TAP is “internally investigating” an incident that occurred on January 17, when the company’s Airbus A320neo descended below the minimum safe altitude during its approach to Prague airport, in the Czech Republic.
“TAP is internally investigating the situation and fully cooperating with the investigation by the competent authorities in the Czech Republic”, an official source from the Portuguese airline told Lusa.
According to Radio Prague International, TAP’s Airbus A320neo “I was seconds away from falling 60 kilometers from Prague”in an incident that aviation authorities consider ‘one of the most serious recorded at Prague airport in recent decades’.
Flight TP1240, coming from Lisbon, would have been less than 300 meters above the ground during a high-speed descent near Křivoklát, and, according to Czech radio, would have “managed to avoid the accident thanks to a last-minute climbing maneuver carried out by the crew”.
The incident occurred on the morning of January 17 in “very adverse” weather conditions, with dense fog and low visibility, with radar systems detecting that the plane had descended below the minimum safe altitude of around 1,300 meters.
In turn, the aviation news website Kiosque da Aviação indicates that the flight was “in the approach phase to runway 6 at Václav Havel Airport when the aircraft descended below the minimum altitude published for the procedure”: “According to preliminary information, the plane was authorized to maintain 4,000 feet, but ended up reaching around 2,600 feet above mean sea level, a value lower than the minimum safety limit defined for that phase of the approach”, he details.
As it progresses, air traffic controllers will have issued two warnings to the crew upon detecting the undue descent, with the ground proximity warning system (TAWS) being activated in the cockpit, “leading the pilots to initiate an immediate climb to regain safe altitude”.
“After stabilizing the aircraft, the crew carried out a new approach, this time within the established parameters, culminating in an incident-free landing approximately 11 minutes later”, he also states, adding that there were no injuries or damage to the aircraft.
Among the possible causes of the incident, experts cited by local media mention the incorrect use of the autopilot.
According to Radio Prague International, the incident was recorded as a case of CFIT (‘Controlled Flight Into Terrain’), in which the aircraft approaches the ground without the crew being aware of the danger, normally due to errors in the configuration of the flight systems.
Meanwhile, an official investigation is underway by the Air Accident Research Institute, which created a commission to determine whether the deviation resulted from operational, human or technical factors.
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