EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Total 5800
Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Airport; Weather
Prior to landing; ATIS received reported winds at 060@06KTS; 3/4SM -SN OVC004 with braking action good. Upon talking to Tower; the controller also stated that an aircraft landing approximately an hour or so earlier reported braking action good with no further reports. Upon starting the approach; we had ground contact at 3;000 ft. On about a 6-mile final to the runway the snow and rain mix got very heavy. At approximately 700 ft. we broke out with the runway in sight. Upon touching down and applying the brakes I felt and saw the aircraft begin to skid to the left as if the main wheels were sliding. Upon releasing brake pressure gently and using rudder inputs we regained directional control. Upon applying the brakes again and now the thrust reversers spooled up; the wheels slid again and abruptly caused the tail of the aircraft to yaw to the left again in a skidding motion. I then regained directional control of the aircraft with rudder inputs to regain centerline. Once I regained directional control and gently getting the brakes to work without locking up; reverse thrust was activated again with some effect and slowing the aircraft down. Upon reaching 500 ft. of runway remaining I had positive brake control. However; as slippery as the runway was; I could not make the right turn at the end of the runway onto the taxiway which would have been a 45 to 90-degree turn. making that turn with still some speed I believe would have caused the aircraft to go into an uncontrolled lateral skid causing damage to the aircraft and/or injury to passengers. The aircraft then gently departed the end of the runway about 20 ft. the aircraft did not sink or bog. We immediately contacted the Tower and the Flight Attendant. The Flight Attendant stated that everyone was ok with no injuries. Afterwards we contacted Dispatch; Operations; and the Chief Pilot. Every five minutes or so I updated the passengers with what happened and that we were working on getting them off the aircraft. The Flight Attendant did an excellent job assisting the passengers. Operations transported the passengers to the terminal. During the deplaning of passengers; Contract Maintenance inspected the aircraft and found no damage to the aircraft. Braking action was not reported correctly. Under no circumstances was that runway good as reported. The aircraft that landed an hour or so ahead of us may have had good braking action but how much snow and rain fell within that hour? Contract maintenance told me that the reason he was on the field was due to [another] flight; which had a flap failure after landing due to the amount of snow; ice and slush trapped in the flaps after landing.I suggest runway inspections every hour.
As we approach to terminal segment of the flight; I submit a WX request through the ACARS and confirm it with the current broadcasting ATIS. The ATIS was reporting wind at 060 @ 6 kts; 3/4sm -SN OVC 400 with a braking action reported as 'good'. Also took notice at the Notam indicated the Ficon as 5/5/5. While checking in with Tower the Controller was very vague on the runway condition stating a past aircraft was able to land. At about 3;000 ft. I told the Captain that I could see some residential lights in the distance just for situational awareness. At around 700-800 ft. I was able to spot the runway approach lights; calling 'continue'; and about 3-5 second after I was able to see the runway and runway edge lights calling 'runway in sight.' The flare to the round out part of the landing were standard in nature: On speed; on centerline and on glidepath.As we touched down the Captain started applying brake and the aircraft skidded to left of centerline as if we were skidding on locked wheels. Soon after; I saw the Captain making adjustments and bring the aircraft back to the center line. Additionally; as I looked down the runway I saw with my peripheral [vision] when [the Captain] was deploying the thrust reversers and seconds after I saw them spool up. As I felt that neither the reverse thrust nor the antiskid were helping us to come to a full stop; I looked down the runway then over to the yoke just in case the Captain needed me to take over the yoke to use the tiller. This wasn't the case. On the rollout the brakes kept locking up several times and the plane kept veering to the left. [The Captain] kept applying the correction to keep on centerline. [He] kept repeating that process until he was able to regain efficient braking from the brake while keeping directional control of the aircraft.Although there was a turn at the end of the runway the Captain made the decision on keeping the aircraft [aligned] with the runway to avoid an uncontrolled spin or ground loop due to the momentum we still had and the runway condition. The aircraft then came to a full stop at the end of the runway with both main and nose in the grass and tail and rudder were still over the runway (about 20 ft.). We both coordinated with the Tower Controller; Operations; Dispatch and Flight Attendant to ensure that all the passenger were safe. The braking action was not reported correctly on the ATIS. As we locked wheels a couple of times it became apparent to us that the runway condition was 'poor.' Even thought it was reported 'good' and Ficon 5/5/5 we got little to no braking action from the runway. Also; the constant locking and sliding of the wheels made it a lot harder to come to a full stop. Lastly; it didn't seem as it was light snow although that was reported. As far as correction the airport should be more specific on the runway condition. Plow more often when the intensity of the snow increases. This event could have been avoided if we had known the actual condition of the runway.
EMB-145 flight crew reported rolling off the end of the runway after struggling with directional control while rolling out on the snow-covered runway.