Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Washington National Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Washington, District Of Columbia 20001
Thursday, April 27, 1995 17:35 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT DURING THE VISUAL APPROACH TO RUNWAY 18, THE AIRPLANE ENTERED UNCOMMANDED ROLLS. A GO-AROUND WAS PERFORMED. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT, ON THE SECOND APPROACH THE AIRPLANE ONCE AGAIN EXPERIENCED AN UNCOMMANDED ROLL. THE AIRPLANE WAS LANDED. FDR DATA SHOWS THE ROLL OSCILLATIONS WITH A MAX ROLL OF 15.5 DEGREES. DURING THIS TIME THE SIDE STICK WAS BEING MOVED BACK AND FORTH TO ITS FULL TRAVEL LIMITS. THE AIRPLANE MOVEMENTS AND THE PILOT'S ACTIONS ARE CONSISTENT WITH PILOT INDUCED OSCILLATIONS (PIO). THE AIRPLANE WAS BEING LANDED IN CONF 3 (20 DEGREES OF FLAPS) WHICH MAKES THE HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AIRPLANE 'MORE CRISP'. IN 1993 AIRBUS PUBLISHED A TEMPORARY REVISION TO THE AIRPLANE'S FLIGHT CREW OPERATING MANUAL STATING THE AIRPLANE SHOULD NOT BE LANDED IN ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS (GUSTY WINDS AND TURBULENCE) IN CONF 3 DUE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF PIO. NORTHWEST AIRLINES HAD NOT INCORPORATED THIS INFORMATION IN THEIR OPERATING MANUALS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's excessive use of the flight controls during the landing approach, the company's disregard of information provided by the airplane manufacturer, and the company's failure to identify a potentially hazardous conditions based on the information provided by the airplane manufacturer. Factors associated with the incident were the gusty wind conditions and the pilot's failure to land with full flaps.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 4/27/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1735 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | WASHINGTON |
| Event State | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 20001 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | WASHINGTON NATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DCA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 16 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DCA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 16 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 17 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 25 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 108 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5036 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 28 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1615 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:12PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N331NW |
| NTSB Number | CHI95IA138 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus Industrie |
| Aircraft Model | A320-211 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A320-211 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 318 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 145000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 156 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5101 NORTHWEST DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | ST. PAUL |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55111 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | NWAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MSP |
| Departure City | MINNEAPOLIS |
| Departure State | MN |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1538 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | DCA |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 18 |
| Runway Length | 6869 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |