Qantas B738 at Mildura on Jun 18th 2013, landed below weather minima

A Qantas Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VYK performing flight QF-735 from Sydney,NS to Adelaide,SA (Australia) with 146 passengers and 6 crew, had been dispatched with a weather forecast, that indicated clear weather in Adelaide with no necessity to plan for an alternate aerodrome, the crew departed with sufficient fuel to arrive at Adelaide with 2800 kg of fuel remaining giving them about 45 minutes of flying time on top of the required final reserve. The aircraft departed Sydney with the captain being pilot flying and the first officer being pilot monitoring.

Following initial descent the crew contacted Adelaide approach and was informed that a third Boeing 737 had gone around in Adelaide due to fog. The crew therefore entered a hold about 50nm from Adelaide to assess the weather situation. Based on the weather reports of various aerodromes suitable for diversion, all but one reporting fog, the crew decided to divert to Mildura. The crew assessed that they would arrive at Mildura with 2900 kg of fuel remining.

While on approach to Mildura the crew heard other aircraft diverting and heard Virgin Australia's VH-YIR, see Incident: Virgin Australia B738 at Mildura on Jun 18th 2013, landed below weather minima and substantially below final reserve,abandon their visual approach and concluded weather conditions at Mildura were rapidly deteriorating. The crew configured the aircraft early for approach and decided to descend 200 feet below MDA if needed.

While on final approach about 100 feet above MDA breaks started to appear in the cloud and fog, however, visual contact with the runway could not be obtained. As planned the crew continued the descent below MDA, about 100-150 feet below MDA they obtained visual reference with the runway and continued for a safe landing.

On Jul 18th 2013 the ATSB released their preliminary report reporting the aircraft landed with 2100kg of fuel remaining, more than the required final fuel reserve.

On Dec 19th 2013 the ATSB released an interim report to introduce a two safety actions taken by the ATSB: a safety forum with respect to provision of operational information is planned and analysis of reliability of weather forecasts is being conducted.

The ATSB rated both events of VH-VYK and VH-YIR as serious incidents, the investigation continues.

Weather data at briefing:

Adelaide TAF

TAF YPAD 171703Z 1718/1824

VRB05KT 9999 FEW030 SCT045

FM181000 VRB05KT CAVOK

RMK T 06 06 11 14 Q 1018 1018 1020 1020

Adelaide METAR

METAR YPAD 172000Z 06004KT 9999 FEW022 05/04 Q1019

RMK RF00.0/000.0

TTF: NOSIG

Mildura TAF