FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1968
1968 - 1139.PDF
a§ Landing at Gotw/ck London is Wardair's Boeing 707-320C (CF-FAN) which now supports the Canadian carrier's 727 "fun jet" (CF-FUN) which has been making transatlantic charter flights for the past two years COPYBOOK EMERGENCY THE investigation report on the accident to the British Eagle Britannia 308 (G-ANCG) on April 20, 1967, shows that the emergency, following undercarriage trouble, was very well handled by the crew. The Britannia, on a charter flight with 54 passengers and cargo and a crew of nine and two super- numeraries to Adelaide, with a first stop scheduled at Kuwait, was diverted to Manston, Kent, for a landing. The report summarises the sequence of events as follows: "When the undercarriage was retracted after take-off from London (Heathrow) Airport the port undercarriage would not lock up. The crew 'recycled' the undercarriage system to try to clear the 'not locked' warning but on the third retraction the bogie, which was not rotating in the correct sequence, fouled the main hydraulic jack, fracturing the attachment bolt of the shuttle valve for the main and emergency 'down' hydraulic lines. Thereafter all the hydraulic fluid escaped and the undercarriage could not be locked down. The undercarriage collapsed during the subsequent emergency landing on a prepared foam carpet at the Royal Air Force aerodrome at Manston. The incorrect sequencing of the port undercarriage bogie that led to the accident was found to be due to incorrect setting up of the retraction sequence valve which had been replaced before the flight." On survival aspects of the incident the report says that the cabin crew had some three hours' warning of the impending emergency landing. "They were able to carry out the prepara- tory drills for the emergency with great thoroughness. The passengers were well briefed on the appropriate measures to be taken against the decelerations during the landing and on the drills for the emergency disembarkation; to assist in this suitable individuals were seated adjacent to the emergency exits. The operating crew were able to consider and prepare for the possible consequences of the unsafe undercarriage and the landing was well executed. The occupants of the aircraft completed the emergency disembarkation in 55 seconds, although the main entry door was stuck and could not be opened." There were no injuries. STOCKPORT AFTERMATH A SEQUEL to the accident to the Canadair C-4 Argonaut in Stockport on June 4 last year—the report on which, now with the President of the Board of Trade, is expected shortly —has been the issue of ARB Notice No 78 last Monday. This deals with the problem of inadvertent fuel transfer which is believed to have been the cause of the loss of power in both starboard engines which led to the crash. The notice says that other cases of the kind have since come to light and asks operators of all aircraft types to consider their fuel systems and to guard against the dangers. It goes on: — "Some of the types listed [DC-4s and variants], and also otheraircraft use main/auxiliary tank selector fuel cocks and inter- engine/cross-ship crossfeed cocks made by the Parker Appliance Co. It is a feature of these cocks that, when correctly positioned, the ports not required are closed by carbon pads. However, at intermediate positions (about 10° or more from the correct selection) the carbon pads do not completely cover any of the ports and the cocks are then partially open; in these positions not only is the next selection partially made but also all ports are connected together through the clearances in the cock. "This feature has led, through slight misrigging of the controls or slight mis-selection of the cockpit lever, to inadvertent transfer of large quantities of fuel in flight. This transfer should be shown by the fuel gauges and confirmed by the amount of fuel uplifted into each tank at the next refuelling. However, if the problem is not appreciated the transfer can pass unnoticed and the gauge readings can be attributed to gauge inaccuracy which then builds a climate in which fuel transfer is likely to be masked by a reputation for gauge inaccuracy. This is a situation which may have led to the Canadair C-4 accident. "Operators must ensure precise rigging of fuel-cock control systems and maintenance of the correct feel of detent positions and ensure that their pilots are aware of the need and reasons for correct positioning of the cock lever and prudent use of the fuel gauges. "Operators should further assess the ease of correctly positioning the cock levers when seated in the flight position and wearing safety harness. If any difficulty can exist [as is the case with the Canadair C-4] in ensuring that the levers are in the extreme or detent positions, crews should be warned of the fact and suitable practices developed to ensure correct selection of cock lever positions." The Notice, No 78, also gives warnings of cases of unintended transfer of very considerable quantities of fuel during flight in Boeing 707s and gives the reasons for this. In these cases the incidents were "safely contained" because the gauges gave accurate warnings of the movement of fuel and action was consequently taken. Scottish Manager British Eagle has appointed Mr Michael Fitt to the position of district sales manager, Scotland. He succeeds Mr Phillip Tasker, who was appointed sales manager, scheduled services, on June 1. Mr Fitt joined British Eagle as a sales representative in the London area in August 1965; he was previously with KLM and Iberia. BUA Resignation Mr Maurice Mantell has resigned from his position as general sales manager (passenger) for British United Airways. He had been associated with the airline and its forerunners for nearly 15 years. Mr Mantell became a joint employee of Airwork and Hunting-Clan in 1954 and was manager, West Africa, during the early days of their dual West African Safari service. He was appointed passenger sales manager of the newly formed BUA in 1961 and was appointed earlier this year to the post he is vacating.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
