An Aer Lingus Airbus A320, registered as EI-DEE, experienced a loss of control incident while attempting to correct its vertical flight profile during an arrival into Dublin. According to FlightGlobal, the flight arrived from Faro on 14 January of last year, encountering significant energy management difficulties as it approached runway 28L.

While operating at a high speed and altitude, the captain disengaged the autopilot at approximately 5,500ft to employ speedbrakes. The aircraft remained south of the intended approach path and arrived at the final approach fix, MAXEV, at an incorrect altitude. At a distance of 8.1nm from the threshold, the aircraft descended through 3,900ft, whereas standard procedures required the aircraft to be at 2,500ft at the 7.1nm MAXEV fix. Faced with this high-energy state, the crew initiated a manual right-hand descending orbit to shed excess altitude.

During this maneuver, the aircraft’s bank angle reached 44°. Further complications arose as the aircraft overflew MAXEV at roughly 3,200ft. While correcting the bank, the airspeed dropped to 128kt, falling 11kt below the selected speed of 139kt. Following an unintended climb to 4,200ft—breaching a requested 3,500ft level-off—the crew opted to request radar vectors for a second attempt. The aircraft landed safely with no injuries among the 146 occupants. The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit noted that because the event went unreported for two months, they relied on internal flight-data monitoring, radar, and crew interviews rather than timely flight-recorder data.

| Parameter | Reported Figure | | :--- | :--- | | Aircraft Model | Airbus A320 (EI-DEE) | | Max Bank Angle | 44° | | Altitude at MAXEV | 3,200ft | | Minimum Airspeed | 128kt | | Selected Airspeed | 139kt | | Total Occupants | 146 |

## Why It Matters This incident highlights a critical vulnerability in manual flight operations: the cognitive trap of attempting to 'fix' a botched approach mid-air. By opting for a prohibited 360° orbit rather than executing a standard missed approach, the crew suffered a degraded situational awareness that nearly compromised flight safety. For the aviation industry, this serves as a reminder that unstabilized approaches must be abandoned early. Aer Lingus has since updated its operational protocols, expressly prohibiting these visual orbits to prevent similar energy-state mismanagement and ensure crews prioritize stable, predictable flight paths over recovery maneuvers.

Official investigations cite that fatigue may have been a contributing factor, as the pilot’s potential lack of sleep and preference for late-duty rosters were identified as points of interest. The company now emphasizes that high-speed or high-altitude conditions on approach are symptoms of prior situational awareness lapses that cannot be safely corrected by improvised maneuvering.