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Aviation History
2001
2001 - 0104.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT BA 747 recovers from 94° bank DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON ABRITISH Airways Boeing 747-400 with 398 people on board stalled, rolled 94° to the left and lost 7,000ft (2,150m) height when a cockpit intruder grabbed the right hand control column and tried to wrest it from the first officer. The incident happened during a London-Nairobi, Kenya, night flight on 29 December. The airline is running a PC simulation of the incident to gain a picture of what happened. BA confirms that the 747 was over Sudan when Paul Mukonyi, a large Kenyan man suffering from a paranoiac panic attack, barged into the flight deck at a moment when there was only one pilot at the con trols, First Officer Phil Watson. B A says that the man threw him self across the centre pedestal, end ing up in Watson's lap with his hands on the control wheel. In the struggle for control the autopilot was disconnected. The co-pilot's view of the flight instrument panel was completely obscured by Mukonyi's torso, and the aircraft pitched up 26°, with bank oscillat ing 30° right and left. Despite autothrottle applying full power, the indicated airspeed (IAS) quick ly reduced to 16Skt as the aircraft climbed to 40,000ft from the cruis ing level of 3 7,000ft. It then stalled and the nose and left wing dropped. The bank increased to a maximum of 94° and the aircraft's nose dropped 20° below the horizon, the aircraft losing 10,000ft in 30s. Capt Bill Hagan was in the crew rest compartment at the time of the intrusion, and First Officer Richard Webb, who was substitut ing for the captain in the left hand seat, had left the flight deck briefly. The captain was the first to intervene, gouging Mukonyi's eyes. With Webb's help, Mukonyi was shifted enough to allow Watson to see the flight instru ments and initiate recovery, but there were nose-up control inputs as he was pulled away. BA general manager flight oper ations, Lloyd Cromwell Griffiths, says that Watson's recovery of con trol was classic. He smoothly rolled the wings level and then pitched the nose up to regain level flight. Cromwell Griffiths says that 2.3g pitch up was applied, and the IAS did not exceed 240kt. Hagan regained his seat, made a call on the air-to-air frequency to inform other traffic that the aircraft was not at its cleared level, then MARKETPLACE ++ Republic of Congo cargo airline Lina Congo has leased a 31-year- old Boeing 737-200 from Tyler Jet in a deal arranged by Air Exch ange. ++ Pegasus Aviation has purchased a five-year-old Boeing 767-300ER from Air Europe, in a sale/leaseback deal arranged by Dublin-based IAMG. The re-market ing specialist has also arranged the sale and leaseback of two 12- year-old 767-200ERS operated by LOT Polish Airlines to Aviation Capital Group. ++ Scandinavian Airlines has exercised options for 737-600S, for delivery next year. It can substitute them for either 737-700s or 737-800s. ++ Congo Airlines has bought two Lockheed L-1011 TriStars from Delta Air Lines-a-500 and a-250. Cockpit intruder destabilises a British Airways Boeing 747-400 over El Obeid, Sudan, 29 December 2000 Aircraft stalls at 165kt IAS, at 40,000ft, nose drops 20° and aircraft rolls to the left, max bank 94°. Autothrottle reduces power to idle Aircraft climbs at full I Intruder grabs I Aircraft in power, pitch 26° right hand side I cruise at rolling left and right. I control column I 37,000ft f As intruder is pulled clear, aircraft pulls up again 1,000ft before final recovery o Min altitude 30,000ft First officer rolls wings level and recovers from a nose-down attitude of about 20°. Airspeed "not above 240kt IAS". Aircraft levels out at 31,000 ft GRAHAM PARRISH 2001 informed the distressed passengers of the cockpit intrusion, adding that the aircraft was sound. Some 2h later the 747 landed at Nairobi with only minor injuries on board. After engineering checks the aircraft took off on its next leg to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. BA ascribes the rapid recovery of control to its pilots being drilled in recovery from extreme attitudes during their recurrent training. • US Airways starts new Washington carrier ahead of DC Air launch US AIRWAYS has launched a new Express subsidiary, Potomac Air, at Washing ton DC National Airport in antici pation that the new operation will be rolled into the planned indepen dent start-up DC Air. The move, however, depends on the US Government approving United's planned controversial $4.3 billion take-over of US Airways. The Roanoke, Virginia-based start-up relies heavily on one of US Airways' three present Express subsidiaries, Piedmont Airlines. Potomac is initially equipped with a Bombardier Dash 8-200 bor rowed from Piedmont, while its 120 staff include senior officials seconded from the Salisbury, Maryland-based carrier and sister carriers Allegheny and PSA. Potomac launched operations on 5 January, sharing routes with Piedmont from Washington DC to Charleston, West Virginia; Greensboro, North Carolina, and White Plains, New York. It plans to add another seven Dash 8s, mainly from Piedmont, and fly to Allentown, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; Charlotte and Greenville-Spartan burg in North and South Carolina; Knoxville in Tennessee; Clarks burg, Greenbrier/Lewisburg and Morgantown in West Virginia; and Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke in Virginia. "The airline was created to give us a presence in the Washington DC area, which ultimately will become DC Air," says US Airways. If the merger is blocked, US Air ways plans to retain Potomac Air alongside its other subsidiaries. The deal has run into opposition from within the US Congress and has yet to pass antitrust review by the Department of Justice (Flight International, 2-8 January, P19).Q FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 9 - 15 January 2001
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