FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0011.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT Engines hold clue to SAS MD-81 crash BY DAVID LEARMOUNT Teardown of both engines from the Scandinavian Air lines System (SAS) McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-81, which crashed on 27 December soon after take-off from Stockholm Arlanda Airport, is expected to hold the clues to the accident cause, according to chief techni cal investigator, Henrik Elinder. He hopes teardown of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217 engines will be complete within a month. Meanwhile, in case ice shed from the wing into the engines may have -been the cause of engine power loss, the airline has sharpened its preflight de- icing procedures, requiring the de-icing mechanic to test the wing surface for ice by actually touching it and the captain to confirm the touch check with the mechanic. The Federal Avia tion Administration has also or dered icing check uprades in the United States. When the flight took off for Copenhagen, the weather was overcast, there was a slight wind and a temperature of 0° C. There had been recent light freezing rain. The scheduled 08.30 de parture had been delayed by 18min to carry out additional de-icing, and the mechanic re ported no ice on the wings. During the climb, between 2,000ft and 3,000ft (610m and 915m) the pilot reported double engine failure; he maintained full aerodynamic control and put the aircraft down in a snow- covered field about 16km (9nm) north-west of the runway's end, near the small town of Gottrora. There were no deaths, but eight of the 123 passengers and six crew were seriously injured. Investigators have studied the print-out from the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder and have inter viewed the pilot. Shortly after take-off there were "low-fre quency bangs" from the right- hand engine, then the left. The FDR shows fluctuating engine- pressure ratios and rising ex haust-gas temperatures. The crew extinguished an indicated left-hand engine fire, by which time both engines were spooling down almost to windmilling. The maximum altitude reached was about 3,000ft and it broke cloud in descent at 800ft. The captain, familiar with local terrain, was maintaining con stant heading to minimise the descent rate. On going VMC (visual), he says, he had about 4s to decide which of three fields to land in, and lowered the landing gear shortly before hitting tree tops on short finals to the chosen field. With the left wingtip removed by the trees the aircraft was descending at a 30° profile, no longer flying, before hitting the surface about 50m beyond the trees and sliding 200m to a halt, the fuselage broken into three sections. The US National Transporta tion Safety Board says that the MD-80's predecessor, the DC-9- 10, had been peculiarly aerody- namically sensitive to wing-ice contamination, with four crashes following icing loss of control just after take-off. Despite lim ited relevance to the SAS inci dent — because control was maintained and the MD-80's wings have leading edge slats (the DC-9-10s do not) — the experience shows that rear- mounted engines are susceptible to foreign object ingestion from wings and undercarriage. Finnair has reported evidence several times of engine ice inges tion. MDC says MD-80s now have wing tufting in areas where ice accumulation is more likely, to help visual ice-detection. One area is the mid-chord upper wing in line with the engine intakes. n Passengers and crew survive MD-81 crash IV en United to resume Pan Am's routes nications Economics, the total market saw an increase of about 40%. Compass had a national market share of over 10%, with load factors exceeding 70%, and secured 21.3% of the markets in which it was competing. Compass entered the market at 80% of its competitors' core fares for daytime flights and 50% on off-peak services, sparking a highly damaging discount and commission war over the follow ing 12 months. A few days before its collapse, Compass had claimed a major financial victory when the rental it had been paying to Aust ralian Airlines for terminal leases in the key ports of Sydney and Melbourne was more than halved by a landlord-tenant arbi tration hearing. Australian disputed the amounts and appealed the deci sion immediately. Compass said on 2 January that it has sued Australian for A$50 million in damages in a hearing to be held within two weeks. Pre-deregulation, the Austra lian Government signed 20-year leases with Ansett and Australian on key airport terminal build ings, also granting them options on all available expansion land. Although each says that termi nal access is a major hurdle, other proposed start-up carriers claim they are still on course. AAA Airlines, largely funded by shareholder-pilots, plans to fly four hush-kitted DC-9s on the highest-density routes be tween Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane on non-scheduled "shuttle" services, expected to get underway by April. Southern Cross Airlines had lodged a prospectus with the Australian Securities Commis sion in preparation for a public float. It planned a start-up last July, but has now withdrawn the prospectus until early this year. The airline would operate five McDonnell Douglas MD-83s. Transcontinental Airlines, which has announced several variations to its start-up plans since November 1990, says it will now lease six of its planned fleet of 12 Boeing 737- 500s, and will begin operations in Western Australia in May from Perth to several major regional centres recently made available by the lifting of state government pro tection for Ansett. • United Airlines plans to begin services on former Pan American World Airways routes to Latin America beginning on 15 January. United acquired the routes for $135 million at an auction following Pan Am's col lapse on 4 December, 1991. The airline also agreed to hire 1,000 former Pan Am employees. United planned to replace Pan Am's suspended services on some of the Central and South American routes after gaining US Department of Transportation approval. Plans for anNearly start to services were boosted when the Department of Justice failed to object to the transfers., ••• United plans to inaugurate most of its new Latin Anierican services, from Miami, New- York Kennedy and Los Angeles, by 2 March. Some services, including flights on Caribbean routes will begin later this year. • American chops jobs American Airlines is to elimi nate 1,250 ground jobs by February. The carrier's 97,000- strong workforce is still expected to grow as it hires flight crews to operate new aircraft. No further layoffs are planned, although American has scaled back plans to build up its aircraft fleet (Flight International, 27 No- vember-3 December). The airline is expecting losses approaching $190 million for Financial Year 1991. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January, 1992 •
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
