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Aviation History
1974
1974 - 0090.PDF
82 AIR SAFETY FLIGHT International, 17 January 1974 TEST/POSITIONING/TRAINING FLIGHTS Date Carrier Aircraft Location Total Fatalities Occupants Crew Pass Crew Pass Phase Circumstances Jan 19 BEA Mar 5 Aviaco Mar 15 Indian Airlines Viscount (G-AOHI) N of Glasgow 4—4 Funchal 3 — 3 Hyderabad 3 — 3 Caravelle 10R (EC-BID) HS.748 (VT-EAU) ER Hit mountain during snowstorm while on air test 3,700ft a.s.l. App Positioning flight. Crashed into sea L Crew training AIR TAXI/EXECUTIVE Date Jan 5 Jan 22 Jan 23 Feb 26 Mar 29 Apr 13 Apr 16 June 18 July 28 Sept 7 Aug 18 Oct 29 Carrier Olympic Airways Olympic Airways Arrow Air Services Machinery Buyers Corp Aero Consultant Service Rusk Aviation Continental Air Lines P. Holzmann Cotonniere et Industrille Lider Taxi Aero Victoria Flying Services Sun Island Air Services Aircraft Alouette II (SX-HAK) Piaggio P.136 (SX-BDC) PA.30 (G-AXRW) Learjet 24 (N454RN) Location Athens Athens Shipdham Atlanta, Georgia Cessna 421 (HB-LGP) ROM,. Cessna Sabreliner Learjet 24 (D-IHLZ) PA.31 (90-CCC) Aero Commander PA.23 (CF-KTV) Islander (N37JA) Greensboro N.C. Montrose, Col Mariensiel Goma, Zaire Furnas Dam Victoria St Lucia Fatalities Crew 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 Pass — 4 6 5 5 — 2 6 6 4 3 Total Occupants Crew 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 Pass — 5 6 5 5 — 2 6 8 4 3 Phase ER T/O L T/O 9 T/O T/O L ER T/O T/O T/O Circumstances Crashed in sea in severe turbi Exec flight Night approach Multiple bird strike No details No details Thrust reverser extended Hit trees on approach Hit high ground No details No details Hit high ground lence and that the progression of trade-offs is continuing. The less sophisticated airlines are continuing to exchange their piston-engined equipment for second-hand turboprops and these are increasingly, in turn, being replaced on domestic flights by jets. A year ago we listed eleven fatal accidents to aircraft on non-scheduled flights and it is encouraging to note that the equivalent 1973 figure is only six. Two of these in volved the larger helicopters used for oil rig support and accounted for 16 passenger fatalities. While these two accidents do not bear strict comparison with earlier list ings they reflect the world-wide increasing use of heli copters in this role. Two of the accidents to non-scheduled aircraft had high death rolls, that to an Invicta Vanguard at Basle on April 10 killing 104 passengers and providing the only British-registered entry in the list. Non-scheduled public transport flights are thought to account for at least one-quarter—and probably nearer one- third—of all passenger flying by aircraft of more than 5,700kg all-up weight so the total passenger fatality figure of 220 for the year compares very favourably with the total scheduled figure; such a statement cannot be made without noting that penetration of the wide-body types into the inclusive tour sector only began to gather momen tum during 1973. Among the accidents on scheduled flights, the over whelming majority still occur in the approach and land ing phases of the flight. Consideration of the approach and landing accidents leads to the conclusion that, for the most part, they are not attributable to deficiencies in navi gational and landing aids. It appears that at least eleven of the approach/landing fatal accidents occurred at airfields with ILS installed, and suggestions that the equipment at Delhi and at Moscow may, on occasion, have not been operating satisfactorily have not been confirmed during the accident investigations. Two of the listed fatalities arose from upsets and accounted for one casualty each; one passenger died as a result of clear air turbulence and one following an autopilot malfunction. The most significant take-off accident during the year involved a Pan Am Boeing 707 which declared an emer gency immediately after lift-oft. It was unable to complete a pattern to land back and crashed in the sea with the loss of 68 passengers. Two executive jets were lost—one with fatalities— and one Qantas Boeing 747 was forced to land back, as a result of multiple bird strikes, providing a salutary re minder that there are specific circumstances of geography and weather which may lead to dense flocks of birds near airfields; the problem is not confined only to coastal airfields. One mid-air collision is listed among the scheduled flight fatal accidents and one important airmiss, which aroused public concern, is featured in the incident table. Both events took place when air traffic control over North- West Europe was disrupted by industrial action; the nor mal routine of hand-overs between adjacent control regions became eroded by the use of military controllers at a civil centre. Two losses due to hostile action are listed; the shooting down of the Libyan Arab Boeing 727 was well docu mented at the time but details of the Aeroflot episode are sketchy. We have not listed cases of damage occurring to aircraft on the ground due to terrorist activity, such as the recent disaster at Rome. While incidents of this type must clearly be of concern to any practitioner of air safety remedial action lies more in the realm of the politician than of operational management. It is a regime within which the responsibility of airport authorities bears heavily, although whether security operations on the scale of that seen recently at London, Heathrow, are effective is a matter for conjecture. We have reverted to our earlier practice of listing significant accidents which did not result in fatalities. The table, which contains 72 incidents, is intended only to give guidance as to the types of incident which have put aircraft at risk. They vary from taxying accidents to total losses and it is noteworthy that there have been several of the latter which might have been expected to lead to fatalities. Four instances of serious accidents on
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