ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 219091
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| Date: | Wednesday 14 February 2018 |
| Time: | 07:00 LT |
| Type: |  British Aerospace ATP |
| Owner/operator: | West Air Sweden |
| Registration: | SE-MHE |
| MSN: | 2012 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1989 |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PW126 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Location: | on approach to Guernsey Airport, Guernsey, Channel Islands -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Cargo |
| Departure airport: | East Midlands Airport, Castle Donington (EMA/EGNX) |
| Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands (GCI/EGJB) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd ATP, SE-MHE: Crew reported frozen flight controls and power levers during descent, near Guernsey Airport, 14 February 2018. The official AAIB report in to the accident was published on 8 December 2018, and the following is an excerpt from it...
"The flight was a Commercial Air Transport cargo flight from East Midlands Airport to Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands. Both pilots reported for duty at 03:45 hrs after three days free of flight duty during which they had adequate rest. The pilot who would occupy the left seat was a direct entry captain undergoing line training after type conversion who had a total of 4,100 flying hours of which 12 hours were on type. The pilot who would occupy the right seat was a line training captain who was experienced on the type. They carried out the pre-flight inspection of the aircraft together and, as it had areas of frost on it, de-icing was carried out.
The commander was to be the Pilot Flying (PF) for the sector and, following normal checks and procedures, the aircraft departed from Runway 27 at 05:51 hrs. It followed the Daventry 3N Standard Instrument Departure, with the crew engaging the autopilot at an altitude of 1,000 ft and continuing to a cruising level of FL 180. There were no visible signs of icing during the flight with the Total Air Temperature (TAT) and Outside Air Temperature (OAT) recorded in the cruise as -14°C and -22°C respectively.
Just before the top of the descent into Guernsey, control was handed to the pilot under training in the left seat in order to give him experience in the strong (22 kt) crosswind being experienced at the airport. He reduced power by moving the power levers back, without any restriction or difficulty, setting approximately 50% torque on each engine.
He used the autopilot pitch trim wheel to pitch the aircraft nose-down and at 210 kt he engaged the IAS mode which gave a rate of descent (ROD) of about 1,000 fpm. He then selected the Vertical Speed mode (VS), which maintained the ROD and resulted in an IAS of between 200 and 215 kt. As normal, the ball in the slip indicator moved out to the left and the PF stated later that the rudder trim was used in an anticlockwise direction in an attempt to bring the aircraft back into balanced flight. Despite this, the ball remained out to the left. The PF continued to trim but the trim caution light illuminated and, shortly afterwards, the autopilot disconnected automatically.
The aircraft immediately rolled to the left some 45° and pitched nose-down. The commander took control, closed both power levers, levelled the wings and raised the nose. He noticed that the elevator control was normal but the rudder was stiff. He tried to operate the rudder and aileron trims but they were also stiff, although the pitch trim was working. The crew had just changed frequency to Guernsey approach and they transmitted a MAYDAY stating that they had “control problems” which was later expanded to explain that they were unable to increase power.
Guernsey radar cleared the aircraft to descend to 3,000 ft and gave radar vectors for Runway 27. The weather was, surface wind 170/22, visibility 25 km, FEW at 2,500 ft, SCT at 4,800 ft with showers in the vicinity, OAT +6°C, dew point 0°C, and QNH 1005 hPa. ATC also offered Alderney at 9 nm and Cherbourg at 30 nm as alternative airports but the crew elected to continue for Guernsey. Shortly afterwards, the commander informed ATC that everything was back to normal.
During the descent, the commander believed that the flight and engine controls were restricted due to icing of the systems. The crew tried to find a checklist which dealt with frozen controls but were unable to do so. They attempted to operate the standby power controls, but this would not increase power either. The commander stated that he tried
to move the power levers independently, but they would not move. He also operated the roll-over levers, entering the beta range, before returning them to the flight idle position, but the power levers would still not move. Approximately three minutes later he was able to advance the power levers, initially in small, ‘notchy’ movements but then normally.
Having all controls back to normal, the crew were radar vectored by ATC, descended for an ILS approach to Runway 09, which was the duty runway, and made an uneventful landing at 07:01 hours."
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB report: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5beaa244e5274a084abc8429/BAe_ATP_SE-MHE_12-18.pdf
2. https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/British-Aerospace/BAe-ATP/SE-MHE-West-Air-Sweden/ANl3txxy
3. https://www.planelogger.com/Aircraft/Registration/SE-MHE/679363
4. http://forum.flyghistoria.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=14481
Media:
West Atlantic BAe ATP SE-MHE Departure from Guernsey Airport 10th August 2017Flight control issue on BAE Systems ATP flight on descent to Guernsey Airport, 14 Feb 18 https://t.co/oaL2ZkCj6y pic.twitter.com/YOW4reqazt
— AAIB (@aaibgovuk) December 6, 2018
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 06-Dec-2018 17:28 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
| 06-Dec-2018 17:54 | harro | Updated [Embed code, Accident report, ] |
| 08-Dec-2018 00:03 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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