NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
EMB-145 Captain reported encountering wake turbulence just before touchdown from a preceding Airbus that resulted in an EGPWS "Don't Sink" alert. Reporter stated the aircraft energy state was low so a decision to continue to a safe landing was made.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
Landing [Runway] 36R in CLT with flaps 45, Pilot Flying (PF) was a Line Check Airmen (LCA) in the right seat doing Captain upgrade OE. Upgrade Captain was Pilot Monitoring (PM). We were approximately 4 miles in trail of an Airbus (type unknown). The Airbus touched down approximately 1,200-1,500 feet down the runway, and turned off (I believe) on Runway 5/23. The aircraft was clearing the runway when we were approximately 500- 600 ft. AGL. Winds were 040-050 at about 4-6 knots. Approach was smooth, stable and uneventful. Upon crossing the threshold around Vref to Vref+3, we encountered wake turbulence with at first some left/right wing rock, but nothing that isn't typically encountered for landing in CLT. The PF could feel the aircraft lose lift, and added substantial power. The engines were already stabilized from the final approach, at my best guess is 60-64% N1. PF added power nearly to the thrust detent and felt the airplane respond, with the induced sink rate arresting approximately a few feet from the runway. An EGPWS "Don't Sink" aural message was presented. The PF did not hit TOGA, and with the airplane in a slow airspeed state barely off the runway, the PF believed the safest course of action was to idle the throttles and get the aircraft on the runway. A smooth landing was accomplished and the aircraft rolled out with no further incident. PF/LCA was surprised with regards to the Mode 3 alert that is normally presented for climb out situations where the aircraft begins a rate of descent. The environmental conditions were ideal for a potential wake turbulence encounter given the previous aircraft touchdown point, and the gentle quartering headwind on the field at that time. I would very much like to see the metrics from the event, as well as the EGPWS logic that was presented given the conditions. While a go-around was certainly a viable option at that time, given the energy state of the aircraft when it recovered and its close proximity to the runway I believe setting it on the ground was the safest course of action at the time.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Inflight Event / Encounter
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Environment - Non Weather Related · Human Factors · Procedure
- Primary Problem
- Human Factors
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.