Air Canada Vickers Viscount accident near Sept-Îles

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Air Canada Vickers Viscount accident near Sept-Îles
CF-THB V757 Viscount Air Canada YYC 01JUN67 (5641087361) .jpg

An identical Air Canada machine
Accident summary
Accident type Fire in the landing gear well and brake failure
place Sept-Îles Airport , Quebec , CanadaCanadaCanada 
date April 7, 1969
Fatalities 1
Survivors 20th
Aircraft
Aircraft type United KingdomUnited Kingdom Vickers 757 Viscount
operator CanadaCanada Air Canada
Mark CanadaCanada CF-THK
Departure airport Sept-Îles Airport , Quebec , CanadaCanadaCanada 
Destination airport Montreal-Dorval Airport , Quebec , CanadaCanadaCanada 
Passengers 17th
crew 4th
Lists of aviation accidents

The air accident a Vickers Viscount Air Canada in Sept-Îles occurred on April 7, 1969. On that day, it came shortly after the start of a Vickers Viscount 757 of Air Canada (CF THK) from the airport Sept-Iles to a fire in Landing gear well, whereupon the pilots had to turn around and make an emergency landing. One passenger was killed during the evacuation.

machine

The plane involved in the accident was a Vickers 757 Viscount, which was ordered in September 1955 by Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA). The aircraft was part of the third batch of Vickers 757 Viscount aircraft, after 15 724 Viscount aircraft had been ordered in November 1952 and a further 21 757 Viscount aircraft from August 1954 to April 1955. The third batch of 757 consisted of eleven machines. The machine was the 13th of the type 757, which was built by Vickers for the Trans-Canada Airlines. By May 1957, the airline had ordered a total of 36 757 Viscount aircraft. The four-engine medium-range aircraft with the serial number 271 , the production number F13 / 757 and Sale number F13 / 76B was with four turboprop engines of the type Rolls-Royce Dart 506 equipped. After its final assembly, the machine took off on its maiden flight on March 28, 1957 at Bournemouth-Hurn Airport , Hampshire , England . The machine was delivered to the TCA on June 3, 1956 and received the aircraft registration number CF-THK and the fleet number 629 . The machine was delivered in its raw state without seating. Cabin seats from a US manufacturer were installed in Canada . Contrary to the factory seating, 44 instead of 48 seats were installed so that the passengers had more legroom. This attribute was heavily promoted by the airline, which led to a high utilization of the machines, which replaced 18-seat Douglas DC-3 machines on most routes . On July 10, 1957, the TCA announced that all machines would be repainted for their next major maintenance, with the upper part of the fuselage being painted white. The affected machine was also painted accordingly. With the name change from Trans-Canada Air Lines to Air Canada, the machine was transferred to the fleet of this airline on June 1, 1964. It took years until all machines were painted by Air Canada and so the aircraft in question was also spotted on January 30, 1965 with a painting under the old name. At the time of the accident, the machine had a total operating performance of 26,975 operating hours, which accounted for 26,579 take-offs and landings.

Passengers and crew

The flight from Sept-Îles to Montreal had taken 17 passengers. There was a four-person crew on board the machine, consisting of a flight captain, a first officer and two flight attendants.

the accident

Shortly after take-off from Sept-Îles Airport, the crew received a fire warning from engine no. 2 (inside left) during the initial climb. The fire originally started from the left main landing gear bay, but the pilots were not aware of this at the time. The crew contacted air traffic control and received clearance for an emergency landing. After touchdown, the crew initiated an emergency braking. The pilots found that engine No. 1 could not be switched off. Due to the fire, the brakes on the left main landing gear also failed. The machine could not be stopped and drove around to the right in a circle, but had to be evacuated urgently due to the fire. The occupants jumped off the machine through the emergency exits. A woman fell down while jumping, was run over by the machine and killed. She remained the only fatality in the incident.

root cause

Overheating of the starter selector relay when starting engines No. 1 and 2 was suspected to be the cause of the accident. The relay ignited a wiring harness in its vicinity, causing an ever-expanding fire. However, due to the significant fire damage, no physical evidence of this scenario could be found.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HA Taylor: Vickers' Peer without Peer . In: AIR Enthusiast Twenty-Five, August – November 1984, p. 14