CAE Aviation Flight 77

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CAE Aviation Flight 77
Swearingen SA-227AT Merlin IV C Private N577MX, LUX Luxembourg (Findel), Luxembourg PP1313341186.jpg

The affected machine in 2011
Accident summary
Accident type Mechanical failure
place near Kirkop , MaltaMaltaMalta 
date October 24, 2016
Fatalities 5
Survivors 0
Aircraft
Aircraft type United StatesUnited States Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AT Merlin IVC
operator LuxembourgLuxembourg CAE Aviation on behalf of the French Ministry of DefenseFranceFrance
Mark United StatesUnited States N577MX
Departure airport Malta Airport , Luqa , Malta
MaltaMalta 
Destination airport Malta Airport , Luqa , Malta
MaltaMalta 
crew 5
Lists of aviation accidents

The CAE Aviation Flight 77 (Flight number: LXC77 ) was a charter flight of Luxembourg airline CAE Aviation on behalf of the French Ministry of Defense . On the planned surveillance flight to the Libyan coast, a Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AT Merlin IVC crashed shortly after taking off from Malta Airport . All 5 people on board the machine were killed. This was the worst aircraft accident in Malta since 1975.

plane

The affected machine was a Fairchild Swearingen SA227-AT Merlin IVC with the model serial number AT-577 , which was completed on November 26, 1983. The machine received the aircraft registration N31134 . On April 9, 1985, the flight control facility was converted to install additional cameras and radar assemblies. In addition, the maximum take-off weight was increased to 16,000 pounds (7257 kg). Before the conversion, the machine had only operated 10 hours. On May 1, 1985, the machine received a special certificate of airworthiness to conduct test flights. A special certificate was issued on June 6, 1985 with a total operating performance of 27 hours. The machine was then delivered to an airline that was regularly booked by the CIA . After the machine was struck by lightning during a flight, it was taken for an inspection, the aircraft had an operating performance of 1884 operating hours at this time. On March 27, 1997, the machine was re-registered with an operating performance of 4747 operating hours and received the new aircraft registration N120JM . A Limited Certificate of Airworthiness was issued on April 11 of the same year with an operating time of 4764 hours. On May 7, 2003, the machine was rebuilt again, radar components and thermal imaging cameras from FLIR Systems were removed. A permit to fly was issued on December 19, 2005. On July 13, 2011, the machine changed hands. The new and last owner, Worldwide Aircraft Services from Springfield (Missouri) took over the machine with an operating performance of 6325 operating hours and registered it five days later with the new registration N577MX . On July 28, 2011, another renovation was carried out, new sensors, a TCAS , a TAWS , additional kerosene tanks and HF and UHF antennas were installed. On the same day the aircraft received a limited certificate of airworthiness and on August 11, 2011 the restriction was lifted. From September 2011, with an operating performance of 6357 hours at the time, the machine was leased to CAE Aviation. On March 10, 2016, at 9006 hours of operation, a further conversion was carried out, in which old sensors and antennas were replaced with new ones. In the course of the year, a seat and another sensor were retrofitted. The machine was equipped with 6 seats. The twin-engined special machine for monitoring missions was with two turboprop engines of the type Garrett TPE331-11U-611G equipped. By the time of the accident, it had completed 9,261 operating hours in 3,503 take-offs and landings.

Destination of the flight

The machine was to be used for a flight on behalf of the French Ministry of Defense . As part of the mission, French customs officials were supposed to control the people smuggling route from the Libyan coastal region around Misrata to Europe. A return to Malta Airport was then planned. There were five people on board, all of whom were listed as crew members.

crew

The 30-year-old captain of the machine completed his pilot training in 2009 with the French Air Force , for which he flew until 2011. He has been working for CAE Aviation since 2012. He had 3511 hours of flight experience, 1229 of which with the Swearingen Merlin.

The flight was supervised by another, 70-year-old pilot who was used as a non flying pilot and was responsible for ensuring flight safety on long or complicated flights. In this function, the pilot was deployed over a total of 75 flight hours during his pilot career, all of which he had served on the Merlin. As a pilot, he had 21,806 hours of flight experience, including 2304 with the Merlin.

In addition, there were three other crew members on board who operated the on-board systems, a tactical coordinator aged 39 and two operators aged 33 and 52.

All inmates were French nationals. The two pilots worked for CAE Aviation, the other three people were French customs officers.

the accident

The machine rolled away from its parking position at 7:15 a.m. The take-off run began at 7:19 a.m. in a south-easterly direction, and at 7:20 a.m. the aircraft took off. After taking off, the angle of attack of the machine increased beyond the usual level. When this had risen to 34 degrees, there was a stall , whereupon the machine rolled to the right. Just ten seconds after take-off, the Merlin hit the edge of the airport on Triq Carmelo Garuana Street with a roll angle of 70 degrees and an angle of attack of -38 degrees , exploded and burned out. Part of the airport fence was also destroyed in the crash, and wreckage from the machine was thrown onto the site of a barracks of the Maltese army opposite the airport. All five inmates were killed, no one was harmed on the ground.

Accident investigation

The accident investigations were carried out by the French Bureau Enquêtes Accidents Défense (BEA-D) , which in the course of the investigation was renamed Bureau enquêtes accidentspour la sécurité de l'aéronautique d'État (BEA-E) . The investigations were made more difficult by the fact that the machine did not have any flight data recorders .

It was found that the engines had symmetrical thrust during the crash.

Missing documents

During the accident investigation it turned out that the history of the machine was only incompletely documented. At the time of the accident, there was no longer any documented evidence of the extensive renovation carried out in 1983. In addition, all maintenance documents from the period from November 2005 to July 2011 were missing. The certificate of airworthiness was also lost during this period.

root cause

Although the investigations were unable to determine the exact cause of the accident, they did lead to the result that the accident was most likely caused by a technical malfunction that was a consequence of the renovation work carried out and poor maintenance. Three possible scenarios were formulated:

  • The demolition of an RF antenna, which then became wedged in the elevator or wrapped around it
  • An activation of the system to avoid stall, whereupon the master tried to counteract
  • A malfunction of the elevator control due to a technical defect in the control line

Due to the lack of flight recorder data, it could not be determined which of the three scenarios had occurred, but the most likely cause was assumed to be the defect in the control line.

swell

Coordinates: 35 ° 50 ′ 38.5 "  N , 14 ° 29 ′ 29.3"  E