Created Tuesday, Sep 2nd 2025 11:37Z, last updated Tuesday, Sep 2nd 2025 11:37Z
An Alliance Airlines Embraer ERJ-190, registration VH-A2T performing flight
QQ-3120 from Adelaide,SA to Olympic Dam,SA (Australia) with 90 passengers and 4 crew, landed on Olympic Dam's runway 07 using flap setting 5 after the crew had previously briefed full flaps. The crew noticed the pitch angle seemed slightly high and they needed to manually adjust thrust to maintain the profile, during the flare they encountered sink.
Australia's ATSB released their final report into this as well as a second occurrence concluding the probable cause of the incident was:
- Neither sets of flight crew recalled briefing for the less commonly used full flap configuration when actioning the before landing checklist, resulting in them landing with an incorrect flap setting.
- Alliance Airlines had no procedure for flight crews to crosscheck the briefed flap setting entered into the flight management system with the actual configuration selected during the before landing checklist. (Safety issue)
The ATSB summarized the sequence of events:
On board were the captain as pilot flying (PF), first officer as pilot monitoring (PM), 2 cabin crew and 90 passengers. Consistent with the operator’s standard operating procedures manual, the flight crew conducted their approach briefing prior to commencing the descent into Olympic Dam Airport. Due to the turbulent and windy conditions, the captain elected to use full flap (37 degrees) during the landing. The crew used the ePERF tablet application and the PF entered the performance figures and associated speeds for a landing using full flap into the Landing page of the flight management system (FMS), which was crosschecked by the PM.
Around 25 minutes after the approach briefing, as the crew were configuring the aircraft for landing, the PF called for flap 5 (degrees) rather than the previously briefed full flap, which was actioned by the PM. There was no crosscheck requirement to confirm the flap setting during the before landing checklist. At the time, neither flight crewmember recalled that the less-common full flap configuration had been briefed, nor identified that the landing speeds entered into the FMS were now incorrect (slower than required) for the selected flap setting.
During the later stage of the approach, the PF was required to manually override the auto thrust at times to keep the aircraft on profile. Both flight crewmembers later recalled that the pitch attitude on final seemed slightly high at times. They also stated that during the flare, the aircraft encountered sink, which the PF corrected with the appropriate control inputs. Both flight crewmembers reported recognising the profile, speed and thrust were not as expected, but assessed that this was due to the hot and turbulent conditions.
Following an uneventful landing, as the crew were completing the after-landing flow, the captain realised that they had landed with flap 5 rather than full flap. Both crewmembers later reported having forgotten that full flap had been briefed.
The ATSB released following safety message:
These incidents highlight the importance in multi-crew operations of the role of the pilot monitoring in identifying if, and intervening when, the other flight crew member deviates from the briefed plan. It also illustrates the risk of reversion to routinely conducted actions, despite the intention to use a less-common configuration.
Related Flight:
QQ3120,
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