Preliminary Report: Accident Destroys Conquest
Cessna 441 Conquest, Denton, Texas, Feb. 4, 2015–The pilot was killed when his Cessna Conquest crashed into a field near an industrial park six miles east of Denton Airport. Weather at the time of the accident, about 9 p.m. local time, was reportedly poor with fog in the area. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and a post-crash fire. Sources reported the pilot had accumulated 28 years of flying experience.
Preliminary Report: King Air Hits Bird on Approach
Beechcraft King Air 300, Aurora, Ill., Jan. 23, 2015–The King Air, being operated by the FAA, was conducting an approach to Chicago Aurora Airport at approximately 10:10 a.m. when its left wing hit a large bird, type unknown. The aircraft was substantially damaged, but no one on board was injured.
Preliminary Report: Jet Departs Runway During Landing
Cessna 525B CitationJet CJ3, Zelienople, Pa., Jan. 29, 2015–The pilot of the jet encountered an icy surface when the CJ3 touched down on Zelienople’s 4,933-foot-long Runway 35 at about 2:30 p.m. The aircraft was unable to stop before rolling off the departure end of the hard surface. Neither the pilot nor the single passenger was injured in the incident.
Preliminary Report: Runway Excursion Damages King Air
Beechcraft King Air 300, Orlando Executive Airport, Feb. 1, 2015–None of the four people aboard the turboprop was injured when the aircraft left the hard surface during landing at ORL. Neither the cause of the incident nor the level of damage to the aircraft was reported.
Preliminary Report: King Air Lands Gear Up in Louisville
Beechcraft King Air F90, Louisville Standiford Field, Ky., Jan. 13, 2015–The pilot of the King Air reported difficulties extending the landing gear before landing. He eventually chose to land gear up. The incident resulted in only minor damage to the aircraft. No injuries were reported to any of the eight people aboard the aircraft.
Preliminary Report: Challenger Reportedly Shot Down Near Aruba
Bombardier Challenger 601, near Aruba, Jan. 29, 2015–A U.S.-registered business jet was reportedly shot down by a Venezuelan fighter aircraft during an illegal flight from an airstrip in Venezuela. All three occupants of the aircraft died in the crash. Local reports indicate that some 400 packets of drugs, mostly cocaine, were located with the wreckage and the bodies of the three occupants.
Preliminary Report: Meridian Clips TV Tower Guy Wire
Piper PA-46 Meridian, Lubbock, Texas, Feb. 54, 2015–The single-engine turboprop clipped a television tower guy wire during an approach to Preston Smith International Airport in Lubbock. The sole-occupant pilot was killed in the accident. The aircraft was returning to its base airport at approximately 7:30 p.m. local time from Carlsbad, Calif., when it crashed.
Final Report: Pilot Lost Control of CJ2
Cessna Citation CJ2+, over Coventry, UK, Dec. 31, 2013–The business jet departed controlled flight just as it neared the level-off at its assigned cruising altitude of FL430, according to the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). The autopilot was engaged at the time of the incident, the single pilot having selected the “vertical speed” mode for the climb. The AAIB said the aircraft stalled, then completed five 360-degree rolls before the pilot briefly regained control. The recovery was only momentary as the pilot again stalled the jet but eventually returned to level flight after losing 16,000 feet of altitude.
During the recovery, the pilot overstressed the aircraft, causing substantial damage to the wings, although he managed to land the aircraft safely. The onboard Cessna AReS data recording system captured a maximum load of 3.25g during the event. A post-incident inspection of the aircraft revealed damage consistent with pullout maneuver loads between 3.6g and 5.4g. Neither the pilot nor his passenger, who had been seated in the cabin, was injured.
The AAIB cited a number of factors that contributed to this loss of control. One was that the Citation’s angle of attack (AoA) sensing system stuck, meaning no standard stall warning information was available to the pilot. Another was the pilot’s failure to monitor the flight instruments during the climb, causing him to miss indications that speed was decaying and pitch attitude was increasing before the upset. The pilot told the AAIB he became distracted during the climb while he was attempting to gather upper-level wind data from a portable tablet (PED) he had placed on the unoccupied right seat. While focused head-down with the PED, the pilot remembered hearing a click (possible autopilot disengagement) before the aircraft pitched severely nose-down and rolled to the right. He also thought the stick shaker may have activated as the aircraft pitched down. Additionally, the pilot said the recovery was hampered by his inability to interpret the primary flight display (PFD) attitude indicator, which he described as presenting information that he could not recall having seen before.
Final Report: Failure To Follow Procedures Ended in Loss of Control
Airbus Helicopters AS350B2, Riverside, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011–A helicopter flight instructor waited too long to step in when his student clearly needed help during this 2011 training flight, according to the NTSB. The Board also said a failure to follow clearly outlined training procedures contributed to the incident.
The flight instructor had briefed the flying pilot (student) that he wanted him to perform a maximum-performance takeoff over a simulated 20- to 25-foot obstacle and that he would also simulate a hydraulic failure by activating the hydraulic test switch. Before beginning the takeoff, the pilot confirmed with the instructor that once the hydraulic failure warning activated, he would accelerate to 40 knots before engaging the hydraulic isolation switch. This meant the instructor would need to reset the hydraulic test switch before the flying pilot activated the hydraulic isolation switch.
After the briefing, the pilot initiated the maximum-performance takeoff, and as the helicopter attained 20 to 25 feet the instructor activated the hydraulic test switch. The flying pilot said that as soon as the test switch was activated he could no longer apply right pedal because the control forces were too great and the helicopter began to yaw to the left. The pilot activated the hydraulic isolation switch because he thought the helicopter would be more controllable, but he did not consider that the activation of the hydraulic test switch by the instructor had resulted in the evacuation of hydraulic fluid from both the tail rotor accumulator and the yaw load compensator actuator. The instructor had also not reset the test switch as planned. As a result, the hydraulic boost from the normally closed yaw load compensator system was unavailable.
The helicopter continued a yaw left that developed into a spin about its vertical axis. The instructor told the pilot to “fly the helicopter.” The pilot attempted to recover by following the direction of the nose of the helicopter to try to gain airspeed. The instructor attempted to intercede by applying right cyclic, but since the pilot was applying left cyclic, the two inputs were ineffective. The helicopter spun around several times before finally striking the taxiway.
The investigation revealed that the training procedure for loss of hydraulic pressure required the instructor to reset the hydraulic test switch before the pilot activated the hydraulic isolation switch, which is how the maneuver was initially briefed. However, the pilots did not follow the specific sequence of switch selections and corresponding actions outlined in the manuals. Post-accident examination of the helicopter systems, including the hydraulics, revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunction or failure that would have precluded normal operation.
Final Report: Caravan Damaged During Long Landing
Cessna 208B, Kipnuk, Alaska, Jan. 6, 2011–The pilot landed long in an attempt to give the passengers a smooth touchdown but failed to consider the runway conditions on the remaining hard surface, according to the Safety Board. The pilot applied brakes and beta thrust, but the Caravan ran off the departure end of Runway 33, coming to rest in a ditch in a right-wing and nose-low position, substantially damaging the aircraft. None of the six people aboard the aircraft was injured. The airplane, registered to Icecap Trustee, of Anchorage, Alaska, and operated under Part 135 by Hageland Aviation of Anchorage, departed Bethel, Alaska, for Kipnuk at 12:40 p.m. in VMC.
During a later telephone conversation with the Safety Board investigator-in-charge, the Caravan captain reported that at the end of an uneventful flight he obtained the current weather conditions from the airport’s automated surface observation system, noting a northeast wind at 10 knots. He flew over the airport and entered a left downwind for Runway 33. Following a normal approach, the pilot landed long on the 2,120-foot-long runway to avoid a bump in the runway. As the airplane touched down he applied brakes and moved the propeller into beta. But during the landing roll on the snow- and ice-covered runway, he realized the airplane was still traveling too fast to stop and that he did not have enough area to abort the landing. He applied maximum brakes, but the airplane overran the hard surface.
Post-accident examination of the airplane by the captain revealed that the right wing was bent upwards about three to four feet inboard from the wingtip. The captain noted that there were no pre-impact mechanical problems with the airplane that contributed to the accident.