2012 A330 near-LOC Paris France
A very early morning Cat3 arrival was planned for the A330. Radar vectoring resulted in the aircraft being significantly higher than it should, followed by the autopilot capturing a false (10 degree) glideslope when the aircraft was only 2 miles from the runway but at 2850 feet. This resulted in a major pitch increase to 26 degrees and loss of speed. The crew recovered and made a go-around followed by a normal landing.
The crew were possibly fatigued but returning to their home base. The report does not give any indication of relative experience levels of the crew members or other CRM related aspects.
The crew were aware of the fact that they were high, but as low visibility procedures were in force expected that ATC would provide rather conservative vectoring, and alert them to any significant discrepancies. This did not happen.
If the crew had been using a PicMA procedure
1) the Captain would have been talking to ATC and might have been better placed to confirm ATC's intentions and/or reject requests that were not compatible with the aircraft's energy state.
2) the Captain would have had more capacity for situational awareness, to appreciate that the aircraft was much closer to the airport than could be appropriate for its current height and glideslope indications.
3) the Captain would probably have required the F/O as PF to adjust the aircraft configuration to achieve the correct flight path sooner.
