March 2008 Aircraft Accidents and Incidents - Part I

Hi Readers: There was a total of 64 accidents/Incidents for March 2008 as reported by NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). As of 4-16-08 the 19th and 23rd were unreported. There were 5 incidents, 15 fatal accidents with 35 fatalities, and 43 nonfatal accidents. There were 3 non-U.S. accidents, one public-use accident, 4 Part 137 accidents, 4 Part 135 accidents, 3 Part 121 accidents, and 49 accidents classified as GA accidents.


There were 7 helicopter accidents reported, the most serious accident (10 fatal) occurring 10 miles west of Santa Cruz, Peru when a Bell 412 EP, piloted by a U.S. certified air transport pilot and a peruvian provisional copilot, impacted mountainous terrain. There were two other Bell 206B accidents, one (2 minor injuries) in Alaska colliding with terrain - an aerial photography flight involving a loss of control while covering a dogsled race; the other, an agriculture flight, the skids contacting a field while spraying. There were 2 Robinson R22 helicopter accidents, one fatal - a combination photo and student training lesson, when the helicopter was observed to shed parts at low altitude and impact the ground. The tail cone had separated from the fuselage at a "right angle" and the main rotor blades exhibited "coning". Also, one of the main rotor blade sections exhibited an impression consistent in shape to the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer. Examination of the instrument panel revealed that the engine rpm needle was in a high limit position and the rotor rpm needle was in a low limit position. The pilot was properly rated for the flight. The other Robinson helicopter impacted terrain following a loss of engine power at 300 feet during a practice 180-degree autorotation at the Las Vegas, NM. airport following a flight from Broomfield, CO. There were no injuries. On March 9th a Sikorsky helicopter impacted a coal mound during a forced landing near Belmont, WV. The certified commercial pilot was seriously injured. The purpose of the flight was to remove construction equipment from a 620-ft tall powerplant smokestack. After 5 loads were removed successfully, the pilot refueled the helicopter and returned to pick up the sixth and final load. After lifting clear of the stack, the pilot noted that the calibrated load meter read 5,200# - an overload condition. Seconds later the pilot felt a high frequency vibration, which was followed by a yaw to the right and separation of the tail rotor assembly. After two 360-degree rotations, the pilot released the load, reduced the collective pitch and performed an autorotation. The helicopter sustained substantial damage during the hard landing. The 7th helicopter accident involved a Willey Rotorway Exec 90 flight to practice autorotation and simulated SE failures. After 45 minutes of flight both the Instructor and the Student noted that the engine tachometer read lower than the rotor tachometer. Assuming a following engine failure, an autorotation was made. The helicopter landed in soft terrain and rolled on its side.


There were 5 incidents - none sustaining injury. One, a Southwest Airlines B-737, Flight 411, collided, during taxi, with Southwest's B-737, Flight 15, during ground operations at Love Field, Dallas, TX. Both airplanes were damaged. While taxiing past flight 15 (stationary), the left winglet of Flight 411 contacted the left wing stabilizer of Flight 15. A Continental Airlines B-737 sustained minor damage when all four landing gear tires blew on touchdown at Houston, TX. Sounds like a very hard landing. A B-747 wet-leased to Saudia Arabian Airlines by Air Atlantic Icelandic experienced a fire in the the No. 3 engine pylon during the landing rollout at Dhaka, Bangladesh. On March 14th a UK Cessna 550 Citation experienced control problems in flight and landed at Edinburgh, Scotland for investigation - the flight originating in Spain. On March 26th a Great Lakes Aviation Raytheon 1900 D, operating as Flight 5187, en route to Farmington, NM., experienced an open cargo door after takeoff from Page, AZ.


There were 3 Alaskian accidents; one, a Cessna 185 ski-equipped airplane, which aborted the takeoff because the snow would not release from the skis. The airplane slid off the end of the runway and down an embankment at Takoti, Alaska. Another, a Bell 206B collided with terrain following loss of control whil maneuvering 59 miles SE of Nikolia, Alaska on a phot4o flight. The third accident occurred when a Stinson 108 rolled to the left on takeoff, struck the runway and nosed over. An inspection revealed that the ailerron control cables were misrouted, the direction of movement indicated in reverse.


The 4 Part 137 accidents involved agriculture operations and were minor, and a matter of pilot judgment.


The fatal accidents, as well as the nonfatal accidents, involved X-C flights, day and night, weather, an inflight breakup, and using the wrong fuel. All of these accidents will be covered in detail in Part II.


Thanks for listening. R.S.

Summary of February 2008 Aircraft Accidents/Incidents Part II

Hi Readers: As you've probably noticed, Part II has been a long time coming. Reason? All through the month of March 2008 NTSB has been revising the February list of accidents as originally reported. We'll have to assume that reports had not been submitted on time because of Winter and severe weather conditions across the Continental U.S. And, of course, we'll have to realize that NTSB has been 'up to its ears' in investigations and reports. Some of the current aviation problems being reported, such as "overflown airplanes ", lack of airplane inspections, the FAA budget situation, and the lack of FAA controller and technical personnel has not helped our total aviation safety either.
To set the record straight, the total February 2008 aircraft accidents are now 88 instead of 53, and 7 incidents instead of 6. There are now 25 fatal accidents instead of 21, and there are 63 nonfatal accidents instead of 34 (quite an increase), and the fatalities increased from 39 to 57. The majority of both fatal and nonfatal accidents were weather-associated and indicated winter weather problems involving airports, takeoff, landing, and inflight operations. In fact, there are indications that pilots are either not being informed or are not considering winter weather conditions concerning runways and taxiways, and takeoff, landing, and inflight operations. Also, since I started my accounting and analysis of aircraft accidents in early 2007, there has been an increase in sport flying, and a striking increase in experimental and amateur-built aircraft flying - unfortunately an increase in accidents and problems of airplane airworthiness and power outages.
Of the 25 fatal accidents (accounting for 57 fatalities) the majority were loss of control, under both VFR and IFR conditions, day and night, on X-C flights of 40 to 1600+ miles (mostly 200-300 miles), and weather associated, about half without a flight plan. Why are pilots so reluctant to file a flight plan? In a hurry, necessity to check the weather, flight too short, I'll climb above it, no reporting? Here lies a basic problem in flight planning. Before I get into the lecture mode, I'll say this. Pilots must start flight planning based on the route of flight and the destination weather (considering an alternate destination), get the best weather briefing possible, file a flight plan, and start checking the weather ahead after climb to cruise. Amen.
There were 53 nonfatal accidents with the usual myriad cause indications - power loss or failure - (followed by loss of control), power or telephone line strikes, landings on snow and ice, bird strikes, severe turbulence, prop strikes on landing, etc.
Of the fatal accidents, of note was a Raytheon C90A (6 fatal) accident on 2-1-08. The aircraft impacted terrain near the Mt. Airy, North Carolina airport following loss of control after a GPS RNAV "missed approach" under IFR conditions. Witnesses reported rain, low cloud ceilings, and fog in the local area. This is an interesting accident in that the details indicate that the insrument-rated commercial pilot did everything "right", up to a point, and then "lost it". It was reported that the pilot had a total of 780 flight hours. It will be interesting to know the pilot's instrument time, time in this airplane, number of instrument approaches made previously, and the GPS instrumentation installed in the airplane. We'll wait until all the facts are in - this loss of control could have been precipitated by a number of factors such as fuel starvation (although there was evidence of fuel), instrument failure, interference in the cockpit, pilot proficiency, et cetera.
Another interesting accident occurred on 2-1-08 involving a Cessna Citation 525 and an inflight loss of control in IFR conditions following takeoff from Augusta, Maine on a X-C flight to Lincoln, Nebraska. The instrument-rated female pilot filed an IFR flight plan for night flight with the FSS and received a standard weather briefing (whatever that was). The pilot and passenger then departed from the snow-covered ramp area and was observed taxiing over ground covered with snow and ice to R/W 35. The weather conditions had turned from light snow to freezing rain. The pilot subsequently, after taxiing across a ditch, taxiied on to R/W 17 (the active R/W) and made takeoff. After takeoff the pilot contacted ATC and reported at 1,000' climbing to
10,000'. One minute later she advised "we've got an attitude indicator failure", subsequently announcing they were not certain which way they were turning. The aircraft impacted terrain 6 miles SSW of Augusta at flight speed. One can only conclude that this flight, under IFR and night conditions must have been compelling. The temperature and dewpoint temperature (not reported) had to be below zero and indicative of serious icing conditions.
There were other fatal accidents, of note for serious errors. For now, let me conclude that pilots must be more weather-conscious in both VFR and IFR flying. Plan for the weather and fly by the weather!
Thanks for listening. R.S.