A SAA South African Airways Airbus A320-200, registration ZS-SZE performing flight SA-327 from Johannesburg to Cape Town (South Africa) with 137 passengers and 6 crew, was nearing Cape Town when the crew was informed that other aircraft had been unable to land and had gone around. The crew entered an enroute hold to assess their options, when ATC informed them that aircraft were now able to land at Cape Town. The crew decided to continue to Cape Town thereafter and had cabin crew prepare for turbulence on approach. ATC subsequently vectored the aircraft onto base for a monitored approach, ATC instructed the crew to maintain minimum clean speed because of traffic ahead at 6000 feet, the crew slowed the aircraft to minimum clean. Shortly afterwards the crew received a windshear alert with 20-40 knots loss of airspeed. Autothrust went into ALPHA FLOOR, the crew selected flaps 1 to mitigate for the stall, at the same time the aircraft entered alternate law due to an elevator aileron computer (ELAC) pitch fault and the autopilot disengaged, the crew was unable to re-engage the autopilot. Soon after the aircraft encountered another windshear increasing the airspeed, the crew retracted the flaps but still received an overspeed warning. The crew continued the monitored approach with alternate law active, upon lowering the landing gear the aircraft changed to direct law. The aircraft landed safely on Cape Town's runway 01 about 11 minutes after the first windshear encounter.
South Africa's AAID rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation.
The aircraft returned to service about 2:15 hours after landing and performed the return flight with a delay of about 1:45 hours.
The same day, about 3 hours earlier, another SAA aircraft diverted, see Incident: South African A320 at Cape Town, George and Port Elizabeth on May 11th 2026, landed below minimum fuel (420kg remaining).
South Africa's AAID released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events:
Whilst at 6 000 feet (ft) above mean sea level (AMSL) and on approach for landing at FACT, the aircraft experienced severe turbulence and negative wind shear. An Alpha Floor mode activated (visual cue and aural alert) and the crew selected Flaps 1 to mitigate the stall. The aircraft also engaged alternate law because of a faulty Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) pitch, which was followed by the autopilot disengagement. The crew was unable to re-engage the autopilot.
Thereafter, the aircraft experienced a positive wind shear, and it accelerated, triggering an overspeed warning. The crew retracted the slats to reduce speed, but the overspeed warning persisted. As a result, the crew flew the rest of the approach manually in alternate law, followed by direct law with the landing gears extended. The crew and the passengers were not injured after the aircraft landed on Runway 01 at FACT; the aircraft was also not damaged.
Metars:
FACT 111400Z 30025KT 8000 -RA BKN008 OVC020 18/16 Q1002 TEMPO 2000 RA=
FACT 111327Z 29025KT 8000 -RA BKN007 OVC025 17/16 Q1002 RERA TEMPO 2000 RA=
FACT 111300Z 30029G41KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 16/16 Q1002 NOSIG=
FACT 111259Z 30029G41KT 2000 RA BKN007 BKN020 16/16 Q1002 NOSIG=
FACT 111224Z 32027G42KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 111200Z 31030G44KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 111125Z 32029G42KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 111100Z 31032KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 111000Z 32033G45KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/17 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 110900Z 32035G46KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 16/16 Q1000 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 110800Z 33037G53KT 2000 R01/P1500 RA BKN007 OVC020 15/15 Q0999 NOSIG=
FACT 110755Z 33037G53KT 2000 R01/P1500 RA BKN007 OVC020 15/15 Q0999 NOSIG=
FACT 110700Z 33035G48KT 2500 RA BKN012 OVC020 14/14 Q0999 NOSIG=
South Africa's AAID rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation.
The aircraft returned to service about 2:15 hours after landing and performed the return flight with a delay of about 1:45 hours.
The same day, about 3 hours earlier, another SAA aircraft diverted, see Incident: South African A320 at Cape Town, George and Port Elizabeth on May 11th 2026, landed below minimum fuel (420kg remaining).
South Africa's AAID released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events:
Whilst at 6 000 feet (ft) above mean sea level (AMSL) and on approach for landing at FACT, the aircraft experienced severe turbulence and negative wind shear. An Alpha Floor mode activated (visual cue and aural alert) and the crew selected Flaps 1 to mitigate the stall. The aircraft also engaged alternate law because of a faulty Elevator Aileron Computer (ELAC) pitch, which was followed by the autopilot disengagement. The crew was unable to re-engage the autopilot.
Thereafter, the aircraft experienced a positive wind shear, and it accelerated, triggering an overspeed warning. The crew retracted the slats to reduce speed, but the overspeed warning persisted. As a result, the crew flew the rest of the approach manually in alternate law, followed by direct law with the landing gears extended. The crew and the passengers were not injured after the aircraft landed on Runway 01 at FACT; the aircraft was also not damaged.
Metars:
FACT 111400Z 30025KT 8000 -RA BKN008 OVC020 18/16 Q1002 TEMPO 2000 RA=
FACT 111327Z 29025KT 8000 -RA BKN007 OVC025 17/16 Q1002 RERA TEMPO 2000 RA=
FACT 111300Z 30029G41KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 16/16 Q1002 NOSIG=
FACT 111259Z 30029G41KT 2000 RA BKN007 BKN020 16/16 Q1002 NOSIG=
FACT 111224Z 32027G42KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 111200Z 31030G44KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 111125Z 32029G42KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 111100Z 31032KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/16 Q1001 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 111000Z 32033G45KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 17/17 Q1001 NOSIG=
FACT 110900Z 32035G46KT 2000 RA BKN007 OVC020 16/16 Q1000 RERA NOSIG=
FACT 110800Z 33037G53KT 2000 R01/P1500 RA BKN007 OVC020 15/15 Q0999 NOSIG=
FACT 110755Z 33037G53KT 2000 R01/P1500 RA BKN007 OVC020 15/15 Q0999 NOSIG=
FACT 110700Z 33035G48KT 2500 RA BKN012 OVC020 14/14 Q0999 NOSIG=
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