Date: 201504
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: DCA.Airport, DC
Flight conditions: VMC
Weather elements / visibility: Icing; Turbulence
Aircraft: EMB ERJ 170/175 ER/LR
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Initial Approach
Airspace: Class B DCA
ATC / advisory: Tower DCA
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Situational Awareness
Second reporter function: Pilot Not Flying; First Officer
Anomaly: Deviation - Speed All Types; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Detector: Automation Aircraft Other Automation; Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Executed Go Around / Missed Approach; General Maintenance Action
Contributing factors: Human Factors; Weather
Primary problem: Weather

Narrative: Arriving in the DCA area on the CLIPR1 arrival; we began to encounter moderate turbulence just past BAL.  Shortly after being switched over to the final approach controller; we heard a flight execute a missed approach and list the reason as being an unstable approach.  The winds at the time were reported in the ATIS as 220@20G31.  We briefed the go around callouts and procedure at this point; as it sounded like a go around might be likely.  At the time no windshear was being reported in the ATIS.  Due to the wind gusts and Stall Protection Ice Speeds from a prior icing encounter; our Vapp was 150 knots.We were cleared for the River Visual Approach to runway 19.  Although we experienced light to moderate turbulence all the way down the approach; the approach was stable to 500 foot callout; where we were at Vapp and the callout was a 700 fpm descent.  Shortly after completing the last turn and lining up on the centerline of the runway (at about 300-400 feet); we experienced moderate turbulence accompanied by a shift in the wind; resulting in the GPWS callouts of 'Sink Rate . . .  PULL UP PULL UP'.  I was looking outside as the GPWS callouts came; and it didn't appear that the approach had become unstable; but I initiated a Go Around anyway.  A second or two after initiating the Go Around; the GPWS annunciated 'CAUTION WINDSHEAR!'  A few seconds later; with increasing performance from the shear; the aircraft exceeded Vfe for Flaps 5; which the first officer had yet to change.  We went beyond the red line on the airspeed tape for just a couple seconds and no more than about five knots over the limitation.  As we cleaned up the aircraft in the climb; we complied with an ATC assigned heading and altitude of 4;000.  When asked the reason for the go around we said that we encountered windshear. Once at altitude and handed off to another frequency we learned that the airport was switching from a Southbound operation to a Northbound operation; using runway 1 and 33.  We suspect that we were the last aircraft to do an approach to 19.  Even while up at 4;000 feet on the downwind for our second approach; we experienced a loss and gain of 30 knots.  We were eventually cleared for the Mt. Vernon visual to 33.  At about 1;000 feet during our approach we again encountered the 'CAUTION WINDSHEAR!' GPWS alert.  The gusts and shear were not as bad and we were able to make an otherwise uneventful approach and landing.Upon arriving at the gate; I wrote up the flap limitation exceedance and called maintenance.  We swapped aircraft and found that the crew of our new aircraft had experienced the same situation; and also exceeded the flap limitation in a gust.When we began our first approach; the tower was reporting winds from 210-220 degrees.  At the time of our second approach they were reporting winds between 340 and 360 degrees.  I believe our first approach was being made while the winds were in the process of shifting to the North.I think for the most part the First Officer and I did everything we could with the situation we were given.  With our approach speed of 150 knots and Flaps 5 limitation of 180 knots; there wasn't much margin for error during the go around; and the complication of a windshear encounter didn't help.In a situation like this I need to speak much louder to be heard over the GPWS callouts.  They seemed almost continuous as we were initiating the go around; and the First Officer wasn't able to hear my callouts for the go around procedure very well; which may have contributed to a slight delay in cleaning up the aircraft.


Second narrative: We were cleared for the river visual runway 19 into KDCA. The winds were reported to be 220 @ 20G31. We used stall protection ice speeds (due to icing we received in the decent) and then added the gust factor making our VAP approx 148. As we were being vectored for the approach we heard a plane go around due to 'not being in a position to land'. During the approach briefing the captain did brief a go around. There was light to moderate turbulence throughout the decent and approach. We were stabilized at 500 feet. As we made the turn to final at approx 500-400 feet the wind shifted and we heard the 'SINK RATE' aural caution message. The captain initiated a Go around at approximately 300 feet. Almost immediately after initiating the Go around we the received the WIND SHEAR ALERT message. The wind shear increased the aircrafts performance and airspeed. The sudden increase in airspeed caused the plane to exceed the flaps 5 speed limitation for approximately 3-5 seconds. The captain pitched further up to lower the planes airspeed and we then began retracting the flaps per the Go around SOP. We complied with ATC instructions to reenter the downwind for 19 and climb to 4;000 feet. We informed ATC that we had gone around due to wind shear at 300 feet. The captain informed the passengers of the situation and that we would be coming back in to land. As we turned downwind for runway 19; DCA switched runways to runway 1 due to the wind shifting from the south to the north. We received vectors from ATC for the Mount Vernon Visual runway 1. As we circled to land on runway 33 we received another Windshear alert message. We landed without any further incident. At the gate the captain made a Maintenance logbook entry and informed Maintenance. I am not 100% sure how this event could be prevented in the future. We knew it was going be very windy below the cloud deck and we did brief the go around procedure during the approach briefing. There was no LLWS advisory or Wind shift report in the METAR.The go around happened so quickly and the wind shear alert so soon after we initiated the go around I am unsure how we could have prevented the flap overspeed. I think even if we landed with flaps full to lower the Vap we would have exceed the flap full speed limitation when we received wind shear in the go around. As the pilot monitoring I believe that that the captain flying did a good job during the go around and recovery from the wind shear / flap overspeed.


Synopsis: An EMB170 Flight Crew experiences a wind shear event during the River Visual approach to Runway 19 at DCA. At 300 feet the GPWS annunciates 'Sink Rate . . . PULL UP PULL UP' and a go around is initiated by the Captain. Within seconds a 'CAUTION WINDSHEAR!' annunciates and an increasing performance winds hear is encountered resulting in a flap over speed. The airport is turned around and the next approach is to Runway 33.