Summary Of February 2008 Aircraft Accidents & Incidents - Part I

Hi Readers: A bit of aviation history first - women are very much a part of Aviation - France's Le Barrone De' Larchoe became the first certificated woman pilot in March 1910; and NASA began the Space Shuttle Program in March 1972.


Now the summary of the February 2008 aircraft accidents and Incidents. There were no reports of accidents for 2-14, 2-19, and 2-25, and, of course, February was a month of 29 days.


There was a total of 58 U.S. accidents and incidents. There was 6 incidents overall - 5 U.S. There were 21 fatal accidents (1 non-U.S.), accounting for 39 fatalities. There were 34 nonfatal accidents.


There were 3 non-U.S. occurrences, 2 fatal accidents and a B-737 incident in Helsinki, Finland - no injury - when the aircraft clipped the right wingtip of another aircraft after landing. The other two occurrences involved a Beech 95-55 impacting terrain after a loss of engine power on a x-c evening flight in France. Injuries were 1 fatal, 1 serious injury. The other, a PA-28R-200 impacted terrain during a day x-c flight. Reduced visibility in the area was reported.

Of the remaining 5 incidents, there were no injuries except for the incident of Southwest Airlines at Las Vegas, Nevada in which a B-737-300 encountered severe turbulence during descent for landing in a day VFR flight. Five passengers and one flight attendant sustained minor injuries when the seat belt fittings failed and separated. The other incidents involved a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 bird strike on a visual approach to Bergstrom International at Austin, Texas. A Mesa Airlines Bombardier CL-600 (dba as GO') overflew its destination airport at Hilo, Hawaii by 15 miles while in morning cruise flight. The pilots reversed course and landed at Hilo. A functional check of the pressurization system and carbon monoxide exposure proved negative. A Hawker Beech 99, operated by Suburban Air Freight, encountered inflight fire behind the instrument panel during a night VFR x-c flight.

The remaining incident invvolved a student pilot runway incursion at St. Augustine, Florida, following night VFR flight from DeLand, Florida. The student pilot requested to taxi back to the active runway (R/W31) for departure, after landing on R/W31, and became confused. In response, the contract local tower controller instructed him to taxi via R/W20, taxiing on B to B4. The student pilot progressed past taxiway B4, and then requested the tower controller to provide progressive taxi instructions. The tower controller then instructed the student pilot to taxi on to R/W6 (which was not in use) and to hold short on R/W31. He then stated, "R/W31, cleared for takeoff." The student pilot thought he was on R/W31 and cleared for takeoff. He then stated "cleared for takeoff". The pilot then started takeoff on R/W6 from the intersection of R/Ws 6 and 31, with approximately 200 feet of runway remaining. The aircraft was flown off R/W6 into an intercoastal waterway. This accident should never have happened. The errors here are obvious and the flight planning and execution was at its worst. The contract tower controller did not help with his obvious assumptions of the student pilot, even if he had known it was a student pilot involved.

There were 5 Part 135 Air Taxi occurrences - one an incident, one a fatal accident, and 3 nonfatal accidents. The fatal accident involved an air transport certificated pilot in a PA-30 aircraft contacting terrain during a day x-c VFR flight under power at low altitude. Of the remaining nonfatal Part 135 accidents, one involved a Cessna 210L night main landing gear collapse at Tampa International airport, Florida during VFR landing conditions. Examination revealed that the right main landing gear plunger of the down-and-lock switch was misaligned and had malfunctioned. In another, a Cessna P210N, the left main landing gear collapsed during a night landing roll at Carefree, Arizona. The accident is being investigated. The remaining Part 135 accident involved a Cessna 425 impacting a runway sign during taxi for takeoff on an icy Taxiway at Cahokia, Illinois.

Part II will summarize the 21 fatal and 34 nonfatal accidents of February 2008 for indicated causes and corrective action.

Thanks for listening. R.S.