Date:	Saturday 8 April 2017
Time:	22:17
Type:	Boeing 737-8H6 (WL)
Owner/operator:	Malaysia Airlines
Registration:	9M-MXX
MSN:	40161/5052
Year of manufacture:	2014
Total airframe hrs:	9164 hours
Cycles:	4669 flights
Engine model:	CFMI CFM56-7B26E
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 69
Aircraft damage:	Substantial, repaired
Category:	Serious incident
Location:	Sibu Airport (SBW) -   Malaysia
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL/WMKK)
Destination airport:	Sibu Airport (SBW/WBGS)
Investigating agency:	AAIB Malaysia
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737-800, operating flight 2718, suffered a landing accident at Sibu Airport, Malaysia. All occupants evacuated. Malaysia Airlines confirmed there were no injuries.
The flight departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia at 20:08 hours LT. Rainshowers were passing the destination of Sibu Airport as the aircraft attempted to land on runway 13.
The aircraft veered to the right of runway 13 and travelled approximately 480 m on the soft ground parallel to the runway before coming to a stop diagonally towards the runway edge. The nose gear collapsed just before the aircraft came to a complete stop.
All passengers and crew were safely evacuated from the aircraft using the two forward slides. No injuries were reported during the whole serious incident. The aircraft sustained damages to the nose gear assembly and also the lower fuselage aft of the nose gear, while areas around the flaps, engine cowling and fan bypass areas sustained minor damages as a result of the runway excursion.

CAUSAL FACTORS
1 A sudden increase in the intensity of rain while approaching the runway at night resulted in the significant reduction of the PF's visual reference. Under these conditions and without the runway centerline lights, the PF did not detect the lateral movement of the aircraft in time to correct the displacement from the runway centerline.
2 Pilot induced oscillation resulting in the progressive input of roll angle to the right of up to 6 degrees during flare maneuver without any considerable left rudder input. This resulted in a drift in the aircraft heading towards the right side of the runway. The resultant drift angle recorded on touchdown was 4 degrees (Runway heading is 129° while the touch down heading was 133°).
3 The PF had likely lost his positional awareness with reference to the runway edge due to the degraded visibility, hence, did not exert sufficient and timely rudder application to regain the runway centerline before departing the surface of the runway.

CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS
1 Continuous rain with changing intensity over the airfield throughout the approach and landing.
2 Inadequate risk assessment on the prevailing weather conditions made by the flight crew through the established TEM briefing as stipulated in the MAB OM (A).
3 The elevated pitch attitude after touchdown may have caused the reduction of visual reference to the runway. This would reduce the effectiveness of braking and cornering ability of the aircraft due to reduced weight on the main landing gear.
4 Lack of assertiveness by the PM in getting the attention of the PF to the developing and impending deviation from centerline. Currently, there is no standard callout stipulated in the MAB OM (A) with reference to the calling out of centerline deviation.
5 Absence of centerline lights at night in the reduced visibility conditions due to the heavy rain made it difficult for the PF to acquire the required visual reference to conduct a safe landing and roll out.
6 The “Black hole effect” is prevalent during night approaches into Sibu due to the lack of lightings and visual reference surrounding the airport. This could result in an optical illusion leading towards a false pitch or bank perception, especially during approaches with reduced visibility such as in heavy rain or fog.
7 Rubber deposit on the runway could have caused the runway centerline markings to become less discernable, especially when the runway surface was wet and in reduced visibility condition.
8 Inadequate updates of weather reports that were provided by the ATC controller to the pilots as and when considerable changes to the weather conditions over the airfield were observed.
9 Use of single RVR readout as means of reporting the visibility in heavy rain or thunderstorm at night did not alert the pilots on the severity of precipitation at the airport. The transmissiometer only measures the horizontal visibility at a specific range around the unit located near runway thresholds.

13:00 UTC / 21:00 local time:
WBGS 081300Z 22002KT 9999 -RA SCT018 BKN150 27/25 Q1009

14:00 UTC / 22:00 local time:
WBGS 081400Z 32002KT 6000 RA FEW005 SCT018 OVC150 25/24 Q1011

15:00 UTC / 23:00 local time:
WBGS 081500Z 10002KT 7000 RA FEW005 SCT018 OVC150 24/23 Q1011

Malaysia Airlines
Photos from the scene

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