Prang at Livingstone - C210 - September 2004

[Flying Bean]

The Propless C210

Carrier and others.
Your reminder is well timed.
(To briefly remind others. C210 on Charter with a Canadian Pilot and 5 British and Australian pax crashed 33nm after take off from Livingstone when the prop detached. No survivours)

This reply comes from the Action Group of the Families and Owner.
We were due to make a major press release at the end of January 2008, but have had to postpone the matter for maybe another 30 or 60 days.

The Zambian DCA Final Report (26 pages) did come out in Sept 2005. But the nub of the matter lies in the USA NTSB report (incorporated in the Zambian Report) and Australian ASB reports. Since the release of the Final Report, every single month there has been a significant action or reaction by the the various Authorities involved in the investigation up to and including this month. This very much restricts comments we can make at this time. There is very much a legal minefield to be negotiated.

I will attempt to post a link to the Final Report in the next couple of days.

In the meantime I can quote from Page 25 of the report:-

Para 3.2
a) Causes
The Investigating team determined that the cause of this accident was the in-flight detachment of the propeller from the aircraft as a result of the loss of preload of the propeller assembly attachment studs.
b) Probable contributing factors
i) Imporper torque of propeller studs
ii) Failure to wire lock the studs allowed the studs to back out of the propeller hub assembly resulting in the separation of the propeller from the aircarft.
iii) Failure to follow correct propeller installation proceedures
iv) Failure to use identifiable manufactures approved parts

#######

The engine was 220 hrs since Major Overhaul.
The aircraft was 30 hrs since MPI. (2 MPIs were done since the O/H)

We the Action Group, are very anxious that there should be a full and public discussion of this incident but would request your patience for a while longer.