Investigators: ATR 72 “violated minimum standards during approach to Guernsey in fog”

British investigators are investigating an incident in Guernsey in which an ATR 72-500 apparently performed a go-around after exceeding the minimum flight altitude during an attempt to land in fog.

The aircraft – registered to the Lithuanian airline Jump Air – was operating a flight from Southampton on 12 August on behalf of the regional airline Aurigny.

Weather data from Guernsey Airport shows that at the time of the incident at approximately 09:45 local time, fog and drizzle prevailed and visibility was limited to 300 m.

The aircraft was on approach to runway 27, although the type of approach has not yet been clarified.

The French investigation authority BEA, citing its British counterpart, states that the approach minima were “undercut” in the fog and that the aircraft sank to an altitude of 56 feet above the ground before taking off.

BEA identifies the airframe as LY-JUP, originally delivered to Cabo Verde Airlines in 2007.

None of the aircraft's occupants were injured.

The ATR appears to have flown on to Guernsey on the same day and was then flown on to Toulouse-Francazal Airport.

Approximately 30 minutes before the incident, an AvantiAir De Havilland Dash 8-400 (D-AASG) arriving from Birmingham had been diverted to Exeter at around 09:15 after waiting for several minutes over Guernsey.

According to a statement from the British Civil Aviation Authority, Aurigny will be using Dash 8-400 capacities from Germany-based AvantiAir on a wet lease for a period of three months, from the beginning of August to the beginning of November.