Acc & Inc Imagery

 

Week ending 18 Aug 03

 

 

Investigation Reports of Interest

Ghost Flight

On 4 September 2000, a Beech Super King Air 200 aircraft, VH-SKC, departed Perth, Western Australia at 1009 UTC on a short charter flight to Leonora with one pilot and seven passengers on board.  Five hours after taking off from Perth, the aircraft impacted the ground 2000 miles away near Burketown, Queensland, and was destroyed. There were no survivors.

1995 Mountain-side Crash of DASH 8 in New Zealand

(Court case admitted CVR evidence against pilot)

08 Aug

Minorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

757-200 of MyTravel

flt: MYT392

Capt used taxi accel/decel to resolve a problem with grnd/air sensing -then faced a pax revolt back at the terminal. 14 pax refused to re-board after Capt declared a/c “fixed”.

nil

If nose oleo is over-inflated and freight loaded aft, extended NLG oleo can give a spurious Ground/Air signal) Known down-route defects are commonly addressed thusly by pilots.

(From the Boeing 757 manual)

"The nose gear compressed logic sensing system provides logic to relays controlling stall warning and portions of the caution and warning system."

There is no question of thrust reversers/spoilers/self destruct mechanisms or lavatory inhibiting levers deploying. Nose Gear over-extension affects warning systems only.

All the critical stuff comes off the main-gear truck tilt sensors.

Crash fallout: ONGC staff threatens to go on strike

- NDTV Correspondent

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 (Mumbai):

 
The helicopter, which crashed into the Arabian Sea while ferrying 25 ONGC employees, has been located 180 miles off Sagar Kiran. Tail-rotor failure is suspected.

The night-long search operations by the vessels of ONGC, Navy and Coast Guard led to the location of Mi-72 helicopter lying upside down in the water.
 

Efforts are on to bring up the chopper, which crashed yesterday three minutes after take-off with 29 people aboard, including four crew members of Mesco aviation.

Meanwhile, the DGCA has announced an inquiry into the cause of the crash.

Safety concerns

Related Links

After 23 ONGC employees died in the helicopter accident, questions are being raised over the safety of choppers, which ferry workers from rigs.

The crash took place when the Mi-72 chopper of Mesco Airline was ferrying ONGC employees from its drilling rig Sagar Kiran to another rig Sagar Jyoti.

Two men were rescued offering some hope, but as the first dead bodies were pulled out, the chances of survivors seemed bleak.

Employees threaten stir

ONGC employees now say they've been warning the management about chopper safety for weeks, but haven't got a proper response.

They have threatened to resort to a non-cooperation agitation from August 13, if their demand for the resignation of Chairman Subir Raha is not accepted.

"We have never been satisfied with the safety of these helicopters. We have even written to the management asking them to pay more attention to safety," said L K Mirchandani, President, Association of Scientific and Technical Officers.

"We have warned them that if a big accident occurs, we will initiate criminal proceedings against them," added Mirchandani.

ONGC rotates its oil rig crew of 25 employees every week. The crew that went down had spent longer than two weeks on board the rig.

Found after 4 months

On April 17, 2003, a twin-engine Cessna 320D, N4178T, registered to and flown by an instrument rated commercial pilot as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, failed to arrive at the Bellingham International Airport, Bellingham, Washington after departing the Pangborn Memorial Airport, Wenatchee, Washington. Variable meteorological conditions prevailed over the route of flight, and a flight plan was not filed. It was

 reported by witnesses at Wenatchee that the flight departed at approximately 0745. One passenger was on board.

At 1557, April 18, 2003, an alert notice (ALNOT) was issued for the missing aircraft. Search and rescue efforts commenced on April 19, 2003. The aircraft was not located and the search was suspended.

On August 8, 2003, approximately 1030 Pacific daylight time, a helicopter pilot spotted the wreckage in a valley located 13 miles north of Mazama, Washington. The wreckage was positioned on the east wall of the north/south running valley at the approximate 5,000 foot level. Damage to several tree tops for about 300 feet along a 320 degree magnetic bearing was measured leading up to the main wreckage. Both occupants were fatally injured at the time of the accident.

Not Just Blown Tyres

The Skyservice Airbus A320-231 (Flight #SSV788) aircraft was on approach to Cardiff, South Wales, when the aircraft approach status was downgraded to ""CAT III Single"". The flight crew noticed the ECAM WHEEL page showed ""Steering"" in amber, indicating a fault. The crew recycled the Anti-Skid/Nosewheel Steering switch Off and On and indications on the ECAM WHEEL page returned to normal. The approach status was upgraded to ""CAT III Dual"". On touchdown, idle reverse was selected due to

 noise abatement considerations. When loss of braking was identified, maximum reverse was selected. The captain called for Anti-skid/Nosewheel Steering switch to be recycled, but normal braking was not restored. The captain requested the switch be selected off to allow for alternate braking pressure from the accumulator. Brakes were applied to stop aircraft on the remaining runway, resulting in the failure of three main wheel tires. There was no anti-skid protection with the switch selected to the OFF position. The captain advised the cabin crew to remain at their stations, notified the tower, and requested emergency vehicles. Emergency services examined the wheels and reported to the crew that there was no need for evacuation. Airstrips and transportation to the terminal were provided and all passengers deplaned through normal exits. There were no injuries reported. This incident is presently being investigated by company maintenance personnel. The CVR and FDR were downloaded for additional data retrieval. The company will report on the findings as they are determined.

  See also this link (pdf file of 2.5mbs) for similar prior incident

11 Aug 1240L

Jakarta Intl

F28-3000R of Garuda PK-GFT

GA073 advised unsafe gear on appch

and later, L gear collapsed on taxi-in

nil/24 pax

substantial damage caused by L wing striking the ground. (ex Surabaya)

10 Aug

Manchester UK

Embraer ERJ145 of CitiExpress

Aberdeen-Birmingham Flight div’ted Manchester with smoke mayday

nil

smoke alert was in rear baggage hold of Flt BA1472 (G-EMBY)

11 Aug 1530L

Jandakot A/P

Perth WA

C404 of Fugro Spatial

Laden a/c lost engine on take-off, turned back and crashed short of the runway. On a Nautronix Charter

1fatal/5 serious

enrt to a military chartered  task to the West of Perth, Western Australia. Fire crews took >13 mins to reach site, however Medevac chopper was training locally.

Medevac Chopper Crew

Sifting the Cessna 404 Wreckage

Occupants escaped but were seriously burnt

Airport firefighting deficiency rapped

By Geoffrey Thomas and Leith Paganoni


THE lack of an airport fire service unit at Jandakot Airport was criticized yesterday after a crash left one person dead and five severely burnt.

The tragedy is the latest in a series of safety problems that have dogged Australia's busiest airport. There were 348,000 movements at Jandakot last year.

A fire service was axed in 1992 to cut costs after a change in safety regulations deemed the airport did not warrant a service because passenger numbers were low.

Jandakot is covered by the Fire & Emergency Services Authority. The nearest fire station is Canning Vale, although the crash yesterday was attended by the O'Connor brigade, which took 13 minutes to get the scene.

A former crash investigator who declined to be named said the situation at Jandakot was serious.

"With all those movements and pilot training, a fire service at the airport is essential," he said.

"An airport fire service could have been at the crash site within five minutes, not the 15 or more it takes to get there at the moment."

He said he expected the investigation into the crash would recommend a fire unit be returned to the airport.

Air Services Australia reversed last year a decision to reduce Jandakot control tower manning. The cuts had meant there were no air traffic controllers after 6pm despite the fact that up to eight aircraft could be in the circuit for landing at any time and there were 92 flights an hour.

The only control between 6pm and 8am was by pilots who broadcast their intentions and monitored their radios.

But a few reckless pilots did not announce their arrivals in the circuit area to avoid landing fees. Other pilots entered the circuit area the wrong way, setting up the possibility of mid-air collisions.

In one incident, a Cessna prepared for take-off on the wrong end of the runway, despite planes landing towards it.

The pilot ignored several demands to leave the runway, took off with a tailwind and forced another plane to abort its landing.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service said last year Jandakot was unsafe at night. It was backed by the Royal Aero Club and the airport's owners, Jandakot Airport Holdings.

Crews' crucial response

IT TOOK eight minutes for the first fire truck to reach the scene of the crash at Jandakot Airport , the Fire & Emergency Services Authority said yesterday.

FESA recorded a call for help at 3.40pm and a medium pumper from O'Connor fire station, about 11.6km away by road, was the first appliance on the scene.

It beat a medium tanker which came from Canning Vale fire station, about 8.2km away by road.

The two appliances did most of the work to extinguish the burning wreckage. A heavy pumper from Canning Vale and a heavy rescue tender from Perth fire station also arrived within minutes.

A FESA spokeswoman said the heavy pumper was not as useful in the sandy bush where the plane crashed.

The crash is estimated to have occurred at 3.35pm. It was not known what time the first 000 call was made and in what order the emergency services were requested.

An emergency brief was logged on the WA Police Service computer system at 3.39pm.

The Fire & Emergency Services Authority received its first call for help at 3.40pm.

St John Ambulance sent vehicles from its Fremantle, Gosnells and Armadale bases and all four were on the road at 3.40pm, taking about 10 minutes to get to the airport.

The Medivac helicopter used to take one man to Royal Perth Hospital was stationed at Jandakot, where emergency crews had been training.

09 Aug 1214L

Chesterfield Missouri

Cessna 650 of Thunder Air

N122EJ  rudder jammed just after lift-off enrt Kirksville Missouri.

nil/2

After inflt evaluation, crew returned to  Spirit of St Louis A/P (landing 1242L)

08 Aug 0619L

Ft Lauderdale Fl

SabreLiner N265

reg:N12PB

Lost directional ctrl on landing and ran off right side of runway 8

nil/5pob

weather fine, wind calm. Minor damage