Dead-Stick Landing Ice Crystals Cause Dual Flameout
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ONRecord Dead-Stick Landing Ice crystals cause dual flameout. BY MARK LACAGNINA The following information provides an aware- unsuccessfully to restart the engines using bat- ness of problems in the hope that they can be tery power. Descending through FL 260, the avoided in the future. The information is based crew increased airspeed to 230 kt to attempt a on final reports by official investigative authori- windmill restart, but there was no indication of ties on aircraft accidents and incidents. engine rotation. “During the descent, ATC provided vectors JETS to the ILS [instrument landing system] approach to Runway 7 at Jacksonville,” the report said. No Training or Guidance on Hazard “The flight was in clouds during the descent, Raytheon Beechjet 400A. Minor damage. No injuries. with moderate to heavy rain beginning at about he Beechjet was on a fractional ownership 10,000 ft. As the airplane neared the airport, operation positioning flight from Indianapolis ATC provided continuous callouts of the dis- Tto Marco Island, Florida, U.S., the afternoon tance remaining to the runway that the pilots of Nov. 28, 2005. The airplane had been flown at later stated was very helpful in managing their Flight Level 400 (approximately 40,000 ft) for 30 descent and approach to the airport.” minutes and at FL 380 for about 15 minutes when The captain assumed control at about 9,000 the flight crew received clearance from air traffic ft. The landing gear was extended manually, and control (ATC) for further descent to FL 330. the Beechjet broke out of the clouds at about “The flight was operating in visual meteoro- 1,200 ft. “After they landed and rolled off the logical conditions [VMC] in the vicinity of cu- runway onto a taxiway, the right landing gear mulonimbus buildups,” said the final report on tire deflated,” the report said. the incident, issued in June by the U.S. National Investigators determined that ice crystals had Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). caused the flameouts (ASW, 6/08, p. 12). “Research The first officer, who had 3,100 flight hours, revealed that convective storms can lift significant including about 20 hours in type, was flying amounts of water into the upper atmosphere and the Beechjet from the left seat. When he pulled that the blow-off from the tops of these storms can back the throttles to begin the descent, the pilots contain significant amounts of ice crystals,” the heard loud pops and saw that both engines had report said. “A post-incident study showed that the flamed out. They donned their oxygen masks, ice crystals could partially melt passing through declared an emergency, established a glide speed the low-pressure compressor of the [Pratt & Whit- of 180 kt and diverted the flight to nearby Jack- ney Canada] JT15D-5 engines due to the increase sonville International Airport. in temperature of the air being compressed. The captain, a check airman with 8,200 flight “Further, the study determined that with the hours, including 1,800 hours in type, attempted engine anti-ice turned off, it was possible for the 58 | FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION | AEROSAFETYWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2008 ONRecord ice crystals to accrete on the leading edges of and interphone failed, and most of the flight deck the front inner compressor stator leading edges. lights went out. “A number of other, less-critical If a significant buildup of ice had occurred, any systems were also affected,” the report said. change in the airflow angle-of-incidence that The commander, the pilot flying, referred “The commander would occur as power is reduced would cause to the standby instruments and the external any ice that had accreted on the leading edges of horizon to establish level flight at FL 230, which handed over control the stators to break away and would result in the conformed to the last ATC clearance, and at- engine surging and possibly flaming out. tempted unsuccessfully to transmit a mayday of the aircraft to “The study also revealed that after the engine call. Meanwhile, ATC had noticed the loss of the copilot, so that had flamed out, the radiant heat from the oil tank, radio communication and information from the which is in the core of the engine, between the A319’s transponder. he could assess the low- and high-pressure compressors, could cause The commander told investigators that the the ice on the front inner compressor stators to integral lighting for the standby instruments also situation.” melt, and the water could run back and refreeze in had failed, and the instruments were poorly illu- the high-pressure compressor impeller, acting like minated by the remaining flight deck lights. “The a wedge to prevent engine rotation and restart.” commander concentrated on flying the aircraft The report said that research and flight tests while the copilot worked sequentially through also have shown that ice-crystal icing can tem- the checklist actions that had appeared automati- porarily block an orifice designed to trap water cally on the lower ECAM display,” the report said. in the combustion chamber pressure-signal (P3) “The pilots were using active-noise-reduction line and cause an abnormally rapid drop in fuel headsets, and the loss of the flight interphone flow to a level that will not support combustion. made communication between them difficult.” The report said that lack of training and guid- The lower ECAM indicated that the primary ance on the hazard of high-altitude ice-crystal fault was the no. 1 transformer rectifier, which icing was a contributing factor in the incident. converts alternating current to direct current. Pilots interviewed during the investigation said About 90 seconds after the electrical failure oc- that they did not know about the hazard or the curred, most of the affected systems were restored need to activate the engine anti-ice system when when the copilot selected the “AC ESS FEED” flying near convective weather activity. (alternating current essential bus feed) switch to “ALTN” (alternate). The commander declared an Glass Cockpit Goes Dark urgency, reported the electrical failure to ATC Airbus A319-131. No damage. No injuries. and requested and received clearance to fly a major electrical failure occurred as the holding pattern. “The commander handed over A319 neared FL 200 during departure in control of the aircraft to the copilot, so that he A VMC from London Heathrow Airport for could assess the situation,” the report said. “While a scheduled flight with 76 passengers to Buda- in the hold, the cabin crew and passengers were pest, Hungary, the night of Oct. 22, 2005. “The briefed as to the situation, and the auxiliary crew reported that there was an audible ‘clunk’ power unit was started as a precaution.” and the flight deck suddenly became very dark, The commander established radio communi- with a number of systems and flight information cation with a company maintenance control engi- displays ceasing to function,” said the U.K. Air neer. After discussing the situation for 40 minutes Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report. with the engineer, the commander decided to The flight crew’s primary flight displays and continue the flight to Budapest, where the aircraft navigation displays went blank, as did the upper was landed without further incident. electronic centralized aircraft monitor (ECAM). “This is the sixth reported occurrence of a The master warning sounded as the autopilot failure involving the loss of the same five elec- and autothrottles disconnected. The VHF radio tronic flight displays on A320-family aircraft,” WWW.FLIGHTSAFETY.ORG | AEROSAFETYWORLD | SEPTEMBER 2008 | 59 ONRecord the report said, noting that such failures also (FCTM). The FCOM recommended landing at have occurred in other types of aircraft. As a the nearest available airport if more than one of result of the incident investigation, the AAIB the 747’s four hydraulic systems failed; however, recommended that the European Aviation “for a single hydraulic system failure, the checklist Safety Agency consult with other civil aviation listed the aircraft services that the relevant system authorities in considering whether pilots should operated,” the report said. “It did not suggest a receive initial and recurrent training for flight course of action.” The FCTM recommended that with sole reference to standby instruments. following a tire failure on takeoff, the flight crew should not consider continuing the flight to the Blown Tire Disables Hydraulic System destination if other damage, such as a hydraulic Boeing 747-400. Substantial damage. No injuries. system failure, also has occurred. here were 424 people aboard the 747 when The report said that although pilots primarily it departed from Los Angeles International use the FCOM for guidance in flight, the conflict- TAirport before dawn on Oct. 20, 2007, for ing information in the 747 FCOM and FCTM a flight to Brisbane, Australia. “As the aircraft “create the potential for confusion and a less- became airborne, a tire on the left body landing than-optimal response by the crew.” The airline gear disintegrated and a section of tire debris recommended that Boeing review “operational impacted a line of the no. 1 hydraulic system in policy statements” in the FCTM. “The manufac- the left body landing gear well,” said the report turer accepted that suggestion and indicated that by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau an examination would be undertaken as part of its (ATSB). “That caused fluid and pressure loss ongoing standardization program,” the report said. from that system.” The flight crew saw a warning of the hy- Distraction Blamed for Incursion draulic system failure on the engine indicating Boeing 737, Cessna Citation. No damage. No injuries. and crew alerting system (EICAS) and received MC prevailed the morning of Sept. 7, 2006, a report from the cabin crew that a “bang” had when the fight crew of a 737-800 with been heard just before the 747 became airborne.