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Date: | Wednesday 19 February 2020 |
Time: | c. 11:24 LT |
Type: | Piper PA-44-180 Seminole |
Owner/operator: | Moorabbin Aviation Service |
Registration: | VH-JQF |
MSN: | 44-7995291 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 |
Other fatalities: | 2 |
Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
Category: | Accident |
Location: | near Mangalore Airport, VIC (YMNG) -
Australia
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Training |
Departure airport: | Mangalore Airport, VIC (YMNG) |
Destination airport: | Mangalore Airport, VIC (YMNG) |
Investigating agency: | ATSB |
Confidence Rating: | Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Narrative:A Piper PA-44-180 Seminole (VH-JQF) and a Beechcraft D95A Travel Air (VH-AEM) suffered a mid-air collision at about 4100 feet, east Mangalore Airport (YMNG), Victoria, Australia. Both occupants in each aircraft were killed and the aircraft were destroyed.
The Beech Travel Air had departed Melbourne-Tyabb Airport at 10:55 hours on a training flight to Shepparton via Mangalore, and return to Tyabb. On board were an instructor and student.
At 11:11, the pilot of the Seminole, contacted air traffic control (ATC) to advise that the aircraft was taxiing for departure from Mangalore Airport. The pilot had submitted a flight plan for a round-trip IFR flight for Mangalore via Essendon and Shepparton. Also on board was an authorised testing officer, who was testing the pilot for an instrument flight rating.
The Travel Air tracked as per the flight plan and, at 11:17, began a descent from 6,000 ft above mean sea level (AMSL) for airwork at Mangalore. Radio communication with ATC indicated the airwork was to occur between 4,000 ft and ground level.
At 11:19, the air traffic controller passed traffic information to VH-AEM about VH-JQF departing from Mangalore. At 11:22, VH-JQF made a departure call from Mangalore, advising ATC of a planned climb to 7,000 ft. ATC passed traffic information about VH-AEM to the Seminole crew.
At 11:24 the two aircraft collided approximately 8 km south of Mangalore Airport at approximately 4,100 ft. All four pilots were fatally injured in the accident, and both aircraft were destroyed.
Contributing factors:
- Following receipt of verbal traffic information, the pilots did not successfully manoeuvre or establish direct communications on the common traffic advisory frequency to maintain separation, probably due to the collision risk not being recognised.
- While it is probable that the aircraft were in instrument meteorological conditions, and could not visually separate to avoid the collision; the known limitations of the see-and-avoid principle meant that the pilots were unlikely to have seen each other in sufficient time to prevent the collision even in visual conditions.
- Following receipt of a short term conflict alert, the controller assessed it in accordance with the required procedure. After considering that the pilots had been passed mutual traffic information and were required to ensure their own separation in non‑controlled airspace, the controller did not intervene further.
- While the pilots were responsible for self-separation within the Mangalore common traffic advisory frequency area, they did not have access to the same surveillance data, including automatic dependant surveillance broadcast information available to air traffic control. As a result, the pilots were required to make timely decisions to avoid a collision without the best available information.
Other factors that increased risk
- The En-Route Supplement Australia included a requirement to add 1,000 ft to the prescribed practice instrument approach ‘altitude’ at Mangalore Airport. The procedure did not detail whether this height was to be applied to the minimum descent altitude or to all approach altitudes, resulting in varied application and an increased risk of traffic conflicts. (Safety issue)
Accident investigation:
|
| |
Investigating agency: | ATSB |
Report number: | AO-2020-012 |
Status: | Investigation completed |
Duration: | |
Download report: | Final report |
|
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/19/four-people-killed-in-mid-air-collision-between-two-aircraft-in-victoria https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/deaths-feared-after-mangalore-plane-crash/news-story/625174c79beab77367fb4ab70892c16e https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-19/aircraft-incident-at-mangalore/11980244 https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/deaths-feared-after-mangalore-plane-crash/news-story/625174c79beab77367fb4ab70892c16e https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/two-planes-involved-in-crash-in-central-victoria-20200219-p5429t.html https://www.3aw.com.au/it-doesnt-look-good-planes-crash-near-seymour/ Data __________________________
!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6ad821e4a1cdae27:0x40579a430a07fa0!8m2!3d-36.8908218!4d145.164489?hl=en-us
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHJQF http://www.aviationwa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/20140317_VH-JQF_Piper_PA-44-180_Seminole_David_Eyre-1.jpg (photo)
ATSB__________________________
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2020/aair/ao-2020-012/ Location
Images:
Flight track based on ADS-B data recorded by Flightaware
Photo: ATSB
Media:
Revision history:
Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
19-Feb-2020 01:51 |
Geno |
Added |
19-Feb-2020 01:52 |
Geno |
Updated [Date, Source] |
19-Feb-2020 04:23 |
RobertMB |
Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
19-Feb-2020 04:30 |
RobertMB |
Updated [Source] |
19-Feb-2020 04:34 |
RobertMB |
Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
19-Feb-2020 04:48 |
RobertMB |
Updated [Damage] |
19-Feb-2020 06:29 |
Bidgee |
Updated [Destination airport, Source] |
19-Feb-2020 15:50 |
Iceman 29 |
Updated [Source, Embed code, Photo] |
19-Feb-2020 16:46 |
harro |
Updated [Time, Location, Embed code, Narrative, Photo] |
19-Feb-2020 16:53 |
harro |
Updated [Narrative] |
23-Apr-2020 06:21 |
harro |
Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative, Photo] |
01-Apr-2022 19:50 |
harro |
Updated [Narrative, Accident report] |