Airbus A319-111,easyJet, G-EZDN: Serious incident occurred May 13, 2015 on approach to Bristol Airport

An easyJet plane had to abort its landing at Bristol Airport only 500 feet above the runway as aircrew 'lost situational awareness' at night, a safety investigation has found.

The easyJet flight missed its landing after crew members changed the landing brief, but failed to inform the pilots. 

There were 99 passengers and six crew members on-board the Airbus A319-111, which was flying from Glasgow to Bristol on May 13. 

The pilots had to perform an emergency go-around when they realized they were off-course, but eventually managed to land the aircraft safely. 

Several safety recommendations are now being made to EasyJet's internal procedures following a safety report from the investigation into the flight - commanded by a 56-year-old with 11,500 hours flying experience. 

A spokesperson for easyJet insisted it was a "controlled landing" and a "controlled response". 

She said: "easyJet immediately launched a safety investigation to understand what happened and ensure that the airline could learn any lessons from the incident. 

"easyJet's specialist team conducted a thorough safety investigation, in consultation with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and as a result it made three recommendations to its internal procedures. 

"The safety of its passengers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority."

Source: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk

SERIOUS INCIDENT:  https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk

Synopsis
During a manually flown night visual approach to Runway 27 at Bristol Airport the pilots became disorientated and, at an altitude of 1,200 ft the aircraft, flew across a ridge-line south of the city of Bristol. The crew realized that they had lost positional awareness and conducted a go-around. The radio altimeter showed the aircraft had descended to 488 ft agl. The aircraft landed safely from its subsequent approach. 

Analysis
The crew made a late change to their briefed approach, but did not update their brief. This meant the co-pilot was not fully aware of how the commander intended to fly the approach, so was not properly able to monitor it. The commander probably did not update his 5 nm range ring from being centered on the threshold of Runway 09, and its subsequent use for situation awareness may have caused him to position too close in to the threshold of Runway 27. Both crew members then lost situational awareness, but neither communicated this to the other until the co-pilot called for a go-around. The fact the go-around altitude was not set until the go-around had commenced indicates either the landing checklist had not been completed or that it had not been completed satisfactorily. 

SERIOUS INCIDENT:  https://assets.digital.cabinet-office.gov.uk