Airlines PNG has modified its Dash 8 aircraft so pilots
are unable to make the mistake that caused a fatal plane crash in Papua
New Guinea three years ago.
The company has acknowledged that
pilot error contributed to the accident in Morobe Province but says
other factors were also at play.
Twenty-eight people were killed when a Dash 8 aircraft crashed near Madang in 2011.
The Australian and New Zealand pilots, a crew member and one passenger survived the accident.
The Accident Investigation Commission's final report found the pilot damaged the plane's engines on descent by putting them into reverse after an alarm sounded warning that the plane had reached its maximum speed.
Airline PNG's general manager of safety Craig Chapple told Pacific Beat the mistake had been made by several other Dash 8 pilots elsewhere in the world.
He says the crash would not have happened if Transport Canada, the regulating authority for the plane's manufacturer, had adopted previous recommendations to require 'beta lockout' devices to be installed to stop accidental reversing while a plane is in flight.
"There was a propeller control unit on the right-hand side that didn't work as required and allowed the right-hand engine into overspeed," he said.
"And then after the pilot had pulled the controls through the beta gate, he wasn't able to recover it on the left-hand side, the engine."
The Dash 8 was being flown manually because the aircraft's yaw damper was unserviceable.
In its report, the Commission found neither pilot noticed the aircraft's speed increasing to its maximum operating speed.
Mr Chapple says it is now not possible to put power levers into reverse on any Airlines PNG Dash 8.
"With the beta lockout modifications that we've done to the fleet, you cannot put the aircraft into beta in the air," he said.
"To go into reverse prior to the accident, you needed to lift the gate to go through the power levers into the beta range.
"They've obviously lifted the gate to go into the beta range by accident while they were dealing with the descent."
The Commission's Report found that once the Dash 8 was in trouble, the crew did not follow company procedures, such as extending the flaps or putting down the landing gear so the aircraft would have more time in the air and to soften the impact when it crashed.
"The crew at the time were obviously dealing with multiple critical events and there was other conflicting events occurring that were all high priority so they were in a high-stress environment," Mr Chapple said.
He says the pilots originally planned to ditch into the sea and it was only at the last moment that they decided to try to land beside a creek bed.
Story, listen to audio and photo: http://www.abc.net.au
NTSB
Identification: ENG12WA002
Accident occurred Thursday, October 13, 2011 in Madang, Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea
Aircraft: DE HAVILLAND DHC8, registration:
Injuries: 28 Fatal,2 Serious,2 Minor.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. The foreign authority was the source of this information.
On 13 Oct 2011, at about 1715, at about 10,000 feet during the descent for landing, the overspeed warning horn of a PNG Airlines DHC-8-102 aircraft, Papua New Guinea registration P2-MCJ sounded. At 1717, the crew made a MAYDAY call to ATC, indicating that they were experiencing an in-flight emergency and that both engines had stopped. The aircraft force-landed on sparsely timbered terrain on the northern side of the Buang River, 33 km south east of Madang Township. During the impact sequence, the airplane was severely damaged while colliding with trees and the ground, and an intense fuel-fed fire began.
The Director of Air Safety Investigation of Papua New Guinea is investigating the accident. As the state of manufacture of the propeller and propeller control system, the NTSB has designated a U.S. Accredited Representative under the provisions of Annex 13 to the Convention on Civil Aviation to assist the Director of Air Safety Investigation of Papua New Guinea in their investigation.
All inquiries concerning this accident should be directed to the Director of Air Safety Investigation of Papua New Guinea at:
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Director of Air Safety Investigation
Department of Civil Aviation
P.O. Box 684
Boroko, NCD
Papua New Guinea
Tel.: (675) 271764
Fax: (675) 272201
AFTN: AYPYYAYX
Telex: 22203 NE
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