B763, en-route, New York NY USA, 2000

Summary

On 30 March 2000, a Delta Airlines-operated Boeing 767-300 which was 15nm southeast of New York JFK after departure from there and was being flown visually at night by the First Officer with an 'international relief pilot' as extra crew on the flight deck, achieved 66 degrees of right bank before any of the the pilots noticed. A successful recovery was made with no consequences for the occupants and the aircraft then returned to JFK.

Event Details
When	March 2000
Actual or Potential Event Type	Human Factors, Loss of Control
Day/Night	Night
Flight Conditions	VMC

Flight Details
Aircraft	BOEING 767-300ER
Operator	Delta Air Lines
Domicile	United States
Type of Flight	Public Transport (Passenger)
Origin	New York/John F Kennedy International Airport
Intended Destination	Frankfurt am Main Airport
Actual Destination	New York/John F Kennedy International Airport
Take off Commenced	Yes
Flight Airborne	Yes
Flight Completed	Yes
Flight Phase	Climb
	ICL / ENR

Location En-Route
Origin	New York/John F Kennedy International Airport
Destination	Frankfurt am Main Airport

Location
Approx.	15 NM SE of JFK Airport, NY
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HF
Tag(s)	Inappropriate crew response (automatics), Ineffective Monitoring, Manual Handling, Spatial Disorientation

LOC
Tag(s)	Temporary Control Loss, Extreme Bank

EPR
Tag(s)	“Emergency” declaration

Outcome
Damage or injury	No

Causal Factor Group(s)
Group(s)	Aircraft Operation

Safety Recommendation(s)
Group(s)	None Made

Investigation Type
Type	Independent

Description

On 30 March 2000, the crew of a Boeing 767-300 being operated by Delta Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from New York JFK to Frankfurt temporarily lost control of the aircraft during the climb whilst flying manually in 'dark night' VMC with an augmenting 'relief pilot' present on the flight deck. A successful recovery was made with no consequences for the occupants and the aircraft then returned to New York

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB)

It was established that the aircraft had reached a 66 degree bank to the right before any of the three pilots noticed.

The Probable Cause of the occurrence was determined as "the Firsr Officer's failure to maintain control of the airplane during climb out over water at night, which was a result of spatial disorientation" with "factors in the incident (being)the cloud layer and dark night.

Related Articles

• Human Factors
• Loss of Control

Further Reading

For further information, see the NTSB Incident Report (IAD00IA032)