Priority Air Transport Flight 528

Priority Air Transport Flight 528
A similar shorts C-23B + Sherpa
Accident summary
Accident type	Loss of control
place	Unadilla , Georgia , United States
date	March 3, 2001
Fatalities	21st
Survivors	0
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Shorts C-23B + Sherpa
operator	Florida National Guard
Mark	93-1336
Departure airport	Hurlburt Field , Florida , United States
Destination airport	Naval Air Station Oceana , Virginia , United States
Passengers	18th
crew	3
Lists of aviation accidents

The Priority Air Transport Flight 528 ( PAT528 was) a flight of National Guard of Florida from Hurlburt Field in Florida to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia , on March 3, 2001 Unadilla , Georgia , an aircraft of type shorts C -23B + Sherpa crashed. All 21 people on board were killed in the accident. The immediate cause of the accident was a loss of control that occurred because the master went to the toilet during the flight.

plane

The aircraft concerned was a British -made military feeder aircraft of the Shorts C-23B + Sherpa type . This special version combines structural specifics of the two types Shorts 330 and Shorts 360 and can therefore be considered a hybrid variant of these two models. The machine completed its maiden flight in 1984 and was delivered on December 20, 1985 with the aircraft registration number N375MQ and the factory number SH3684 as a civil shuttle aircraft of the type Shorts 360 to Simmons Airlines flying for American Eagle . In November 1993 the machine was transferred to the fleet of the Puerto Rican American Eagle operator Executive Airlines . On February 7, 1997, the machine was returned to the manufacturer and was then converted into a military machine at great expense. As is usual with the C-23B + Sherpa version, in addition to the conversion to a military configuration, the simple vertical stabilizer and the rear fuselage section of the Shorts 360 were replaced by the double stabilizers and the rear loading ramp of the Shorts 330-UTT. The stretched torso, the identification feature of the Shorts 360, was retained. In January 1998 the aircraft with the new serial number SH3420 was delivered to the Florida National Guard as a military machine of the type Shorts C-23B + Sherpa . The twin-engine commuter aircraft was equipped with two turboprop -Triebwerken type Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-45R equipped.

the accident

A Shorts 360 from Simmons Airlines, corresponding to the first version of the machine

Priority Air Flight 528 took off from Hurlburt Field in Florida on the morning of March 3, and was scheduled to fly to Naval Air Station Oceana , Virginia . Eighteen soldiers from a maintenance and repair squad of the Virginia National Guard had taken the flight, and three crew members from the Florida National Guard were on board. When the machine was in Georgia airspace , the captain rose from his seat and went to the back of the toilet. At that time, the machine was flying through an area in which there was severe turbulence. As the captain walked backwards, the aircraft's angle of attack increased slowly until the aircraft's nose was suddenly jerked downwards. In three seconds, the machine rose more than 100 feet, nose down, and was then caught in a wind shear three times stronger than what is considered extreme turbulence. Within the first twelve seconds of the loss of control, such g-forces acted on the aircraft that passengers and crew were incapable of acting, then the aircraft broke apart when the load limits were exceeded and fell to the ground near Unadilla.

root cause

The accident was the Collateral Investigation Board (CIB) of the US Army investigated. The investigation found that the machine had started with an extremely poor weight distribution. When the captain went to the on-board toilet, the weight distribution of the machine changed in such a way that there was a loss of control from which the machine could no longer be intercepted, especially since it soon got into severe turbulence.

It was also found that the machine's weather radar had insufficient power. As a result, the crew was significantly restricted in their ability to avoid the storm.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kevin Sack: 21 Those in Crash Of Guard Plane In Georgia Rain. In: The New York Times , March 4, 2001.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Accident report in the Aviation Safety Network
3. ↑ Operating history of the machine on planelogger.com .
4. ↑ Operating history of the machine on rzjets.net .
5. ^ ^{A b c} Nine Families File Lawsuit Against Manufacturers of Aircraft That Disintegrated While Airborne , defense-aerospace.com dated February 5, 2002.
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} U.S. COURT OFAPPEALS, ELEVENTH CIRCUIT, No. 05-14781, JULY 26, 2007
7. ^ Lessons Learned , the Federal Aviation Administration