Originally Posted by
A320LGW
The GPWS faulted in the first sector, fair enough. Post landing, why didn't they have an engineer come and inspect it? They continued the day in IMC with the GPWS switched off? I have a sore head trying to process that. I haven't got the MEL out but I would be shocked if it says anything else about going with GPWS off in IMC other than 'NO'.
Doubtful they had an engineer at AHU as it's a tiny station.
It appeared to have an erroneous fault at FL160 during cruise however functioned correctly during the approach:
One minute later, the TAWS alarms "TERRAIN AHEAD PULL UP" and "AVOID" TERRAIN" are triggered when the aircraft is 1760m from the runway threshold and 60ft at radio altitude. The PF then performs a change of trim to be pitched, and restores power. The lowest point reached is 45ft radio altitude. The aircraft then proceeded up to a height of 108 feet and maintained until the view of the runway and then resumed a descent to land.
the co-pilot's suggestion to stop the GPWS to avoid alarms during descent and approach, as they believed that those issued by this system during the first stage were untimely.
This is the most shocking part. I don't see how it was 'untimely' when triggering at 60ft radio altitude almost 2km from the runway. It appears he wasn't concerned about the error during cruise, but rather the correct warning during a dangerous approach.
The whole thing is baffling.