Accidents Archives - Page 7 of 19

Deteriorated parts (and too many modifications) blamed for the Reno Air Races crash

With the Reno Air Races underway, its worth mentioning that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had recently determined that the official cause of the September 16, 2011 crash of “The Galloping Ghost” (which killed the pilot along with 10 spectators plus injured more than sixty others) were deteriorated locknut inserts which allowed the trim tab attachment screws to become loose and initiated fatigue cracking in one screw. With the reduced stiffness in the elevator trim system, aerodynamic flutter (at racing speed) broke the trim tab linkages and caused a loss of control.

However, that’s only part of the story as it was also noted that the nearly 70-year-old airplane had undergone numerous and undocumented modifications intended to increase its speed. Some of the (known) modifications included:

Shortening of the wings.
The installation of a boil-off cooling system for the engine.
Increasing the elevator counterweights.
A modification of the pitch trim system.
Changing the incidence of the horizontal and vertical stabilizers.

And while the FAA is required to be notified (in writing) of major changes like the ones mentioned above, only the installation of the boil-off cooling system had been documented with the rest of the modifications being identified by looking at the wreckage examinations, examining photographs of the aircraft and interviewing the ground crewmembers.

Its worth noting that Paul Bertorelli’s lengthy commentary about the crash investigation results that he wrote for AVWeb is well worth a read because he began by writing:

It’s not much of an exaggeration, in my estimation, to assert that before it even took off, Galloping Ghost’s survival in the race was in question. The NTSB found that it was flying at the very edge of its structural and performance envelope, if not well beyond it

Paul added that the accident could have been avoided if the owners had examined the risks critically as well as conducted more flight testing plus (and as the NTSB suggested) the Reno Air Racing Association needs better technical oversight of the aircraft flying in the event (which it has already agreed to).

In addition, there is still some questions about the accident that will always remain a mystery. For example: Paul wrote that in lap two of the accident race, imagery showed deformation in the aircraft’s skin which is indicative of overloading along with a visible crack or gap opened in the canopy that should have been visible to the pilot. Likewise, the exact cause of the flutter will never be known as it could have been triggered by wake turbulence from the proceeding aircraft or simply caused the structure of the aircraft already being on its last legs.

Meanwhile, Organizers of the Reno National Championship Air Races have also established a $77 million fund that will be distributed based on the same system used to compensate 9/11 victims to those who suffered injuries or lost family members as a result of the tragedy. Compensation will be based on categories of injuries, including:

$15,000 for bruises and cuts.
$45,000 for moderate injuries (e.g broken bones, torn tendons etc.).
$75,000 for major injuries (e.g. surgery required, third-degree burns etc.).

Finally, if you want to read the full NTSB statement about the crash, click here (or here for the synopsis).

Remembering the 1952 Farnborough Air Show tragedy

Thursday September 6th marked a grim anniversary: The 1952 Farnborough Air Show tragedy where 31 people lost their lives after a jet aircraft came apart and crashed with pieces hitting the crowd (29 spectators were killed and many more were seriously injured). Pilot John Derry and flight test observer Anthony Richards were flying a De Havilland 110 fighter and after making a low-level supersonic flypast, the aircraft began to climb during a left bank towards the spectators. At that point in time, the outer starboard wing and then the outer port wing broke off the aircraft followed by both engines and the cockpit. It was one of the engines that broke up and ploughed into the spectators on Observation Hill.

File:De Havilland DH.110 WG236 in flight c1952.jpg

A subsequent accident investigation revealed that maneuvering had resulted in airframe instability because of a faulty D-nose which led to a redesigned DH.110 that ultimately evolved into the successful de Havilland Sea Vixen naval fighter. The accident report also attached no blame on Pilot John Derry.

The tragedy led to important changes in how air shows and air show demonstrations were conducted. Hence and since 1952, there has not yet been another major crash at the Farnborough Air Show.

In addition, GetHampshire.co.uk also has a great eyewitness account of the tragedy from Richard Gardner, the chairman of the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) Museum, who was just a little boy at the air show with his father who was also filming it. Likewise and if you were an eyewitness to the 1952 Farnborough Air Show tragedy or know of any other personal accounts from someone who was, feel free to tell us in the comments section.

Tiger Moth clips trees while attempting to land in Wales

Earlier in the week, the Daily Mail reported that a pilot walked away unscathed from this crash in Denbighshire in north-east Wales:

As you can see from the picture above and the slideshow on the Daily Mirror, the pilot was lucky to walk away after clipping a tree. Moreover, the mother of field owner Pam Sheldon had been standing in the exact spot it crashed only moments before impact.

Pam, a member of the local Mold Camera Club, had been taking pictures of the Tiger Moth coming into land after the pilot had phoned her in the morning to ask who owned the field next to hers and whether he could land there. She then reported that he did a fly by of the field and then he flew a little lower for a second look. However:

“But when he went to land on his third lap, I could see he was trying to fly between two trees, which I knew was going to be tight, but he couldn’t pull upwards because of some power lines.
“All of a sudden, one of the wings clipped a tree and rolled over and crashed onto my field.”

She also reported that the 40 something year old pilot had been holidaying in the area and was not local to North Wales.

No word on who the pilot was or whether he had visited the field or the area on the ground before the crash but that’s probably the lesson in this unfortunate incident that severely damaged a venerable old aircraft – which will stay in the field until an specialist can come and clear it away. From Pam’s picture below, it looks like its not a total loss but it certainly will keep the pilot grounded for awhile.

GA aircraft cliff crash in Cornwall

Last Saturday at around 4.10pm, a small aircraft slammed into the cliffs above the water near Porthreath, on the North Cornwall coast, killing experienced pilot Andrew Stillwell-Cox and his border collie Archie upon impact.

At the time of the crash, visibility was described as being excellent and that Stillwell-Cox would have been able to not only see the cliff in time but he would have had plenty of time to also take evasive action to avoid them. After the accident, the Daily Mail quoted an inspector as saying:

One of the lines of inquiry the investigation is looking into is the possibility of suicide, based on a letter that was left.

However, police have also added that the aircraft could have suffered a mechanical failure.

Its not known for how long Stillwell-Cox had been a pilot as he was an ex-Royal Navy officer who saw active service in Sierra Leone and had served as a Leading Hand on the HMS Glamorgan during the Falklands War. Moreover and from the pictures shown of Stillwell-Cox in the Daily Mail and the other public information known about him, there does not appear to be any reason for him to commit suicide by flying his aircraft intentionally into a cliff.

Hence, perhaps the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigation will shed some light on what happened.

Fatal midair Sussex crash report released

The BBC has recently reported that the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) has released a report into a fatal mid-air collision over Sussex that occurred on July 4, 2011.

The accident involved a former British Airways captain named Alan Weal, 62, of Goring (near Worthing) who was conducting a test flight of a friend’s Vans RV-6A aircraft which had been modified. Weal had more than 20,000 hours of flying experience and he was on his third flight of the day when the crash happened.

The other aircraft, a Diamond DA40, came from a flying school based at Shoreham airport and its crew had more than 3,400 hours of flying experience. When the crash occurred, a flight instructor from the school was upgrading his instructor qualifications and was practicing teaching instrument flying to another instructor.

According to the AAIB report, the pilots failed to spot each other despite clear weather conditions plus information from air traffic control. However, the BBC quoted aviation analyst Chris Yates as saying:

Given the colour schemes of the aircraft and given the background colour of the sky it’s often difficult to spot other aircraft that may be moving the in the sky very close to you…. everybody involved had done what they were supposed to have to done to the letter.

For its part, the AAIB said its carrying out a study into improving aircraft visibility but certainly the accident goes to show that pilots always need to be vigilant for other aircraft – even in seemingly perfect flying conditions.

Crash kills pilot and destroys a rare de Havilland Humming Bird

Over the weekend, a rare vintage de Havilland Humming Bird powered by a motorcycle engine crashed just 300 yards from the crowd at the Military Pageant Airshow at Old Warden Aerodrome near Biggleswade, Beds – killing the pilot instantly (see the initial stories from the BBC, The Telegraph and The Sun). The pilot, Trevor Roche, was a Former RAF and British Airways pilot and a Gulf War veteran who had been the chief pilot for the Shuttleworth Collection before stepping down two years ago but he had flown the collection since 1995. Hence, he had plenty of experience flying both regular and vintage aircraft.

Not to downplay the tragic death of Mr. Roche, its worth noting that only 15 de Havilland Humming Birds were ever built back in the 1920s. Specifically and in October 1923 after seeing a prototype, the Air Ministry ordered eight Humming Birds to be used as communications and training aircraft for the RAF plus others were built for export.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) will be launching a formal investigation of the accident while the Shuttleworth Collection has issued a statement saying the aircraft encountered difficulties.

Of course, the accident is bound to call into question once again whether vintage aircraft should even be flown (at the risk of a fatal crash or the damage or destruction of the aircraft) or whether they should simply be left in a museum hangar. That’s a hard question to answer and perhaps its best to decide on a case by case basis.