A Boeing 737 captain’s check-ride anxiety — combined with stress over health issues and an earthquake and its associated aftershocks — was so unnerving that he “compromised the safety of the flight” during an approach to Christchurch, New Zealand, accident investigators say.
The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC), in its final report on the Oct. 29, 2011, incident, said that the captain “did not make the appropriate response to two automated calls prior to the aeroplane reaching the point (decision height) at which the flight crew needed to decide whether to continue and land or initiate a missed approach” and that the first officer did not challenge him for an appropriate response.
The captain then failed to initiate a missed approach at decision height despite weather conditions unsuitable for landing “probably because he was operating under a level of stress where anxiety was interfering with his cognitive functioning,” the report sa…
