Air Freight NZ Flight 642

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Air Freight NZ Flight 642
Air Freight NZ Convair 580 Breidenstein-1.jpg

An identical aircraft from the airline
Accident summary
Accident type Loss of control through icing, structural failure
place Tasman Sea at Kapiti Coast , 10 km north of Paraparaumu , New Zealand
New ZealandNew Zealand 
date October 3, 2003
Fatalities 2
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type United States 48United States Convair CV-580
operator New ZealandNew Zealand Air Freight NZ
Mark New ZealandNew Zealand ZK-KFU
Departure airport Christchurch Airport , New Zealand
New ZealandNew Zealand 
Destination airport Palmerston North Airport , New Zealand
New ZealandNew Zealand 
crew 2
Lists of aviation accidents

On the Air Freight NZ Flight 642 one on the flight from the accident on 3 October 2003 Airport Christchurch to Palmerston North cargo plane located the type Convair CV-580 of Air Freight NZ due to icing in flight. The two pilots on board were killed in the accident.

plane

The aircraft concerned had the model serial number 17 , was built in September 1952 as Convair CV-340-31 and delivered to United Air Lines on October 16, 1952 , where it was put into operation with the aircraft registration number N73113 and the name Stockton . In 1960 the machine was taken out of service again and on July 25, 1960 it was re-registered with Turbo Conversions Inc. , at a later date with the new registration number N547Z . On September 1, 1960, the machine with the new registration number TI-1018C was leased to LACSA Lineas Aereas Costarricenses , before the lease return returned to the lessor on October 31, 1960 with its registration number N73113 . From July 9, 1962, the aircraft was leased to Allegheny Airlines , from December 1962 to November 1965 it was registered with the latter with the new registration number N8428H , then the aircraft was converted into a Convair CV-580 by February 1966. From February 16, 1966, the machine was again registered with the registration number N8428H for Allegheny Airlines, which it remained with when it was changed to N5809 on March 10, 1968 . The next change of operator followed on September 5, 1978, when the machine was re-registered to Aspen Airways . This airline bought the machine the following month and operated it for almost a decade and a half until the Convair was bought by Kelowna Flightcraft in January 1992 , converted into a freighter and re-registered on January 24, 1992 with the new registration number C-GKFU . From January 27, 1992, the aircraft was then leased to Trans-Provincial Airlines before the leasing return returned to the Kelowna Flightcraft fleet in October 1992. From December 16, 1993, the machine was leased again, this time to AllCanada Express . In April 1995 the machine returned to the Kelowna Flightcraft fleet, on April 25, 1995 it was sold to Air Freight NZ and re-registered, with the machine being given the new registration number ZK-KFU , which is partly from its old Canadian aircraft registration number was derived. The twin-engine medium-range aircraft was equipped with two turboprop engines of the type Allison 501-D13D equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had completed 66,660 operating hours, which accounted for 98,774 take-offs and landings.

Inmates

There was only a two-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain and a first officer:

  • The 58-year-old flight captain had type ratings for numerous aircraft types, including the Hawker-Siddeley Argosy , Douglas DC-3 , De Havilland DH.114 Heron , Britten-Norman Trislander and the Convair CV-580. He flew for Air Freight NZ since November 1995, and since August 1998 he has held the role of flight captain on board the Convair CV-580. He had 16,928 hours of flight experience, of which he had completed 3,286 hours in the cockpit of the Convair CV-580.
  • The 50-year-old first officer was an airplane and helicopter pilot. He also had type ratings for numerous types, including the Swearingen Metro SA-227 , the Fokker F-27 Friendship and the Convair CV-580, for which he had acquired the type rating on May 11, 2003 from Air Freight NZ, after joining the company the previous month. The first officer had 20,148 hours of flight experience, of which he had completed 10,798 hours with airplanes and 194 hours in the cockpit of the Convair CV-580.

the accident

In the night of October 3rd to 4th, 2003, the aircraft was to be used for two regular night freight flights from Christchurch to Palmerston North and back. At 8:32 p.m., the machine took off from runway 20 as scheduled and rose to 21,000 feet. The flight went smoothly. At 21:13 hrs, air traffic control in Wellington first gave clearance to descend to 13,000 feet and then to 11,000 feet. After contacting air traffic control in Ohakea, the pilots were cleared to descend to 7,000 feet and received vectors for the approach to Palmerston North. During the descent, the machine flew through an area for which strong icing conditions were predicted, which apparently overstrained the performance of the flight de-icing system, which was supposed to prevent ice formation on the wings and tail unit. Then, the machine suffered probably due to a rapidly progressive, significant icing a stall . The nose of the aircraft tilted downwards, apparently causing the pilots to lose their orientation. Airspeed rose to 392 knots and structural loading peaked at 3.21 g . The pitch angles were probably between −50 ° and −60 °. Increasing stress on the wing roots eventually caused the panels to buckle and separate. At an altitude of 6,800 feet, the wings and engines tore off. Nine seconds later, the aircraft fuselage hit the sea surface vertically and at high speed.

swell

Coordinates: 40 ° 49 ′ 17.3 "  S , 175 ° 1 ′ 11.8"  E