Final report; Falcon 50EX crash in Moscow in 2014...
Thread Starter
Final report; Falcon 50EX crash in Moscow in 2014...
Airport Staff, ATC, Pilots Implicated in Fatal Falcon Crash.
The fatal crash of a French-registered Dassault Falcon 50EX that hit a snowplow during takeoff from Moscow Vnukovo International Airport on Oct. 20, 2014, was caused by a combination of factors that implicate several airport workers, air traffic controllers and the trijet’s pilots, according to a final report from Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC). Criminal charges have been levied against seven controllers and airport workers, including the snowplow driver, who was believed to have been intoxicated at the time of the collision.
The accident occurred shortly before midnight in drizzle and mist. Two snowplows were working under the command of a supervisor, who was present in a car in the area but lost sight of one of the snowplows at the same time the Falcon 50 was cleared for takeoff.
About 10 seconds after the crew received permission to take off, the surface movement radar in the control tower showed one of the snowplows moving toward the active runway, and some 14 seconds after the aircraft began its takeoff roll the crew observed a “car” crossing the runway, according to the cockpit voice recorder.
The crew continued the takeoff, and the jet lifted off the runway at about 134 knots. But a moment later, the right wing and right landing gear hit the snowplow. The airplane rolled inverted, crashed and burst into flames. The three crewmemberswere killed, along with Christophe de Margerie, CEO of oil company Total.
While the report blamed airport workers and controllers for numerous violations of procedure, failure of supervisory responsibilities, a breakdown of communications, lack of proper equipment on the snowplows and loss of situational awareness, it also implicated the flight crew. Among the criticisms: lack of recommendations in the operator's (Unijet) flight operating manual for pilot actions when external threats appear on the runway during takeoff; the crew’s failure to take measures to reject the takeoff as soon as the captain mentioned the vehicle; and the design of the Falcon 50EX in which nosewheel steering can be controlled only from the left seat, “resulting in the necessity to transfer aircraft control at a high-workload phase of the takeoff roll when the first officer in the right seat was performing the takeoff.”
Investigators added that the crew’s decisions might have been influenced by a “long wait for the departure at an unfamiliar airport and their desire to fly home as soon as possible, which might have made it difficult for them to assess the actual threat level as they noticed the snowplow after they had started the takeoff run.”
By Gordon Gilbert - Aviation International News October - 27, 2016, 10:48 AM
The fatal crash of a French-registered Dassault Falcon 50EX that hit a snowplow during takeoff from Moscow Vnukovo International Airport on Oct. 20, 2014, was caused by a combination of factors that implicate several airport workers, air traffic controllers and the trijet’s pilots, according to a final report from Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC). Criminal charges have been levied against seven controllers and airport workers, including the snowplow driver, who was believed to have been intoxicated at the time of the collision.
The accident occurred shortly before midnight in drizzle and mist. Two snowplows were working under the command of a supervisor, who was present in a car in the area but lost sight of one of the snowplows at the same time the Falcon 50 was cleared for takeoff.
About 10 seconds after the crew received permission to take off, the surface movement radar in the control tower showed one of the snowplows moving toward the active runway, and some 14 seconds after the aircraft began its takeoff roll the crew observed a “car” crossing the runway, according to the cockpit voice recorder.
The crew continued the takeoff, and the jet lifted off the runway at about 134 knots. But a moment later, the right wing and right landing gear hit the snowplow. The airplane rolled inverted, crashed and burst into flames. The three crewmemberswere killed, along with Christophe de Margerie, CEO of oil company Total.
While the report blamed airport workers and controllers for numerous violations of procedure, failure of supervisory responsibilities, a breakdown of communications, lack of proper equipment on the snowplows and loss of situational awareness, it also implicated the flight crew. Among the criticisms: lack of recommendations in the operator's (Unijet) flight operating manual for pilot actions when external threats appear on the runway during takeoff; the crew’s failure to take measures to reject the takeoff as soon as the captain mentioned the vehicle; and the design of the Falcon 50EX in which nosewheel steering can be controlled only from the left seat, “resulting in the necessity to transfer aircraft control at a high-workload phase of the takeoff roll when the first officer in the right seat was performing the takeoff.”
Investigators added that the crew’s decisions might have been influenced by a “long wait for the departure at an unfamiliar airport and their desire to fly home as soon as possible, which might have made it difficult for them to assess the actual threat level as they noticed the snowplow after they had started the takeoff run.”
By Gordon Gilbert - Aviation International News October - 27, 2016, 10:48 AM
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Malta
Posts: 88
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So now all Ops manuals need procedures for blocked runway takeoff abortions and all aircraft need tillers on both sides.. I don't understand how 7 controls are implicated here. And I heard rumours (Stress they are rumours) that the snowplow driver wasn't drunk at all. Just easier to say he was..
I was also very surprised, and a little sceptical, about the statement saying the pax (and C/A) was not wearing his seatbelt. I'm not suggesting it would have helped, but it's strange behaviour for his position.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: It used to be an island...
Posts: 244
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The accident report in English: http://mak-iac.org/upload/iblock/e12...eng_F-GLSA.pdf
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Hotel Sheets, Downtown Plunketville
Age: 76
Posts: 0
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not at all impressed with the report. To put blame on the crew for not rejecting t/o after spotting some lights from some sort of a vehicle on the move in crap vis is simply unfair and unjust. To top it all they also blame the aircraft manufacturer for putting the tiller on one side only. They might as well have recommended banning all F50`s from Russian airspace unless modified with tillers on both sides.
They have translated the word "bagnole" as "car". It is in fact the slang for `car `. Competent French speakers know where and when to use it, what situations require its use. This was the sort of situation that required it. They did not know what it was, but seeing some headlights must have thought "what the blazes is that charabanc is doing out there". It is quite likely they thought, it would clear off by the time they would get there. After all they had been cleared for t/o. Was it their job to stop on the threshold, get out, walk the whole length of the rwy then if all was clear get strapped back in and open the throttles. By the time they could see what it was, it was too late except to yank back on the stick and prey they miss the *** thing.
What a miserable effort to try and take the sting out of the rear ends of a bunch of incompetent half wits.
They have translated the word "bagnole" as "car". It is in fact the slang for `car `. Competent French speakers know where and when to use it, what situations require its use. This was the sort of situation that required it. They did not know what it was, but seeing some headlights must have thought "what the blazes is that charabanc is doing out there". It is quite likely they thought, it would clear off by the time they would get there. After all they had been cleared for t/o. Was it their job to stop on the threshold, get out, walk the whole length of the rwy then if all was clear get strapped back in and open the throttles. By the time they could see what it was, it was too late except to yank back on the stick and prey they miss the *** thing.
What a miserable effort to try and take the sting out of the rear ends of a bunch of incompetent half wits.
