E145, Dayton OH USA, 2011
E145, Dayton OH USA, 2011
On 31 January 2011, an Embraer 145LR being operated by Expressjet Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Cleveland OH to Dayton left landing runway 06R during a night landing in normal ground visibility and light winds and ended up on intersecting active runway 36. None of the 32 occupants were injured and only minor damage was caused to ground installations and the aircraft. No conflict with other aircraft resulted from the incursion onto runway 36 and after establishing that there was no major damage to the aircraft and after the taxiway route had been sanded the aircraft was taxied in to the gate for passenger disembarkation.
Description
On 31 January 2011, an Embraer 145LR being operated by Expressjet Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Cleveland OH to Dayton left landing runway 06R during a night landing in normal ground visibility and light winds and ended up on intersecting active runway 36. None of the 32 occupants were injured and only minor damage was caused to ground installations and the aircraft. No conflict with other aircraft resulted from the incursion onto runway 36 and after establishing that there was no major damage to the aircraft and after the taxiway route had been ‘sanded’ the aircraft was taxied in to the gate for passenger disembarkation.
Investigation
The commencement of an Investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB) was reported to have been delayed because no notification of the event was made to the FAA until 11 days after occurrence because the local ATC Controller “said he was not aware of a runway excursion”.
Aircraft damage was limited to the left main gear door, the auxiliary gear door and the No. 2 MLG tyre. It was established that the aircraft had been serviceable. The aircraft was found to have departed the left side of the 2220 metre long landing runway “several hundred feet” prior to the intersection of that runway with active runway 36 and come to a stop on runway 36 facing north east.
It was noted that light snow had begun to fall 17 minutes prior to the landing and that this had changed to light freezing rain 3 minutes before the landing. The flight crew had been advised by ATC that runway 06L, closed for de icing, had ice on it and that there was also a possibility of ice on the surface of 06R but there were no braking action advisories in effect. They had also asked the preceding 06R landing aircraft about braking action and received the response that they had not used brakes on the landing roll but that the taxiways and apron surfaces subsequently encountered were “slick”.
ATC had initially positioned the aircraft for an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach 06L and when it had been advised as having been temporarily closed for surface ice treatment, the flight crew had “elected to fly the ILS runway 6L approach, circle to land runway 6R”. It was noted that visual reference for that manoeuvre had subsequently been acquired in good time. The flight crew reported that the PF for the approach had been the First Officer but that when his forward vision was obscured by the operation of his windscreen wipers, the Captain, who had a clear view, had taken over as PF.
The Probable Cause was determined as:
“The pilots' lack of consideration for developing and known weather conditions en route to and at the destination airport, resulting in a runway excursion and subsequent incursion.”
The Final Report of the Investigation OPS11IA271 was approved on 3 November 2011. No Safety Recommendations were made.