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| Date: | Monday 20 December 2021 |
| Time: | 03:10 LT |
| Type: |  Boeing 777-31HER |
| Owner/operator: | Emirates |
| Registration: | A6-EQI |
| MSN: | 42354/1529 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2017 |
| Engine model: | General Electric GE90-115B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 372 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Dubai Airport (DXB/OMDB) -
 United Arab Emirates
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Dubai Airport (DXB/OMDB) |
| Washington-Dulles International Airport, DC (IAD/KIAD) | |
| Investigating agency: | GCAA |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
Emirates Airlines flight EK231, a Boeing 777-31HER, was involved in a serious incident on takeoff from Dubai Airport, UAE.
The commander operated as the pilot flying (PF) and the copilot operated as the pilot monitoring (PM) for the flight to Washington-Dulles International Airport, USA.
The commander stated that during cockpit preparation, she noticed that the altitude selector was set to 0000 feet and she selected it to 4000 feet, which was also verified by the flight data recorder. The selection of 4000 feet on the altitude selector was in accordance with the planned standard instrument departure (SID) of SENPA 2F1.
At 03:10:29 hours local time, the aircraft lifted off from runway 30R, and at 03:10:40 the landing gears were selected up. The commander stated that after lift-off, and during climb, she followed the flight director command. However, the aircraft rate of climb reached a maximum of approximately 800 feet per minute. The flight crew were not able to adhere to published climb gradient of the SID due to the shallow climb.
At 03:11:01, the takeoff/go-around (TOGA) switch was selected. The flight directors indicated climb attitude on the commander’s primary flight display (PFD). A flap 15 over-speed occurred as the airspeed increased towards 250 knots. The flight crew continued to their destination and landed uneventfully.
The incident occurred during night-time (03:10 LT). Weather conditions about that time (2310Z, 19 December) were reported as follows:
OMDB 192300Z 18002KT CAVOK 21/15 Q1019 NOSIG
OMDB 200000Z 18003KT CAVOK 20/15 Q1018 NOSIG
Sources:
https://theaircurrent.com/aviation-safety/emirates-777-ek231-close-call/
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAE231/history/20211219/2225Z/OMDB/KIAD/tracklog
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ek231#2a3e8421
Preliminary report:
https://www.gcaa.gov.ae/en/departments/airaccidentinvestigation/Pages/InvestigatorMagazinesView.aspx?min=gl9avmeG1v&type=ir
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Dec-2021 11:55 | harro | Added |
| 29-Dec-2021 12:02 | harro | Updated [Narrative, ] |
| 17-Feb-2022 19:50 | harro | Updated [Total occupants, Location, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 29-May-2023 06:09 | Anon. | Updated |
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