Flydubai 737 crash captain mentally unprepared for go-around

Russian investigators believe the captain of a Flydubai Boeing 737-800 that crashed during a second go-around at Rostov-on-Don was psychologically unprepared for the manoeuvre and possibly suffering fatigue following a long hold. The aircraft had been arriving from Dubai late at night on 19 March 2016 and had aborted one approach – despite being stable with the runway in sight – owing to a windshear warning. Over 1h 40min passed before its crew requested descent for a second landing attempt. This attempt was also aborted – at 03:40, nearly 2h after the first – when a wind gust on the approach at about 1,000ft caused a sharp increase in airspeed from 153kt to 176kt. Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee says the captain's mindset was fixed on conducting a landing at Rostov, following the previous forced go-around and through concern over exceeding duty time for the return flight. As a result, it says, he had a "lack of psychological readiness" for a second go-around. The inquiry adds that the crew's actions lacked co-ordination, with the lightly loaded aircraft subjected to maximum thrust, consequently resulting in "substantial excessive nose-up moment" and "significant" pushing on the control column to counteract it. After emerging from the cloud, in a steep nose-down attitude, the aircraft struck the ground close to the runway and disintegrated. None of the 62 occupants survived.<br/>