Preliminary Reports
Icing Implicated in Caravan Crash
Cessna 208B, April 11, 2018, Atqasuk, Alaska—A North Slope Bureau search and rescue helicopter seeking a downed Cessna Caravan was forced to turn back when ice began forming on its windshield. The rescue pilots reported ice fog, flat light, and reduced visibility in the vicinity. The Caravan went down two miles short of the Atqasuk Airport on a mail and cargo flight after its autopilot abruptly disconnected at 1,500 feet. The pilot later reported that at the moment the disconnect annunciator sounded, the control column pitched forward and he was unable to pull it back. The airplane descended into the fog, hit snow-covered tundra, and rolled over.
A search team on snow machines subsequently located the pilot, who suffered only minor injuries. The accident occurred six days before the NTSB published a long-form report (AAR1802) on a fatal 2016 accident involving another Caravan operated by the same company, Hageland Aviation Services. The Atqasuk accident was the 11th in the past decade involving Hageland, which operates almost exclusively in the extremely challenging conditions of rural Alaska. Nine of the eleven involved turbine airplanes, eight of them Cessna 208Bs.
Citation Destroyed in Unauthorized Flight in IMC
Cessna 525, April 15, 2018, Crozet, Virginia—The Cessna CitationJet that crashed into a hillside in rural Albemarle County, Virginia, was operating without an IFR clearance in instrument meteorological conditions at night. No flight plan was filed for the 83-nautical mile flight from Richmond Executive-Chesterfield County to Shenandoah Valley, both in Virginia. The 1,900-hour private pilot, its sole occupant, was killed when the jet hit 40-foot trees at an elevation of 1,520 feet about 20 miles short of its destination.
According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, the airplane took off at 8:35 p.m. and initially climbed to 11,500 feet, then almost immediately descended to 4,300. It maintained that altitude for nine minutes before beginning a descending left turn and disappearing from radar.
The Charlottesville airport, 13 miles northeast of the accident site, reported two and a half miles visibility in rain and mist, with a broken ceiling at 700 feet and a 1,500-foot overcast. A witness close enough to feel the ground shake described the cloud ceiling as “really low” with heavy rain. Rotational scoring on the compressor blades indicated that both engines were operating at the moment of impact.
No Injuries in Winnipeg Ground Collision
Cessna 550 and Bombardier Challenger 605, April 15, 2018, Winnipeg, Manitoba—No injuries were reported after a U.S.-registered Cessna 550 collided with a parked Canadian-registered Challenger 605 while attempting to taxi from the ramp at Winnipeg International Airport. The Citation’s right wing struck the Challengers nose gear, breaching one of the Cessna’s fuel tanks and causing a spill on the ramp. The Citation’s nose also hit the Challenger’s left wing.
A photograph of the accident scene shows clear skies and dry pavement. The Citation was attempting to depart for Bedford, Massachusetts. Canada’s Transportation Safety Board dispatched investigators to the site.
Ground Fatality in Indonesian Helicopter Crash
Bell 429, April 20, 2018, Morowali District, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia—One person on the ground was killed by fragments of a rotor blade when a helicopter transporting foreign workers went down 100 meters short of its pad while attempting to return to base. The aircraft, operated by the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, had been airborne for about seven minutes when it reversed course. The reason for its return was not reported. Four of the eight on board suffered minor injuries, while the other four were reported to be unhurt.
Wisconsin Air Ambulance Accident Kills Three
Aerospatiale AS350B2, April 26, 2018, Hazelhurst, Wisconsin—The pilot and two medical crewmembers died after their helicopter hit trees shortly after 11 p.m. The ship was returning from a patient transport. The accident site in Oneida County was about 12 miles from the aircraft’s base. Ascension Health, which contracted use of the helicopter from Air Methods Corporation, suspended all air and ground patient transports pending investigation.
The NTSB’s preliminary report has not been released as of this writing.
Final Reports
Loss of Visual References Precipitated Australian Helicopter Accident
Airbus Helicopters EC135T1, Nov. 7, 2015, 10 km NNW of Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia—The pilot’s decision to leave the site of a precautionary landing and fly towards rising terrain in marginal visibility is to blame for the fatal crash of a helicopter in a rural area, according to the Austrailian Transport Safety Bureau. During a private flight from Breeza to Terrey Hills, N.S.W., the pilot initially diverted toward the coast and then reversed course to land in a clearing in the Wattagan Creek valley, “probably after encountering adverse weather conditions.” The helicopter remained on the ground for about 40 minutes before departing to the east, hitting a hillside about seven minutes later. Three people were killed in the accident.
The aircraft’s owner and his wife, both qualified helicopter pilots, had flown from a private helipad in Terrey Hills about 10 miles north of Sydney to Breeza, 146 nautical miles north-northwest, arriving about 11 a.m. The return flight departed about 5:35 p.m. after boarding one passenger, a documentary filmmaker. The TSB’s final report issued on April 24 includes images of low ceilings over the Watagan Mountains captured by his camera.
Air traffic control radar showed the helicopter climbing to 3,500 feet before turning left, away from higher ground, and descending. Witnesses reported seeing it fly east toward the coast under a low overcast before returning to land in a clearing in moderate to heavy rain. The rain subsided to drizzle by the time it departed, but visibility remained low. Sporadic radar hits over the next six minutes showed it reversing course from a northeasterly to a northwesterly track while climbing from 1,700 to 2,100 feet. The wreckage was found two days later near the top of a ridge at an elevation of 1,340 feet.
The owner and presumed pilot was not instrument-rated, but in a published description of a 2004 escape from IMC claimed to “regularly” practice instrument flight. He was qualified to fly at night. A wire strike in 2012 led the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to suspend his pilot certificate; it was reinstated after a successful flight review in 2014.
Cheyenne Fire Linked to Broader Safety Hazard
Piper PA-31T Cheyenne, July 29, 2016, McKinleyville, California—Electrical arcing from a wire chafed by contact with hydraulic lines caused an in-flight fire in the air ambulance and the airplane broke up in midair less than five minutes after the pilot declared an emergency, according to the NTSB. All four on board were killed. The fire began below the cabin floor near the main bus tie circuit breaker panel where wiring bundles cross the four lines supplying the landing gear retraction system; the wiring “showed evidence of electrical arcing damage,” and one wire exhibited “notching consistent with mechanical rubbing.” All four hydraulic lines were melted, suggesting that once started, the fire was fed by hydraulic fluid.
The same “unsafe condition” that destroyed the Piper Cheyenne was found in all six examples of the same make and model examined by NTSB investigators. Examination of six other Cheyennes revealed “unsafe conditions in which electrical lines and hydraulic lines in the area of the main bus tie circuit breaker panel were in direct contact” in every one. Several wires were sufficiently chafed to eventually cause electrical arcing and possible fires if left uncorrected. The FAA responded with a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin in December 2016, superseded two months later by Airworthiness Directive No. 2017-02-06. The AD requires an initial inspection within 30 days and recurrent inspections within 12 months thereafter and details the procedures and equipment for carrying them out.
The flight had departed Crescent City, California, at 12:45 a.m. to transport a patient to Oakland. The fire broke out 13 minutes after takeoff; the pilot reported smelling smoke and advised that he was returning to Crescent City. Radio and radar contact were lost four and a half minutes later. The wreckage was located at 10:11 the following morning.
Citation Crash Remains Unexplained
Cessna 500 (Citation I), Oct. 13, 2016, Kelowna, British Columbia—Canada’s Transportation Safety Board could not determine the reason the pilot lost control of the airplane less than four minutes after takeoff. The 1974-model business jet had reached an altitude of 8,600 feet when it entered a tight descending right turn “with the characteristics of a spiral dive” and disappeared from radar. The pilot and three passengers were killed when the airplane hit “hard, rocky, forested terrain” in a 67-degree nose-down attitude.
Because the accident occurred at night with the airplane in instrument meteorological conditions, and in light of deviations in heading, airspeed, and rate and angle of climb, the TSB considered it “likely” that the airline transport pilot succumbed to spatial disorientation. He did not meet Canadian night-currency requirements, having made only two night takeoffs and three landings during the preceding six months instead of the required five. He was, however, current for instrument flight and certified for single-pilot operations in the Citation, which had undergone the required modifications.
Regulations did not require it to be equipped with either a cockpit voice or flight data recorder, and in the absence of those recordings, investigators could not determine whether an autopilot failure or other anomaly had helped trigger the accident sequence. The TSB accompanied its report with a recommendation that Transport Canada require “mandatory installation of lightweight flight recording systems by all commercial and private business operators not currently required to carry them.”
The jet was returning to the Calgary Springbrook Airport, from which it had arrived at about 8:30 that morning. Passengers included former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and the father-in-law of one of his daughters, Dr. Ken Gellatly.