An E190 passenger jet’s landing gear was not retracted until the aircraft exceeded the maximum speed to safely do so, after the flight crew became distracted in the take-off sequence, an ATSB final report explains.
The landing gear overspeed incident occurred on the evening of 24 July 2025, when an Alliance Airlines-operated Embraer ERJ 190 was taking off from Cairns Airport’s runway 15, for a passenger flight to Brisbane.
As the aircraft passed the rotation speed of 143 kt, the first officer commenced the rotation to the target pitch attitude of about 15°.
The captain, as pilot monitoring, assessed the rotation rate slowed as the aircraft passed 10° pitch, and so announced, ‘pitch rate’.
“Both crew members then became focused on the aircraft’s flight path,” ATSB Director of Transport Safety Stuart Macleod explained.
“This likely meant the captain did not have time to verify the aircraft’s positive rate of climb before a terrain avoidance turn was needed as part of the standard instrument departure being followed.”
As the captain consequently did not announce ‘positive rate’, the first officer was not prompted to request the landing gear be retracted, the ATSB final report details.
“However, the announcement of the acoustically and semantically similar ‘pitch rate’, at about the same time as the omitted ‘positive rate’, potentially caused interference in the flight crew’s working memory, and possibly gave them a false sense that the landing gear had been retracted.”
As the aircraft accelerated with its landing gear still extended, the flight crew was presented with abnormal radio altimeter alerts and unexpected flight director indications (unrelated to the landing gear issue).
“These distractions increased the flight crew’s workload and delayed their recognising the landing gear was still extended,” Mr Macleod said.
As the crew’s workload decreased, the captain identified the landing gear was still extended, and reflexively retracted it while the aircraft was travelling at 243 kt, with retraction completed as the aircraft reached 252 kt.
Mr Macleod noted this was above the 235 kt retraction limit speed, but that the aircraft had not exceeded the 265 kt maximum airspeed with the landing gear extended.
“This incident highlights the impact a combination of omitted actions and distractions can have on aircraft operations, during what is often a high workload period,” he said.
“Such situations can create challenges in responding to the unexpected with potential for a reduction in safety when pilots act rapidly and reflexively.”
It was determined the unexpected radio altimeter alerts and unexpected flight director indications, which distracted the flight crew, had been observed on other occasions by flight crews also conducting the Cairns AKROM 1 standard instrument departure in Embraer ERJ 190 aircraft equipped with load 25 avionics.
Alliance has subsequently accelerated its program to upgrade E190 aircraft to load 27 avionics, with all of the fleet now upgraded, which should prevent recurrence of these unexpected flight management system indications.
“Crews of E190s fitted with load 25 avionics should be aware of this issue,” Mr Macleod said.
“And all pilots, when presented with unexpected indications, should use primary instruments to ensure that flight path requirements are adhered to.”
Read the final report: Landing gear overspeed involving Embraer E190, VH-A2T, 19 km east of Cairns Airport, Queensland, on 24 July 2025