AIN Staff

Preliminary Report: Caravan Damaged in Runway Excursion
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, Mulia Airport, Indonesia, Sept. 9, 2014–None of the 12 people on board the turboprop single was injured when it left the runway shortly after landing. The excursion tore off the nose gear and damaged the propeller.
Preliminary Report: Four Die in Misfueling Accident
Cessna 421C, near Las Cruces, N.M., Aug. 27, 2014–The pressurized piston twin was destroyed at approximately 7 p.m. when it crashed shortly after departure from Las Cruces International airport (LRU). The pilot, two medical crewmembers and a patient died. The aircraft was registered to Elite Medical Air Transport of El Paso, Texas, and operated as a Part 135 air ambulance flight by Amigos Aviation of Harlingen, Texas.
The aircraft had just departed LRU in VMC conditions heading for Phoenix when a medical crewmember on board used a satellite phone to tell the medical dispatcher it was returning because of smoke coming from the right engine. A witness near the airport saw the aircraft about 200 feet above the ground when smoke began pouring out of the right engine. Another saw the aircraft in a left turn eastbound before losing sight of it. Several other witnesses reported seeing or hearing the sound of the impact, followed by smoke or flames. 
Investigators who arrived at the scene on the day following the accident reported detecting the smell of jet fuel. A post-accident review of refueling records and interviews with line service technicians showed the airplane had been refueled with 40 gallons of jet-A instead of the required 100LL aviation gasoline.
Preliminary Report: King Air Crash Claims Both People on Board
Beechcraft Super King Air 300LW, Nordelta, Argentina, Sept. 14, 2014–Both pilots were killed when the King Air crashed into two homes in the La Isla neighborhood of Nordelta at approximately 3 p.m. local time. The ensuing fire destroyed the aircraft. Weather conditions at the time of the accident were not reported. 
Preliminary Report: AStar Damaged in Training Accident
Airbus Helicopters AS350B3, Lincoln, Calif., Sept. 4, 2014–The helicopter was on a VFR training flight when it landed hard during a practice autorotation. Neither the commercial pilot nor the flight instructor was injured. The aircraft was registered to, and operated by, the California Highway Patrol. The flight was intended as recurrent emergency procedure and night-vision-goggle (NVG) training for the pilot, who occupied the right seat. 
During flight planning, the decision was made to perform a full landing at Lincoln, followed by a practice autorotation with power recovery and then transition into NVG training once ambient light had diminished. Because they departed during daylight the pilot turned off the NVG unit’s battery pack and moved the goggles to the up position on his helmet.
The CFI performed a throttle check in preparation for the emergency maneuvers, and with all systems nominal they departed. After the pilot had performed an uneventful landing on Runway 15 at Lincoln, they departed again for the practice autorotation to the same runway. The CFI asked the pilot to focus on attaining the proper rotor rpm and airspeed rather than on nailing a specific landing spot. Once they were both ready, the CFI rolled the left-side engine throttle to the idle (min) position to initiate the maneuver. The pilot lowered the collective and the helicopter descended. Once the helicopter reached a height of about 50 feet agl, the pilot began to initiate the flare and the CFI rolled the throttle to the flight (vol) position. Both pilots heard the engine respond and felt an accompanying yaw motion, and the CFI announced “power recovery.”
The pilot held the helicopter in the flare and the rotor rpm started to increase, so he pulled up lightly on the collective control to prevent an overspeed. The helicopter ballooned slightly and he lowered the collective to recover. As the forward speed decayed he moved the helicopter forward in anticipation of the hover. But as he raised the collective control, the low-rotor-rpm horn sounded and the helicopter began to descend rapidly. He pulled up the collective to arrest the descent, but the helicopter hit the ground hard, flipping the night vision goggles down over the pilot’s eyes. Because the battery pack was off, his forward vision was effectively blocked, but he perceived forward and nose-low motion as the instructor took control of the helicopter. 
Once on the ground, the CFI pushed the collective control full down and confirmed the throttle was in the flight detent. The rotor speed indicator showed a speed below the green arc at 360 to 370 rpm and the amber governor and twst grp caution lights were still on. Despite cycling the throttle to idle and back to flight, the rotor rpm would not climb past 370. He repeated the operation and reached over to unlock the flight gate on the right-side throttle control. This time the engine responded as the rotor rpm increased to 390. The caution lights, however, remained illuminated. The pilot cycled the engine operation switch back and forth between idle and flight before the engine responded appropriately, extinguishing the caution lights. The pilot then shut down the engine.
Subsequent examination revealed that the tailboom had bent downwards at its intersection with the aft bulkhead, just below the engine exhaust outlet. The aft bulkhead sustained wrinkling damage, and both aft landing skid support tubes were bent.
Preliminary Report: King Air’s Landing Gear Collapses on Touchdown 
Beechcraft Super King Air 200C, Nouméa-La Tontouta International Airport, New Caledonia, Sept. 9, 2014–The pilots did not receive a down-and-locked indication on the aircraft’s landing gear as they began their approach to the original destination, Nouméa Magenta Airport. After an unsuccessful attempt to extend the gear manually, the crew diverted to La Tontouta, where they first made a fly-by past the control tower for a visual check of the undercarriage. The tower reported the gear as down, but the main gear collapsed on touchdown. The aircraft came to a halt on the runway, and neither the pilot nor the two passengers sustained any injuries.
Preliminary Report: Phenom Damaged in Runway Excursion
Embraer Phenom 300, Conroe-Lone Star Executive Airport, Houston, Texas, Sept. 19, 2014–The jet, operated by NetJets on a Part 91 positioning flight, broke out of the clouds at minimums at approximately 8:45 a.m. following an Rnav approach. The tower controller said the aircraft touched down near the 1,000-foot marker on Conroe’s 5,000-foot Runway 1 in heavy rain but was unable to stop on the hard surface. The aircraft came to rest in a ditch 390 feet north of the end of the runway pavement. Neither of the two pilots, the only occupants, was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged.
Preliminary Report: TBM900 Lost in the Caribbean
Daher-Socata TBM900, northeast of Jamaica, Sept. 5, 2014–The commercial pilot and his passenger were fatally injured when their aircraft crashed in the open waters of the Caribbean at approximately 2:10 p.m. following fuel exhaustion. The turboprop single had departed Rochester, N.Y., on a Part 91 IFR flight at 8:26 a.m. bound for Naples, Fla. 
Preliminary ATC data showed the aircraft climbing to FL280 and maintaining level flight after departure from Rochester. Approximately one-and-a-half hours after takeoff, the pilot reported to ATC an “indication that is not correct in the airplane” and requested descent to FL180. The controller initially issued instructions to descend to FL250 and subsequently, for traffic separation, instructed the pilot to turn 30 degrees left and then continue down to FL200. No further radio calls were received from the TBM. 
The aircraft turned farther south and continued on a heading that took it out over open water south of Florida and past Cuba. Radar data showed that the airplane entered a high rate of descent from FL250 before striking the water northeast of Jamaica. The last radar target was recorded over open water at about 10,000 feet at 18.3547 deg N, 76.44049 deg W.
Search-aircraft crews found an oil slick and small pieces of debris scattered over a quarter mile near the position of the last radar target but they saw no bodies or other wreckage. The search was called off on September 7.
Preliminary Report: Twin Otter Crash in Papua New Guinea Claims Four
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, near Port Moresby-Jacksons International Airport, Papua New Guinea, Sept. 20, 2014–The chartered turboprop twin, operated by Hevilift, crashed into a wooded area near the top of Mount Lawes in poor weather while on approach to Port Moresby. The aircraft had just completed a brief flight from Woitape Airport, 60 miles north. Four of the seven people on board died in the accident. 
Final Report: King Air Crashed on IMC Approach in Brazil
Beechcraft B200GT, Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, July 28 2012–A King Air 200GT that crashed while on approach to Juiz de Fora Airport (SBJF), 250 miles northeast of São Paulo, was attempting to land in foggy conditions, reportedly below landing minimums, when it struck terrain 800 feet short of the runway and 50 feet below runway elevation, killing all eight people aboard, according to the final report issued by Cenipa, the Brazilian air accident investigation authority. The authority listed as contributing factors the weather conditions and the captain’s (PIC) “laissez-faire” leadership style, as well as the copilot’s need to be more assertive, a role to which the copilot was unsuited by timidity, deference and relative inexperience (730 hours versus the captain’s 14,170). 
The aircraft was owned and operated by Domingos Costa Ind. Alimentícias.
Despite the reported weather, the pilots chose a nonprecision Rnav (GNSS) approach procedure. The CVR captured the PIC’s plan to circle until the fog dissipated, but at the MDA the crew did not go around despite not seeing the runway. The CVR also recorded the copilot informing the PIC as the aircraft passed four successive altitudes below MDA and three EGPWS alerts. 
The report’s sole safety recommendation to civil aviation agency ANAC was that the report’s contents be divulged to aircraft owners and operators during seminars and speeches. 
Final Report: LongRanger Crash Followed Loss of Control 
Bell 206L-1, Manchester, Ky., June 6, 2013–The NTSB found the probable cause of the Part 91 helicopter crash to be the pilot’s loss of control induced by spatial disorientation after entering IMC at night. The impact with terrain resulted in the in-flight separation of the main rotor and tailboom. The crash occurred at about 11:15 p.m. and killed all three people aboard the aircraft.
A weather forecast about three hours before the accident indicated a moist environment, although visual conditions were anticipated around the time of the accident. An updated forecast published 10 minutes before the accident, however, indicated possible fog or low stratus development, reducing visibility to near or below landing minimums in the early morning hours. Witnesses said patchy fog had begun forming around the helipad at the time of the accident, taking visibility down to a quarter mile. A witness reported seeing the helicopter rotating in a nose-low attitude just before it crashed in a school parking lot 750 feet from the helipad. An examination of the helicopter airframe, engine and related systems revealed no pre-impact anomalies that would have precluded normal operation.
GPS data showed the helicopter made three right turns near the helipad before impact. Although the pilot held an instrument rating he had no recent instrument experience. Investigators could not determine if the pilot was using night vision goggles at the time of the crash.

Accidents: November 2014

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN