Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Beechcraft Bonanza F33A, C-GSCZ: Seneca College: Accident occurred on November 18, 2010 - Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport, Ontario




Seneca College, which trains pilots how to fly in Markham, has made several changes to its program in the wake of a fatal crash that killed three students.

The Beechcraft Bonanza F33A operated by the college was destroyed when it slammed into a plowed field about 16 km from Buttonville airport, Nov. 18, 2010.

In a report released March 16, the federal Transportation Safety Board identified adverse weather conditions, which resulted in the crew attempting a turn that stalled the plane, and the location of flight instruments, which made it difficult for the instructor to control the plane before it crashed, as contributing factors in the fatal collision.

Cynthia Hoi-Mei Tsang and Lloyd Myles Cripps, both 20 and commercially qualified students, were returning to Buttonville airport from a training flight with instructor Azizullah Yoosufani, 26, when Pearson International Airport notified Durham Regional Police they lost the plane on radar at about 7 p.m.

All three died in the crash.

Seneca immediately grounded its planes and brought in a third-party investigator to conduct a week-long internal investigation, Seneca school of aviation and flight technology chairperson Lynne McMullen said.

“Obviously a situation like that is shocking to the system,” she said. “Of course, it's going to make you stop and take a look.” Seneca monitors and upgrades its safety procedures on a regular basis and had done so before the 2010 crash, she stressed.

And while the changes Seneca has made are outlined in the board's crash report, Ms McMullen noted they took effect more than a year before that report was released.

The school teaches flying standards that greatly exceed the minimum requirements expected of pilots in Canada, she said.

Among the 15 changes and limits Seneca instituted, according to the board, were:


• Group weather briefings attended by all instructors and students who will be flying on that particular shift. This ensures everyone has looked at the weather prior to their flight. The only exception is if a student is going on a Transport Canada flight test during which he will be graded by an examiner for checking weather;

• All instructors are to go through upset training in Seneca College flight training devices to assist them in any given circumstances where they need to take control of an aircraft and recover from an unusual attitude. This training is done with certain flight instruments failed;

• All night flying in single-engine aircraft is to be conducted only when the crew can see where the plane is headed — known as visual flight rules or VFR; and

• No observers are permitted on board training flights at night (one student and one instructor only). Combined lessons during which more than one student participates are to be restricted to daytime flying.

Meanwhile, more information about the ill-fated flight is included in the board's report.

The purpose of the flight was to fly at night under visual flight rules to an airport in Kingston, where instrument flight rule approaches  — flying using the plane's instruments — would be practised. The plane was then to return to Buttonville.

One student would fly from the left seat to Kingston while the other was seated in the back.

The students would then switch in Kingston and the second student would fly simulated instrument approaches. The students would switch seats again for the flight back to Buttonville. Mr. Yoosufani, the instructor, was the pilot-in-command and in the right seat.

East of the Oshawa airport, the flight crew encountered deteriorating weather and decided to return to Buttonville.

Weather information from other aircraft and ground observations reveal the rain, snow and freezing rain the trio encountered was quite different than conditions at Buttonville and Oshawa airports.

Radar data and voice communications reveal the return flight was normal until the crew tried a climbing right turn. During the turn, the airspeed dropped, which indicates engine power was not increased to maintain a safe speed, the safety board report states.

The plane then rolled into a steep left turn and plummeted.

Radar and engineering estimates show a flight manoeuvre that suggests the plane's left wing stalled and then abruptly dropped.

Who was actually at the controls when the plane went down is “impossible to ascertain”, according to the report.

It is reasonable, however, to believe a student was at the controls while Mr. Yoosufani was requesting an approach clearance. When the plane stalled, Mr. Yoosufani would have been attempting to recover control, according to the report.

But how quickly the stall occurred, the airspeed during the descent and lack of available altitude prevented the plane from being righted before it hit the ground.

All of that would have been made worse by limited visibility due to weather and a lack of flight instruments on the right side of the plane, the safety board's report states

Records for the plane reveal it was certified, equipped and maintained in accordance with regulations and procedures. 


Media Advisory 

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada releases report into the November 2010 crash of a Beechcraft F33A near the Toronto/Buttonville Municipal Airport 

Gatineau, Quebec, 16 March 2012 - The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) today released its investigation report (A10O0240) into the 18 November 2010 loss of control and collision with terrain of a Beechcraft Bonanza F33A, operated by the Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology near the Toronto/Buttonville municipal airport.

The aircraft departed the Buttonville airport on a night visual flight rules flight to Kingston airport (Ontario) with an instructor and two students on board. Weather en route began to deteriorate and the flight headed back to the point of departure. On radar, it was observed to be westbound in level flight before it turned north and began to climb. It then turned abruptly to the left and descended. The aircraft was subsequently located in a ploughed field approximately 10 miles east of the airport. It had been destroyed on impact. The three occupants did not survive.

The TSB is an independent agency that investigates marine, pipeline, railway and aviation transportation occurrences. Its sole aim is the advancement of transportation safety. It is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability.