I found a lot of interesting articles and clips this week in the news – too many to pick a subject. So for this week, have a news round-up with plenty of links for you to find out more.

The accident report has been released for the incident I wrote up in January:
Ditching in the Irish Sea.

Air Accidents Investigation: Piper PA 30, M-ALAN

Approximately 38 nm south-east of Ronaldsway, at FL 080, the pilot identified a “runaway” (overspeed) of the right engine. She shut down the engine and commenced a diversion to Blackpool Airport. Six minutes into the diversion the left engine also lost power. Despite conducting relevant cockpit procedures the pilot was unable to restore power. Unable to maintain level flight, and having calculated that Blackpool was too far away, she ditched the aircraft and was picked up by a rescue boat from a nearby rig support vessel.

The wreckage of the plane was recovered but severely damaged after five months lying on the seabed. The enquiry confirms that the state of the plane was consistent with the pilot’s report and theorises that the right engine may have suffered a mechanical fault while the left engine may have been the victim of icing.

Caught on video: Why BA 009 rose from the ashes – tech – 27 October 2010 – New Scientist

Next, they sieved volcanic ash collected from farmland near Eyjafjallajökull and kept those particles that were 57 micrometres in diameter or less. These are the particles that reached aircraft cruising altitudes, above 9 kilometres, in European skies during the eruption. They then loaded the ash into a sandblaster and fired it at the hot blades.

The red-hot vanes became coated in a glassy film as the ash melted, so much so that a real jet engine would clog up and fail. But when the team dropped the temperature to 720 ºC – a temperature an engine will cool to after failing – the ash began jumping off the vanes until most of it had gone (see video).

Passenger plane forced to make emergency landing in Canada after family bust-up | Mail Online

The article is pretty silly (“[We] were convinced we were about to die”) but I particularly enjoyed the map showing just how far they had to divert to land safely:

You can see the Great Circle route of today’s flight on FlightAware which takes the flight directly over Gander, making it an obvious place to divert to under the circumstances.

BBC News – UK airlines back call for airport security changes

The UK airline industry has backed British Airways chairman Martin Broughton’s call for changes to airport security checks.

Speaking at the UK Airport Operators’ Association annual conference, Mr Broughton said that no-one wanted weaker security.

But he was quoted by the Financial Times as telling the conference: “We all know there’s quite a number of elements in the security programme which are completely redundant and they should be sorted out.”

Mr Broughton, who is also chairman of Liverpool FC, added the UK should only agree to security checks that the US requires for passengers on domestic flights.

“America does not do internally a lot of the things they demand that we do,” he said. “We shouldn’t stand for that.”

Pilot jailed for 20 years for causing Cotonou plane crash – Bikya Masr

UTA, which was eventually incorporated into a French aviation firm, had a checkered safety history and was only given permission to commence commercial flights from Beirut after initially failing to meet necessary safety specifications.

Preliminary investigations into the cause of the crash showed that the plane had taken off up to 10 tons overweight, although subsequent crash probes revealed a different problem.

“The direct cause of the accident was not the large amount of excess weight on board, but the distribution of the load,” said France’s Accident Investigations Bureau (BEA) in the months following the crash.

Small plane crashes into two parked cars in Wesley Chapel

Preliminary information indicates the student pilot, a 60-year-old man, on his second solo flight, had problems in his takeoff and lost control when he landed. His single-engine plane skidded off the runway and landed on two cars parked in the lot of an industrial business.

This is, of course, a somewhat random selection of current affairs which I found interesting. Feel free to add current aviation stories in the comments.

On August 25th, a FILair flight flying from Kinshasa Ndolo crashed into a building only a few kilometers from its destination of Bandundu. All three crew members and 16 passengers died in the crash. Of the two passengers rescued, one died later of his injuries.

The aircraft was a Czech-made LET-410 twin similar to the photograph at the left. According to Wikipedia, the Let L-410 Turbolet first flew in 1969, and with more than 1100 produced, is the most popular 19-seat plane in history. It is primary used for passenger transport.

At the time of the fatal accident, the governor stated that the aircraft must have run out of fuel, having initiated a go-around at Bandundu Airport. However, 150 litres of fuel were recovered from the wreckage.

Two days later, the surviving passenger gave an unclear statement, talking about the passengers panicking and stampeding the cockpit.

Initial reports stated that the crew were coming in to land at a “reserve strip” rather than the main runway, which caused the passengers to panic. The plane became unstable and crashed.

However, Jeune Afrique have published an article that new information is available regarding the crash, which if true would make it one of the most bizarre accident reports that I have ever seen.

The True Reasons for the Crash of Bandundu says that there was a panic in the aircraft but it was nothing to do with the runway heading.

They say that there was an crocodile loose in the plane.

Jeune Afrique say they have insider information and claim that according to the Comité Professionel des Transporteurs Aériens report and the statements from the sole survivor, the crocodile was the cause of the crash.

Apparently, one of the passengers of the flight concealed a live crocodile, which he intended to resell, in a large sports bag. The reptile burst out of the bag as the aircraft commenced its descent to Bandundu. The hostess, alarmed, fled to the cockpit. The passengers rushed after her. Unbalanced, the aircraft went into a spin. The flight crew were both experienced pilots with strong reputations but they had no chance to recover the plane.

Jeune Afrique ends with the “tragic-comic” conclusion that the crocodile survived the impact but was then killed by a rescuer with a machete. The article states that the crocodile can be seen emerging from the plane in a video on YouTube but having watched all the footage of the wreckage that I could find, I saw no trace of unexpected reptiles.

Today, the Aviation Herald reacted negatively to the news reports regarding the story. Comments asking about the crocodile and linking to the mainstream press have been deleted. In their place, a comment was left asking people to stop leaving such comments.

Crash: Filair L410 at Bandundu on Aug 25th 2010, impacted building

By Simon Hradecky on Friday, Oct 22nd 2010 10:56Z

There is no point in mentioning the Crocodile or referring to other news sources. Those comments are going to be deleted.

We are fully aware of the news reports regarding the Crocodile which are so ridiculous and not officially confirmed that we do not mirror this well invented story.

Other news sources claim, that the survivor said there was a crocodile on board causing the imbalance. However, what is known officially about the testimony of that witness was reported by us and does not mention any animal.

Meanwhile, the Aircraft crashes after crocodile on board escapes and sparks panic article in the Telegraph is listed as today’s most viewed news.

On the 3rd of October, a twin engine Cessna 310 took off from Airport-in-the-Sky (KAVX) on Catalina Island with two passengers. Within minutes, the pilot lost control of the aircraft and they “impacted terrain” (official term for crashed) about 600 feet southeast of the runway. I initially saw the photograph as Stern.de‘s Photograph of the Day and couldn’t believe that it was a non-fatal incident.

The pilot and his passengers climbed out of the aircraft which went up in flames. It took the fire department almost an hour to gain control of the resulting 3-acre fire. Looking at the wreckage of the plane, it is amazing that its occupants survived.

Cessna 310 crashes and burns on Catalina Island – National Airlines/Airport | Examiner.com

Santa Catalina Island, commonly called Catalina, was originally owned by the William Wrigley, Jr., the chewing gum magnate, and his family. It is located 22 miles south by southwest of Los Angeles in the Pacific Ocean. Catalina Airport is located six miles northwest of the Avalon central business district, at an elevation of 1,602 feet. The single runway, which dips midway, is 3,000 feet long and 60 feet wide. This journalist has flown into Catalina Airport as a passenger on similar twin engine aircraft. The airport lies at the island’s highest point, with roads leading to it climbing steeply, with many switchbacks. It was originally called Buffalo Springs Airport when it opened in the late 1930′s. United Airlines originally provided commercial service with DC-3 equipment.

The pilot had dropped the passengers off at Catalina on the 2nd of October and flown to John Wayne Airport (KSNA) in Orange County. The following day, he returned to the airfield to pick them up. Over lunch, he noticed the weather. The pilot was not instrument rated and he was concerned that they would end up stuck on the island if the weather got worse. They agreed to leave immediately.

As the pilot had just flown in from KSNA and they were in a hurry, he conducted an “abbreviated” engine run-up as they taxied to runway 22. The engine trouble might have been highlighted on the ground if he’d done full power checks; however it is fairly common practice to shortcut these if you’ve already flown the plane that day. The pilot had 700 hours, 650 on type, so it seems likely that he would have noticed if one of the engines was running rough.

N310XX took off normally from the 914 metre runway. A few seconds later, the plane veered to the left. The NTSB Preliminary Report describes what happened next:

The takeoff roll was normal, but about 2 to 3 seconds after liftoff, the airplane veered “sharply to the left,” which the pilot interpreted as a failure of the left engine. The pilot was concerned about airspeed decay due to the flaps and landing gear being deployed, so he pushed the nose down to maintain airspeed. The pilot then noticed the “right wing coming up,” so he retarded the right throttle. The airplane then entered a fog bank, and impacted terrain on a magnetic track of approximately 146 degrees, about 600 feet southeast of the runway. It came to a stop within 200 feet, with the cabin intact. The airplane was subsequently engulfed by fire. All three occupants exited the airplane without external assistance.

The pilot and one of the passengers sustained minor injuries, the other passenger was taken to hospital with serious but non-fatal burns. Still, they managed to walk away from one of the most frightening incidents that can happen in an aircraft: engine failure directly after take-off.

I have been collecting my essays, articles and blog-posts into a single volume to see if it would read well as a book. This is part of the introduction: how I ended up studying for my Private Pilot’s Licence out of a grudge rather than actual interest. It didn’t take long before I was hooked!

When I was small, we lived in Inglewood, spitting distance from Hollywood. In the movies, I would have jumped into the Cessna and flown my heart out until I became the best pilot of the group. Then the other students would have begged me to help them improve their skills and the RAF airman would have declared his undying astonishment at my natural flying abilities and then I would have flown the little 6-seater plane into the sunset.

That’s not quite how it happened. From the beginning, I lagged behind the other students. I forced myself back into the plane but the fear stayed with me.

In the afternoons, when a combination of heat and gusting wind made in-the-air instruction impossible, Oliver and his companions told horror stories of their worst students: a teenager who played “Ace Pilot” video games and was sure he knew it all, a young student whose mum insisted he couldn’t get in the plane unless she could sit in the back and a business man who regularly fell asleep at the controls.

It was clear that despite my misgivings, there were actually people who were less suited to flying than I was. And so I felt more comfortable with my role: The instructors saw me as a challenge. They were used to fixing mistakes, it was their job to remain on guard and ready to take control. They weren’t going to allow me to kill myself. This gave me enough peace of mind to continue.

We fell into a routine. I didn’t like the early flights; I’ve never been a morning person. I arrived with the others and retreated to the dark bar where Juan wordlessly handed me a café solo. By lunchtime the place would be full of ancient aviators sitting at the oak table, watching the Spanish news on at full blast but at this time of the morning it was quiet. By the time it was my turn to fly, taking whichever Cessna came free first, I felt awake and almost competent. Often the previous occupant had seen to the fuel for me, so I simply walked around the plane to make sure the wings were still attached and then hopped in with Oliver for my hour in the air.

I had a detailed checklist which I referred to for my every move. It somehow felt like cheating, I should be memorising the steps. But Oliver assured me that no, every competent pilot used a list and mentally checked off each items, even the man who flew the Concorde. So I got out the laminated sheet and went through the steps needed to get started.

Check the meter on the passenger side of the plane – the Hobbs they called it but it had nothing to do with Calvin and – note the starting number. At the end of the flight, I would note the new number and work out the elapsed time: this allowed me to track my flight time for my logbook. Make sure the control wheel lock isn’t attached (that would be embarrassing) and check that I have the ignition key with me. Verify that the radio is switched off and then turn the master switch on. Check the fuel quantity. Check the doors are closed and seatbelts on. Put my feet firmly on the brakes (readjust stolen cushion as appropriate) and tug the flight controls to make sure they are moving freely, extra points for knocking the too-tall instructor in the knees in the process. Set the fuel tank selector to both and set the trim to the Takeoff setting. Now take a deep breath and think about starting the engine.

I loved the list and I especially loved the fact that no one was going to take it away from me and give me a pop quiz. Everything that needed to be done inside the plane was itemised up to the point of taking off from the runway.

My heart still skipped a beat as we pulled away from the ground but these days I had no time for peering out of windows. Oliver gave me non-stop instructions, taking us out to sea for general handling or circling the airfield for circuits.

By the end of the hour, my arms ached and my head felt full of cotton wool. Once everyone was on the ground, we sat in the small wooden chairs which had small tablets attached to make for simple desks. I regularly fought off juvenile urges to carve my initials into the laminate and throw spitballs. Here, I learned about angles of attack and chord lines and drag: it wasn’t simply magic that kept the plane aloft.

As the temperatures rose, the darkness of the bar tempted us away from the study rooms. The double-doors were layered with black reflective material, I had a bad habit of stopping to fix my hair or worse, check my teeth before remembering that there was a contingent of bored Andalucian men, sipping coffee and grunting at each other about the news, who could see me silhouetted in the doorway.

Opening those doors, we walked into total darkness. After the bright glare of the sun, it was impossible to see anything except the dull flicker of the black-and-white television in the corner. After a few minutes, the long room would come into focus. First the television lit up the ancient wooden cabinet pushed against the wall. Then the men would come into focus, leaning on the long old oak dining table. Beyond them, the bar with a few bottle of spirits, a fridge full of beer and water and a coffee machine.

Behind the bar was the door to the office. A few minutes after we entered, Juan would walk through the door behind the bar that led to the offices. He always walked through as we entered, as if he was aware of our every step on the airfield. Someone would buy a round of ice-cold Lanjarón, the local bottled water. We’d discuss the day’s lesson while Juan stood behind the bar, ready to do anything required of him as long as he didn’t have to talk.

It was a comfortable routine, I felt a part of the aviation world. As the days went on, I forgot my panic and carried on flying with Oliver, learning the controls and memorising the words. I knew for a fact that the one-ton plane was capable of hanging in the air in a way that my car could not. I readily accepted that the wings made one hell of a difference. I felt happy with that, secure that people with better brains than mine understood it – in the same way that pilots with better skills than mine flew the plane.

And that was all fine, until the day Oliver told me he wanted me to take the plane up on my own.

Who was going to fly it?

On the 30th of March 2008 a Cessna Citation 500 took off from Biggin Hill. Shortly after take-off, one of the pilots reported engine vibration and declared their intent to return to Biggin Hill. They never made it to the airfield. The Citation crashed into a house and the two pilots and three passengers died on impact.

In May 2010, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch released a formal report on the accident. It makes for chilling reading.

The flight was cleared to take off from Runway 21 at 13:32. The first transmission after take-off was their intent to return to the airfield.

13:34:25 (1,560 feet amsl):
AND VICTOR PAP BRAVO GOLF ECHO ER WE’RE MAKING AN IMMEDIATE TURN TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT IMMEDIATE TURN TO THE AIRPORT

13:34:32:
VICTOR GOLF ECHO JOIN DOWNWIND RIGHT HAND RUNWAY TWO ONE THE BIGGIN HILL QNH ONE THOUSAND THRESHOLD ELEVATION’S FIVE ONE SEVEN FEET WHAT’S THE NATURE OF YOUR PROBLEM

13:34:39 (1,540 feet amsl):
ER WE DON’T KNOW SIR WE’RE GETTING ER ENGINE VIBRATION WE’LL COME STRAIGHT BACK

The AAIB were unable to find any issues with the engines that could cause such a vibration. The report concludes that the vibrations the pilots reported felt were not caused by an engine at all. The air cycle machine (ACM), part of the Citation’s pressurisation system, was the likely culprit.

The damage observed on the ACM fan bearing cage confirmed that it had operated after failure of the cage. Operation in this condition would result in the relative position of the rollers around the shaft changing, allowing increased lateral movement and vibration of the shaft and the fan attached to it.
[...]
It follows that, in the event that the shaft was vibrating, any change of thrust on either engine would result in a change in the characteristics of the vibration being produced. These shafts run at high speed so any vibration would be similar to an engine vibration frequency. The investigation concluded that vibration of the ACM shaft and inlet fan was the most probable source of vibration that the pilots described as “ENGINE VIBRATION”.

At this point, the pilots are likely to be attempting to work out which engine is causing the vibration. The instruments are no help because both engines were actually fine. However, reducing the power to either engine would have changed the vibration which, the AAIB state, could have allowed the pilots to misidentify the engine as being the source of the vibration.

Having “identified” the engine with the problem, the pilots could well have decided to shut it down.

13:34:43:
VICTOR GOLF ECHO THAT IS UNDERSTOOD THE CIRCUIT IS CLEAR REPORT ON FINAL YOU ARE NUMBER ONE AND ANY RUNWAY AVAILABLE IF REQUIRED

13:34:50 (1,690 feet amsl):
ERRRR WE’LL COME STRAIGHT ROUND ON TWO ONE SIR WE’LL COME STRAIGHT IN.

13:34:58:
VICTOR GOLF ECHO IF YOU COULD JUST ADVISE US TOTAL ON BOARD PLEASE IF YOU COULD.

13:35:03 (1,700 feet amsl):
ER WE HAVE FIVE POB SIR WE’RE COMING STRAIGHT BACK ROUND WE’LL JOIN ERM ** LEFT HAND COMING STRAIGHT ROUND FOR TWO ONE IF THAT’S OKAY.

13:35:12:
VICTOR GOLF ECHO AFFIRM ANY ROUTEING IS FINE AND ER RUNWAY ER IN FACT JUST CONTINUE THE APPROACH THERE’S ONE VACATING SURFACE WIND AT THE MOMENT IS TWO FOUR ZERO DEGREES AT SEVEN KNOTS.

The plane was flying at half power, consistent with one engine being shut down. However, the vibration would have continued.

At this point the flight begins losing height. Based on the AAIB simulation, “the total thrust is calculated to be less than zero which would mean that neither engine was running.”

We can certainly see that the aircraft is losing height faster than one would expect.

13:35:20 (1,440 feet amsl):
THAT’S ALL COPIED THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

The investigation found that there was a missing rivet on the left fuel cut-off lever.

It is conceivable that, with the missing rivet on the left fuel cut-off lever, the action of selecting idle thrust with the left thrust lever may have led to the left thrust lever inadvertently being placed in the fuel shut-off position. If the right engine had previously been shut down as a result of the vibration, the aircraft would then have been left with neither engine running.

The recorded speed of the plane was 130 knots.

13:35:29:
VICTOR GOLF ECHO RUNWAY TWO ONE YOU’RE CLEAR TO LAND TWO FOUR ZERO DEGREES AT SEVEN KNOTS

13:35:34 (1,400 feet amsl):
THAT’S COPIED WE’RE JUST COMING ROUND THIS TIME.

At this point, they need the thrust of one engine, either engine, in order to pull the plane out of the descent.

The relight drills in the manufacturer’s checklist call for the boost pumps to be turned on; the engineering investigation identified that the left boost pump was running at impact. The checklist also calls for the airspeed to be increased to 200 kt, if altitude allows. At the point identified when neither engine was running, the aircraft was at 130 kt and 850 ft agl. Simulator tests revealed that it was not possible to accelerate to 200 kt from 145 kt in the height available (the best glide speed). From 130 kt, this was clearly not possible.

The analysis of the wreckage led the AAIB to the conclusion that the first engine had not completed its start sequence before an attempt was made to start the second engine.

13:35:47:
SURFACE WIND NO NEED TO ACKNOWLEDGE IS TWO FOUR ZERO DEGREES AT SEVEN KNOTS

[13:35:52: OPEN TRANSMISSION FOR THREE SECOND - NO MODULATION - SOURCE UNKNOWN]

The manufacturer’s checklist also states that only one engine should be started at a time. One engine was all they needed but both engines were operating at the point of impact. Trying to relight the second engine before the first engine had reached idle speed appears to have lost them their final chance to prevent the crash.

A sense of urgency due to the proximity of the ground or confusion over the problems they were dealing with might equally have led to a deliberate attempt to start the second engine before the first engine had reached idle speed. The effect of doing this would have been to delay the start of both engines. It is probable that, although both engines were operating at impact, they were in the process of accelerating to their demanded output and unable to provide sufficient thrust for the aircraft to climb away.

13:36:43 (45-145 feet above crash site elevation):
AND ER VICTOR GOLF ECHO WE HAVE A MAJOR POWER PROBLEM A MAJOR POWER PROBLEM IT LOOKS AS THOUGH WE’RE ER GOING IN WE’RE GOING IN

Sulako posted an accident summary based on the report as well as an interesting post with his analysis.

Sulako’s Blog

My take on it is that once they were convinced that it was the right engine that was sick (the left engine would have still been producing enough thrust to keep them climbing, so maybe that’s how they decided it was the right engine), and when pulling the thrust lever back to idle didn’t stop the vibration (again, the vibration was the air cycle machine, which had nothing to do with the engines, and it would have continued as long as either engine was operating), they decided to shut it down completely.

So far, I can see how that would happen.

The vibration continues after the right engine is shut down, the crew goes “unfortunately it appears we shut down the wrong engine” or words to that effect, and they decide to go to plan B.

The big question is: why were the pilots so insistent on shutting down the engines. If they had simply turned around and returned to Biggin Hill without doing anything else, it would have been a trivial incident. Having shut down an engine and discovered the pitch had changed but the vibration hadn’t stopped, they had a further chance to ignore the vibration and concentrate on reaching the airfield.

One commenter on Sulako’s blog asks if perhaps the vibrations were so severe, the pilots thought structural damage might occur if they allowed it to continue. That makes sense to me, the juddering aircraft filling both pilots with the overriding desire to do something.

In this sad case, doing nothing would have been the best solution of all.

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