Regional Jet 700 ER/LR (CRJ700)
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Workload
Ground Excursion Taxiway; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Procedure; Weather; Airport
ATIS stated taxiways and ramps were sanded; but braking action was poor. The Tower clarified that the runway braking action was also reported as poor. As Captain; I landed the aircraft and found braking to be poor. Although we were only moving at approximately 5 KTS (about walking pace) I continued past the first possible exit to the next taxiway due to the slick appearance of the first taxiway. Upon reaching the next taxiway; I came to a stop on the runway and then began my turn to exit. At this point I encountered ice which prevented any directional control or stopping of the aircraft. The aircraft began a tail swap and slid beyond the taxiway edge coming to rest almost 180 degrees on top of the grass and next to the taxiway. During the incident; we advised the Tower we had no controllability and were going off the side. Once we came to a complete stop; I advised all passengers to remain seated with their seat belts fastened. We contacted the flight attendants to verify they were uninjured and asked them to verify the same with the passengers. The flight attendants did so and reported to us that no passengers were injured. At this point I contacted Operations and secured the aircraft. No damage was observed to the aircraft and it was relocated to the terminal by tug for passenger deplaning. This event occurred due a lack of accurate information provided to the flight crew concerning braking and/or controllability issues prior to encountering those conditions on the taxiway due to ice. The sanding of taxiways was inadequate to prevent loss of controllability and braking.My suggestion for avoiding a recurrence of this event is that the Tower advise crews of the history and related issues; such as the prior incidents at [the airport] that day. The Tower issued Mu values were reported as 30/23/26 (Fair/Poor/Fair); however recent occurrences indicated the Mu values were better than actual reported field conditions. Had we known that at least two aircraft had no controllability on the ramp and/or taxiways; we would have remained on the runway. After the incident; I found out that two prior 121 aircraft had controllability issues this day and reported there being no controllability. One that I am aware of left the taxiway surface and required assistance at or near the deice area. Only briefly was braking changed to nil after our incident and then back to poor. At this point; a foreign airliner taxied out and I was told by Station Operations that he too lost controllability. Once we deplaned; I was approached by an aircrew who said they had tried to get in touch with us to advise us not to come in. We never received any communication of this information prior to reaching this destination and it would have been of great value. This event could have also been prevented by adequate surface treatment of the taxiway. Due to the rain; it appeared the sanding did not remain an effective means to increase the braking and controllability of moving aircraft.
[Narrative #2 contains no additional information.]
An CRJ-700 landed on a runway after ATC reported poor braking but slid off the runway while turning 180 degrees and was then towed to the gate because of the ice conditions. No advanced warning was given about the conditions which affected a previous flight.