A China Airlines A330 has been grounded following an incident which saw all three primary flight computers, thrust reverser and autobrake systems fail.
On 14 June 2020, China Airlines flight CI202 from Shanghai Pudong to Taipei Songshan touched down in the Taiwanese capital at 5:47pm local time, when the system failures occurred.
According to official reports, Songshan’s runway number 10 was wet when the plane touched down, at which point all three primary flight computers, thrust reversers and autobrake systems failed, affecting the stopping distance of the aircraft.
The crew were forced to apply maximum manual braking, which succeeded in stopping the aircraft just 10 metres from the end of the 2,600-metre runway.
Following the incident, the aircraft was towed to the apron, and remained grounded at Songshan until 23 June.
It was then positioned to Taipei’s larger Taoyuan International Airport, and has been grounded there ever since.
Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) stated that the root cause of the incident is still under investigation, however has advised that all A330 operators take note of the possible issues that can arise when landing on a wet runway.
The CAA provided these recommended countermeasures for A330 operators:
- prior to dispatch, consider possible deceleration deficiencies with the conditions mentioned above on wet runways;
- required landing distance shall be predetermined for a wet runway, if the distance is a concern consider an alternate aerodrome; and
- operators should enhance crew awareness of wet runway operations, if automatic braking is out of function promptly change to the alternate system or apply manual braking.
Monirul Sheikh
says:During my 35 years in aviation as a Licensed Aircraft Engineer, I have always observed when aircrafts are sitting on ground for a prolonged period, unusual things happen. All three Primary Flight Computers failure is a highly unusual event. That’s the way computers behave and there are no reasons or remedy can be suggested. It will take quite a while for aircraft with these kind of defect to return to complete normal. Unusual things will continue to happen before it settles down.
Geoff
says:I think Qantas will remember their A330 flight QF72 in 2008 which had some very serious issues in the ADIRU and ‘computer department’. Captain Kevin Sullivan and crew had a very scary flight with several injuries caused by runaway primary flight computers.
Mr John E Brett
says:The most alarming issue with multiple flight computer failure and the other serious failures is (as the AME reports above) most lkely related to aircraft having to be parked for lengthy periods due to COVID-19! ?????♂️?