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Aviation History
1989
1989 - 2261.PDF
NON-FATAL ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS: NON-SCHEDULED PASSENGER FLIGHTS Carrier Aircraft Injuries Crew Pass Total occupants Crew Pass Phase Circumstances Feb 12 British Island Airways April 12 British Airways April 28 Rich Air International May 3 Dan-Air June 3 Minerve MD-82 Concorde (G-BOAF) DC-8-60 (N1805) HS.748 747-200 London, Gatwick ER Stansted, UK Bristol, UK Paris Orly Airport 8 157 G Aircrew increased power on No.2 engine during pushback in order to perform a cross-bleed start on No.l. Pushback tug rotated around towbar and hit radome. ? ER Section of rudder detached. 7 147 G Tyre and wheel failure during taxi, followed by fire. 46 T/O Engine fire, take-off aborted. 455 T/O One mainwheel hit a signal post and was slashed. The aircraft continued to Guadeloupe and landed safely. Of all the fatal accidents this half-year, nine involved mechanical failure, six involved bad weather, and in 14 pilot error was a signifi cant factor. The mechanical failure figure is higher than usual. The scourge of the latter years of the decade has been the terrorist threat to airline safety, and the security infrastructure demanded as a result of it. This year has seen no terrorist success so far. Is that a positive security victory, or is it just that terrorism has left aviation alone for a while? That is one problem with operating a continuously motivated security organisation: you have done well if you deter terrorists even from trying, but is that the situation? The year began unsettlingly with a puzzling and tragic accident involving an airline (British Midland), an aircraft type (the 737), and a fanjet series (CFM56), which all had a good safety record. The early searching for reasons why the aircrew had shut down a good engine (when the other had the trouble of which the crew saw cockpit symptoms) led to checks on instrument and safety control system wiring. Although the aircraft in the accident was cleared of cross-wiring, subsequent Boeing investigations found an unsettlingly large number of cross-wiring faults for fire extin guisher controls in Seattle (Renton)-built aeroplanes. An official explanation as to how such mistakes could be made and then be missed by inspectors and testers was never Accident data have been gathered from Flight's own sources and from the UK Civil Aviation Authority's World Airline Accident Summary We have received some criticism of our policy of publishing these non-fatal inci dents we learn about, because information on this kind of incident is not normally available in many parts of the world, but we intend to continue to publish them because airlines tel! us there is much to be learned from those relatively few that we publish. We accept that our incidents list is weighted unfairly against British and US airlines because news of their, problems is more readily accessible. , given, but Boeing has responded quickly by designing connectors which cannot be joined incorrectly. The final report on the British Midlands 737-400 accident, whatever it says about fan- blade metal fatigue, will contain a human factors study which looks at pilots in modern cockpits, and at how they perceive the infor mation that is available to them. Although air traffic control and airport congestion remains high-profile, public concern has moved away from the safety side of ATC (given the continuing lack of evidence of danger) to the inefficiency and delay which results from it. In the non-fatal sector, taxiing and push- back incidents are costing a lot of money. Pilots are worried that airport congestion and pressure to meet take-off slots is going to cause more of this. B The bar chart shows how variable annual safety figures are Number of dead Number of fatal accidents (all categories) ffl 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 First six months of years 1987 1988 1989 JEPPESEN CHARTS THE Worldwide flight navigation information on paper or electronic media; pilot training systems; pilot supplies; airport analysis; Bottlang Airfield Manual. For free catalog please write to: Jeppesen & Co. GmbH, P.O. Box 160454, D-6000 Frankfurt/M., FRG, Tel: 069-238030 • Jeppesen-Sanderson Inc, 55 Inverness Drive East, Englewood, CO 80112-5498, USA, Tel (303) 7999090 • Jeppesen Bottlang Airfield Manual, P.O. Box 100712, D-3200 Hildesheim, FRG, Tel: 05121-57151. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 22 July 1989 35
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