Created Saturday, Oct 5th 2024 23:06Z, last updated Friday, Sep 19th 2025 17:09Z
A Chalair Aviation Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration F-HBCM performing flight
CE-1412 from Caen (France) to Kerry (Ireland), departed Caen's runway 31 when during rotation the crew felt heaviness in the controls and subsequently spotted an unexpected trim position. They contacted dispatch to have the loadsheet checked. On approach to destination the crew received instructions for a new distribution of passengers. The aircraft landed safely on Kerry's runway 26 about 95 minutes after departure.
The French BEA rated the occurrence an incident and opened an investigation categorizing the incident as "RAMP: Ground handling".
On Jul 22nd 2025 the BEA released their final report in French and on Sep 19th 2025 the English version concluding the probable causes of the incident were:
Scenario
When finalizing the mass and center of gravity estimate, the operations agent entered an incorrect index (sign error) into the calculation software. Subsequently, still in the software, the operations agent's modification of the registration number resulted in a new passenger distribution based on the incorrect index.
The captain checked the estimate without noticing the input error. Several passengers were moved to accommodate this new distribution.
The unusual configuration of the passenger distribution in the cabin was detected by the flight attendant, who reported it to the cabin manager. This information was not shared with the captain because he had just validated the weight and balance estimate.
During takeoff, the captain detected heaviness in the flight controls. After takeoff, he noticed that the trim setting was inconsistent with the calculated value. He contacted the RDOS to verify the LTS data. After checking and detecting the error, the CCO had the ground station manager send the crew a new passenger distribution in the cabin to correct the center of gravity for landing. The landing proceeded without incident.
The following may have contributed to the input error:
- rapid training and a lack of regular practice on the part of the operations agent;
- an imperfect configuration of the software that allows the modification and overwriting of base indexes pre-filled by the CCO;
- latent fatigue on the part of the operations agent combined with an overload on the part of the supervisor generated by time pressure.
Related Flight:
CE1412,
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