOO HIGH AS LMM WAS APCHED; FLAPS WERE EXTENDED FROM APCH TO LNDG AND PROPS WINDMILLED TO INCREASED RATE OF DSCNT. A NORMAL LNDG WAS MADE; SLIGHTLY LONG. DURING A FLT THE PREVIOUS DAY AND ON AN ILS APCH FOLLOWING THE RPTED APCH; THE ILS G/S DISPLAY INDICATED NORMALLY. THERE WAS NO SAFETY OF FLT INVOLVED IN THE RPTED OCCURRENCE; BUT UNDER OTHER CONDITIONS; THERE COULD BE. THIS OCCURRENCE WAS DISCUSSED WITH AN EXPERIENCED AND KNOWLEDGEABLE FAA EMPLOYEE AND THE FOLLOWING POSSIBLE CONDITIONS FOR THIS OCCURRENCE ARE SUGGESTED: 1) ELECTRONIC RADIO FREQ INTERFERENCE RADIATED FROM THE GND. 2) THE ALT ALERT SIGNAL TO THE CTLR MAY; UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS; BE GENERATED BY A COMPUTED VALUE; BASED ON RATE OF CHANGE OF ALT; SPD (DISTANCE); RATHER THAN AN ACTUAL INSTANTANEOUS AIRPLANE ALT.

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