PRELIMINARY REPORTS
Conquest Crashed While Maneuvering for IFR Approach
Cessna 441, near Climax, Ga., Nov. 9, 2015–The turboprop twin collided with terrain while maneuvering near the Florida-Georgia border in daytime IMC. The aircraft had departed from Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (LAL), Lakeland, Fla., on an IFR flight plan for Cairo-Grady County Airport (70J) in Cairo, Ga.
Sixty-two miles from 70J, the pilot told ATC he was trying to “get to” VFR conditions, and if unable he would request the Rnav Runway 31 approach to the airport. Two airports in the vicinity of 70J reported IFR conditions at the time.
While flying at 3,300 feet msl 36 miles from 70J, the pilot reported the destination in sight and cancelled the IFR flight plan. Over the next 13 minutes, the radar track indicated erratic left, right and overlapping 360-degree turns, taking the aircraft farther west from its destination, with altitudes varying from 4,000 feet to 900 feet. The pilot then re-established contact with Approach and requested the Rnav Runway 31 approach to 70J because he had lost visual contact with the airport.
The controller provided heading and altitude assignments to vector the airplane to ocape, the initial approach fix (IAF) for the Rnav Runway 31 approach. The aircraft failed to maintain its heading and altitude assignments, and after providing corrections ATC instructed the pilot to proceed direct ocape. The pilot indicated difficulty with identifying ocape and requested the correct spelling so that he could “load it.” The pilot later acknowledged the clearance in his last transmission to ATC.
Radar tracks indicate the Conquest II climbed and descended in the vicinity of ocape, in a descending right turn at 2,500 feet and 180 knots, before ATC lost contact with the airplane. The commercial pilot/owner and the passenger (also a commercial pilot) were killed in the crash and post-impact fire.
Nine Lost in Akron Hawker 700 Landing Accident
British Aerospace Hawker HS125-700A, Akron, Ohio, Nov. 10, 2015–The aircraft departed controlled flight while on approach to land at Akron Fulton International Airport (AKR) in daytime IMC and was destroyed when it hit an apartment building and caught fire.
Operated as Execuflight 1526 as a Part 135 charter flight, the aircraft had departed from Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport (MGY), Dayton, Ohio, at 2:13 p.m. on an IFR flight plan destined for AKR. According to the FAA, the Akron-Canton terminal radar approach control facility provided the Hawker with radar vectors for the localizer Runway 25 approach procedure at AKR.
A flight instructor on board a Piper PA-28 performing flight training at AKR before the crash told investigators he “broke out at minimums” while on the localizer Runway 25 approach and landed on Runway 25. The PA-28 pilot reported he then heard one of the accident pilots state “Hawker jet on a 10-mile final localizer 25” over Unicom, and that he replied on frequency, “We broke out right at minimums.” A pilot on the Hawker acknowledged receiving the information.
At 2:52 p.m., a motion-activated security camera located 900 feet southeast of the accident site captured the airplane descending in a left-wing-down attitude about 1.8 nm from the approach end of Runway 25 at AKR. An explosion and post-impact fire were then observed on the video just after the airplane flew out of the security camera’s view. The pilot, copilot and all seven passengers died; no injuries involving people on the ground were reported.
Investigators accounted for the airframe, engines, primary flight controls and landing gear. The aircraft’s Fairchild GA-100 cockpit voice recorder was recovered and sent to the NTSB Vehicle Recorders Laboratory for examination.
Surface weather observations at AKR immediately before the accident reported wind from 240 degrees at seven knots; visibility 1.75 statute miles in mist; ceiling broken at 600 feet agl and overcast at 900 feet agl; temperature 11 degrees C (52 degrees F); dew point 9 degrees C (48 degrees F); and altimeter 29.95.
Lesson Ends with Hard Landing Following Loss of Tail Rotor Control
Eurocopter EC120B, Goshen, Ind., Nov. 16, 2015–During a Part 91 instructional flight, the helicopter was damaged following a complete loss of tail rotor thrust while on approach for a precautionary landing at Goshen Municipal Airport (GSH). Daytime VMC prevailed for the flight, which had originated from Elkhart Municipal Airport (EKM) earlier in the day, and the commercial flight instructor and student pilot on board were not injured.
According to the flight instructor, the two were flying back to EKM to conclude the local instructional flight when they opted to divert to GSH, approximately three miles from their position at that time, after hearing “a faint noise that correlated with engine speed.” As they approached to land, the noise level increased, at which point the flight instructor took the controls.
The helicopter then began an uncommanded yaw to the left at approximately 25 knots and 15 feet above the ground. Right pedal input was not effective in arresting the left yaw, and the flight instructor immediately reduced engine power and initiated a hovering autorotation. Initial post-incident examination revealed excessive wear between the air conditioning system compressor drive pulley and the main gearbox tail-rotor drive pinion.
Multiple Landing Attempts Before AS350 Crash at CRQ
Airbus Helicopters AS350B3E, Carlsbad, Calif., Nov. 18, 2015–The recently purchased turbine-powered helicopter departed controlled flight during a landing attempt to a mobile helipad at McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) in Carlsbad. The private pilot and passenger (also a certified private pilot) were killed.
The helicopter had departed from the platform earlier in the day. After departure, the FBO line crew moved the helipad from the east end to the west end of the ramp. Upon returning to CRQ approximately two hours later, the helicopter approached the helipad from the east, and into the sun, and initially landed short of the helipad with the center of its landing skids contacting the pad’s front edge. Witnesses said this impact caused the helicopter to pitch back and its tail skid to contact the ground.
The helicopter then began a series of back-and-forth oscillations, and the helipad broke free from the rear left chock and rotated to the right. The helicopter spun with the helipad for a quarter turn, then rapidly climbed and rotated 270 degrees to the right. The helipad came to rest to the north, having revolved 180 degrees, and about 50 seconds later the helicopter landed on the ramp east of the helipad.
After line crews re-secured the helipad, the helicopter approached the pad from the west, and over the next four-and-a-half minutes the pilot attempted to land three times, each time coming within five and 20 feet of the platform.
Video footage of the final landing attempt, captured by a witness who had watched the prior three attempts, showed the helicopter rocked back twice against its tail skid after landing short of the pad. The helicopter then pitched forward, out of view from behind the hangar, with security camera video showing the helicopter spun left 180 degrees and pitched up 45 degrees. The tail rotor and vertical stabilizer struck the ground and separated from the airframe.
The helicopter bounced and rotated another full turn before landing hard on its left side, the main rotor blades and cabin continuing to spin along the ground for more than five minutes before the helicopter rolled onto its side and shed its main rotor blades following separation of the tail boom and horizontal stabilizer.
Investigators stated that the pilot, who had previously owned a Bell 407, purchased the AStar on Oct. 29, 2015. Since September 20, he had flown it for 8.8 hours on demonstration and familiarization flights with a certified flight instructor. The pilot received two more hours of training on November 13, but the final flight was the first he had flown in the AStar without a professional pilot aboard.
Unusual Fuel Indications Precede Forced Landing
Hughes 369/500D, near Carlisle, Wash., Nov. 24, 2015–The turbine-powered helicopter sustained substantial damage in a forced landing following loss of engine power. VFR conditions prevailed for the Part 91 repositioning flight from Hoquiam, Wash., for a staging area near Carlisle approximately five minutes before the accident in daytime VMC. The commercial pilot and sole occupant of the helicopter was not injured.
The pilot told investigators he had waited for improved weather conditions at a staging area near Francis, Wash., during which time the helicopter had been parked “on a hillside.” Before departure, the pilot added approximately 50 pounds of fuel, for a reported total of 250 pounds. The pilot later opted to land at Hoquiam after noticing the fuel gauge quantity indication was not decreasing as he expected, and upon landing the pilot noted the fuel gauge indicated approximately 140 pounds of fuel on board, consistent with his estimated usage.
The pilot then departed for the staging area, where he was planning to refuel the helicopter before conducting external-load operations in the area. During the uneventful flight, the engine lost all power. He entered an autorotation to a partially open wooded area. The helicopter landed and rolled onto its right side, and the tail rotor and its gearbox separated from the tailboom.
FINAL
NTSB: Erroneous PFD Data Contributed to Lancair Fatal
Lancair IV, near Duluth, Minn., June 7, 2014–The NTSB concluded that the pilot likely lost control of the aircraft because of spatial disorientation induced by erroneous guidance information from the flight instruments, the source of which the investigators were unable to determine. The Board also noted the pilot might have been impaired, a conclusion it reached from the presence of a sedating antihistamine in his blood, and that the aircraft was 509 pounds over max takeoff weight at the time of the crash.
The aircraft, powered by a Walter turboprop, crashed into Lake Superior after departing from Duluth International Airport (DLH), Duluth, Minn., killing the sole-occupant pilot. Marginal daytime VFR conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and the pilot had filed an IFR flight plan to Goose Bay (YYR), Newfoundland, Canada.
The aircraft was cleared to depart from Runway 9 at DLH and climb to 6,000 feet on a heading of 060 degrees. At 11:17 a.m., the pilot contacted departure control, which instructed the pilot to turn left and fly direct to Thunder Bay (YQT) and climb and maintain 12,000 feet. The pilot did not acknowledge this instruction but responded to ATC 35 seconds later after being instructed to fly heading 030.
At 11:18 a.m. ATC instructed the aircraft to fly direct to YQT, and the pilot acknowledged the transmission. There were no further recorded radio transmissions from the pilot. The airplane continued on a northeasterly heading until 11:19, when it started to turn right to a southeasterly heading. The last radar return at 11:20 showed the airplane heading south at 2,400 feet at 201 knots.
The day before the accident flight, the pilot flew the airplane from Bend, Ore., to DLH following repairs to the autopilot. An auto-trim reverse sensing error was found to have caused the system to trim the nose up or down opposite from what was required to maintain level flight. A repair facility reinstalled the sensor correctly.
The aircraft was equipped with two synthetic vision integrated display units (IDUs) used for primary flight display (PFD) and multifunction display (MFD). A comparison of the radar track data with the flight data recovered from those displays revealed discrepancies between the two sources regarding airspeed, bank angle, heading, wind speed and wind direction, in which the flight data indicated periods of straight and level flight when the radar track data indicated the airplane was banking and changing heading.
Diffuser Cracks Led to CJ2+ Uncontained Engine Failure in Germany
Cessna Citation CJ2+, Stuttgart, Germany, March 1, 2010–The German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation determined that cracking in the diffuser assembly led to uncontained failure of one of the CJ2+’s two Williams FJ44-3A-24 turbofans, forcing an emergency landing at Stuttgart Airport (EDDS).
The incident occurred shortly after takeoff from EDDS. “Simultaneously with the retraction of the flaps from 15 degrees to 0 degrees the pilot noticed unusual vibrations and a strong left yawing moment,” the report stated. “Immediately afterwards he heard the acoustic warning Left Engine Fire ... [and] the inter-turbine temperature (ITT) was far in the red area.”
The pilot shut down the affected engine and pushed the engine fire switch, which turned off the fire warning. The aircraft returned to Stuttgart and made an uneventful landing. Subsequent inspection revealed apparent engine damage, and that the aft outer cowling of the left engine had been “destroyed.”
Investigators later learned that the smell of smoke in the cabin had been reported on two previous flights, “eliminated by selecting the air source switch to the right engine.” Crews also reported that indicated turbine temperatures in the left engine had been 20 to 30 degrees C higher than those on the right for the past six months.
At the time of the incident, Williams International had noted 17 cases of diffuser cracks with the FJ44-3A, although no reported cases in the -24 variant. In April 2010 the manufacturer issued an advisory for operators to be aware of the signs of potential damage in the diffuser assembly; as of January 2015, Williams noted that “almost all” FJ44-3A-24s in service had been refitted with a reinforced diffuser developed for the FJ44-4 series. o