Proflite C206 which went down in Zambia

[Stonebird]

Did you both get rescued OK? We informed both Lusaka and Lilongwe of your mayday. Interested to know the rest of the story.

ZS-OBS

[horn]

It was a mate of mine and he managed to put it down on a riverbed, no injuries and they were picked up the next morning after spending the night in the bush, loss of oil pressure and the prop stopped apparently!:)

[Gunship]

Stonebird, somebody owes you some beers !

Well done ! :D

[Stonebird]

Thanks for that, Horn. 2 minutes after getting his mayday we too were out of VHF range. What did they do with the aircraft? Did they get them with a chopper or by landrover? hope there were not many crocs!!

ps. the beers can be sent to the cafeteria at Dar es Salaam airport which is where we are virtually living these days.....:rolleyes:

[Jockflyer]

Stonebird,

I do indeed owe you some beers. Thanks very much for your help that day.

That was in fact the last leg, of the last flight, on my last day of the season.:eek:

We were at FL085 Mfuwe - Lusaka, when suddenly the engine note changed. After quickly changing the fuel tanks/pumps/mixture etc, there was no change. RPM dropped to almost idle, and oil pressure was zero. I had partial power for around 30 seconds, then the prop stopped completely, not even windmilling.

By this time I had already made my mayday call and had picked my spot for a forced landing. I did my circuit to land on the dried river bed, and landing without injury. The only damage to the aircraft was a bent prop when the nose gear dug in to the soft sand.

After we got out the aircraft I took off the cowling and inspected the engine bay.. No sign of any major oil leakage, and oil level normal. When I tried to turn the prop by hand I found it to be seized.

My best guess is the there was a sudden failure of the oil pump, which caused the crank bearing to dry out and seize, but I'll be interested to hear what the investigation team conclude.

Some local villagers came to make sure we were OK. They built us a fire and stayed with us all night, offering us food and water. The Zambian Air Force rescued us in the morning.

A recovery team is due to fly in an engine and prop, and are going to try and fly it out. There is around 300/400 metres of soft sand runway (???), so it may be possible.

There will of course be an investigation by DCA, and I'm due to speak to them next week. Meantime I'm grounded, but as it was my last flight, thats not a problem for now.

I'm in Joburg on holiday just now, enjoying a bit of civilisation.

Once they have confirmed the cause, I'll post it here.

Thanks again Stonebird

JF:cool:

I've just edited this as I'd put fuel pressure instead or oil pressure. Makes a big difference.:rolleyes:

[Stonebird]

No worries, all part of the service! All's well that ends well! Well done Jockflyer, you were cool as a cucumber on the radio. All the best and thanks for satisfying my curiosity! :)

[planecrazi]

What an amazing story!!! Good to hear that there are some excellent folk out there who are really professional. We could indeed learn some lessons.
I take my hat of to the C206 driver and say a well done to Stonedriver.

Well done to the two of you!!!!:)

[4144r]

Well done Jockflyer !
I know very well this aera, and it's not so easy all the time to find a place for a forced landing.
Enjoy Zambia.
4144r
:D

[Gunship]

Hey Jockflyer - welcome back to earth m8 ! Great job ! Well done ! Again tx to Stonebird as well.

Will never forget the WFP chopper flying past me when I went down ... reason - the rebels are too close - sorry we can not help you - empty Mi-8 (what is a mile between flying buddies ?) :D

[Carrier]

What happened to the plane? I heard a rumour that it got swept down the river when the rains came. If so, this would be an aweful shame after JF’s effort to put it down with minimal damage. I hope the rumour is incorrect and that they got it out.
Also, this was apparently the second single from the same company to have an engine failure incident in a short time span. Is there any connection between the two, such as poor manufacturing (both major piston engine companies seem to have quality problems of late) or maintenance?

[Skaz]

you guys are legends, well done. :D

[Abel Coelho]

Well done guys.
;) :p

Abel Coelho

[Jockflyer]

Hi Guys,

I'm back in Scotland now for the off season.

Unfortunately the C206 is apparently still up to its wings in water.
They choppered in a new engine and prop, and a 'specialist pilot' to fly the thing out. He taxied all of a couple of feet before bending the prop again!!

Then they left it so long before trying again, that the rains came and it got submerged. I'd taken all the radio and nav equipment out after I "landed", so at least some stuff was salvagable.

The investigation has not yet formally told me the cause, but unofficially I've been told that it was an oil pump failure. I spoke to the licencing people yesterday who confirmed verbally that I will get my ticket back when I return in May.

OK, now I'm going to give a bit of advice. and you can read into this what you like. This advice applies to anyone flying anywhere in the world, but I suppose more especially in Africa. If you are unhappy with the maintainace of the aircraft you fly and you believe that it is, or could be dangerous, DO NOT FLY IT. Most, if not all of us are put under commerical pressure not to write things in the tech log, because it could ground the aircraft, and the company loses money. Better to lose your job, than lose your life. I was very lucky that day, you or I might not be next time.

Needless to say I will not be going back to the same company next season, I'll be moving on to a nice turbine with another company. That is if I manage to sort out the work permit. My previous company outright refuse to transfer the permit to the new outfit. I just hope that immigration are friendly. Some thanks for trying to save the aircraft. If I don't get this sorted out, and I lose my new ride, then perhaps my tongue might become slippery about certain issues.

Anyway, good luck to all of you and maybe I'll hear, if not see some of you this year.

JF:*

[bugga-u]

Good job buddy!! your a pro and so is the guy who relayed for ya.
Damn shame that the company wouldnt support your decision to move on. sounds like a not so good company to work for.

[gravitysux]

Hey Jock Floater
Do you know if Tongabezi still operate some a/c down in Livingstone and the Lower Zambezi?

By the way well said, well done and good luck with the new PT guys (presuming its a PT6 unless its an Alison??)
Any clues??

anti-gravity rules!!!!:=

[Jockflyer]

My new ride is on a Grand Caravan, so I'm looking forward to that.
I would cut my nuts off to get in a PT6. They give me the horn!!

The only operator out of Livingstone that I know of is Migration Air (Star of Africa). They have a PA31, C185 and had a C206 although I beleive it also force landed around Xmas.

Cheers

JF

[gravitysux]

Hey Jock
Well carefull now as once youve flown the Grand Van youll pretty much give up any and aspirations to fly anything else!!! I always dreamed of flying vans in Zambia but back then there werent any around.
Any clues as to who the operator is? If I remember correctly you said it was a new bunch..??
tic tic tic..BBWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOmmmmmmmm!
Gravitysux for sure!!!;)

[Stonebird]

Hey, Jock, if its that Van with the floats on...do a good preflight...the floats are sitting next to a hangar at FALA!

Glad to hear you're back! You'll find a turbine up front causes a lot less grey hairs. Heh heh..so the 206 is still in the river! When the archeologists of tomorrow find it fossilized in a million years time it'll probably be put in a museum!

Funny how pilot's careers meander..we start on about the oldest, most dangerous pieces of equipment available, in the worst locations, and when we start getting better, we get safer and safer machines until we are managing a fly-itself triple-redundant sky-cinema-cum-restaurant...

...but their disadvantage is that they in turn can't be put down on a sandbank!!!!!!:=

Happy Flying!

[masseygrad]

Gravitysux,

As far as I know Tongabezi operate two C182s from Livingstone.

Does anyone know the current situation in Zambia regarding work permits? I've heard that all current work pemits have been cancelled and everyone has to reapply.