News report from Friday edition of 'The Age' newspaper gives a few more details:
An Australian pilot has survived a plane crash in Papua New Guinea's north coast in which 28 people are believed to have died.
Only four people are believed to have survived the crash in dense forest, near the mouth of the Gogol River, about 20 kilometres south of the resort centre of Madang.
Airlines PNG Dash 8 plane, which was carrying 32 people, was on a flight from Lae, PNG's second largest city, to Madang, when it crashed about 5pm (6pm AEDT) yesterday.
"All I can tell you is there have been reports of survivors and reports there have been fatalities," the PNG Accident Investigation Commission's (AIC) spokesman, Sid O'Toole, told AAP. He said it wasn't clear how many survivors there were.
The 64-year-old Australian pilot, from Queensland, has decades of experience flying in PNG. The other survivor was a New Zealand pilot, a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokeswoman said.
She said there were no indications at this stage that Australians were among those who died, adding that the Australian High Commission in Port Moresby has been liaising with Airlines PNG and local authorities.
Consular officials would be travelling to Madang today, she added.
Airlines PNG grounds its fleet
Airlines PNG confirmed one of its Dash 8 aircraft has crashed near Madang and grounded its fleet of 12 aircraft until further notice.
A spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Australia's national transport safety investigator, said they had not been contacted to assist in investigating the crash.
The ATSB has previously assisted the AIC in crash investigations.
Port Moresby – 10.30pm, Thursday 13 October, 2011 AIRLINES PNG ANNOUNCMENT
We are sad to confirm that there has been an accident involving an Airlines PNG Dash 8
aircraft near Madang late Thursday afternoon.
Emergency services have been activated and Airlines PNG is co-operating with authorities
to mount rescue and recovery efforts.
There were 28 passengers and 4 crew members on board. There appear to be some
survivors while a number of people remain unaccounted for.
Airlines PNG is working with the emergency service authorities to confirm this information
in more detail.
A full investigation is underway by authorities and Airlines PNG as to the possible cause of
the accident.
Airlines PNG fully supports the action of local authorities at Lae who have quarantined
aviation fuel at Lae airport from where the aircraft originated.
Airlines PNG has also grounded its Dash 8 fleet of 12 aircraft until further notice.
Our prayers and thoughts are now with all those affected by this very sad day for Papua
New Guinea.
Ends/
Fire onboard and both engines out? That sounds a bit strange.
The weather in the area has been reported as being very bad? The pictures of the burnt out plane seems to suggest that the impact was severe (maybe CFIT?).
Skipskatta I am not sure what pictures you refer to. Do you have a link? There was a post in Planetalking which indicated that News Ltd online had erroneously posted a picture of a burnt out wreck that was in fact of another accident. Here is the Planetalking link: News.com.au cheats on PNG crash photo | Plane Talking
Last edited by paulg; 14th Oct 2011 at 10:23.
Reason: Add link
More than meets the eye still to come ....... Maybe
Another rumor getting round is that the crew were doing a DME arrival in bad weather, got above VMO, had a propellor over speed, destroyed the engine (fire) and all over Red Rover!
No idea how this rumor got its legs but sounds feasible ......... Maybe!
Just received a bit of info from a contact in PNG who says the above rumor re prop overspeed on an out of control DME arrival has been "confirmed" by other crew(s) of the airline involved.
Still no guarantee of this being 110% correct but looking like is was the culprit!
Local newspaper reports observers on ground saying that aircraft passed low overhead and was 'dripping fuel' which was burning in the trees.
Also that the emergency doors were open as the plane went towards the sea.
It seems that the fuel problem certainly contributed to the flash fire which happened when the aircraft grounded. One passenger escaped 'through a crack in the fuselage' with severe burns.
Overspeed of 60% would be almost 2000rpm. Major failure as at this Np the engine would be decelerating to try to limit the Np. Never heard of an overspeed this great - and on both props? Suggest we await further reports as this sounds unlikely.
Any twoter drivers out there to explain to us how you could overev both Props 60% ?? Major pilot Error ? I really would like to know. Thanks
The fact that it happened on both sides to me is an indication that the probability of a direct mechnaical failure of the propeller control as root cause might not be so terribly high.
One thing that crossed my mind: Could it be that they accidentally entered too steep a dive and tried to use the propellers as speed brakes ? Would be interesting to know the propeller pitch setting at the time.
This might have absolutely no bearing on this accident, but Bombardier sent out a FOSL yesterday advising against moving the power levers below Flight Idle (i.e.into Discing) in flight. One possible - or should I say likely - result would be a prop overspeed. Interesting timing of the FOSL.
, My Bad ! I was thinking about another crash In Papua, that one was a DHC-6.
