Aeronáutica Civil de Colombia, the state body in charge of regulating civil aviation in the South American country, has published the final report on the serious incident involving an Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 that occurred in February last year at Germán Olano Airport in the city of Puerto Carreño.
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The Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 incident
On 3 February 2022, the Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 registered as HK-5192 was performing a non-scheduled air cargo transport operation between the aforementioned aerodrome and El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá. Five occupants were on board: the two pilots in charge of flying the aircraft, an observer first officer, an aeronautical technician and an operations dispatcher.
The aircraft took off from runway 07 at 17:51 local time. Seconds later, it hit the top of a tree located about 250 metres from the end of the runway. The situation caused the number 1 engine to lose thrust, although the crew was later able to restart it. Security cameras recorded the aircraft passing a few metres over power lines and residential houses.
The aircraft then reached an altitude of 2.500 feet and flew some 30 nautical miles away from Germán Olano Airport. Pilots requested to return to the aerodrome and the ground handling protocols established for this type of case were activated.
The Boeing 737-200 landed safely and no further assistance was required. The five occupants were unharmed and left the aircraft under their own power.
Miscalculation and “overconfidence on the part of the crew”
The report found that the incident occurred due to the late rotation of the aircraft as a result of the extreme weight and atmospheric conditions at take-off.
Colombian investigators concluded that a weight of 49.240 kilograms had been calculated. However, in the moments leading up to the manoeuvre, the outside temperature rose to 33.9 °C, above what was contemplated at the time of the calculations. This would have limited the figure to 48.965 kilograms: the aircraft therefore started its take-off run with excessive weight.
This caused the aircraft to delay its acceleration and cover a longer distance until it reached rotation speed, thus reducing the margin to avoid obstacles in its trajectory. Studies determined that the pilot-in-command brought the yoke back at a speed of 138 knots, but the aircraft only separated from the ground at 151 knots.
The Aeronáutica Civil final report states that there was “overconfidence on the part of the crew in assuming that during taxiing, a certain weight reduction would be obtained due to the fuel, so that the take-off would be carried out in accordance with the performance calculations made”.
Moreover, it points to the “low situational awareness” to anticipate changes that could affect performance, as well as the influence of the operations dispatcher to continue despite the limited performance conditions. In addition, it details that the weight and balance calculation did not take into account the weight of the three occupants accompanying the pilots.
