Maintenance caused C210 crash at Eros
11.12.08
Maintenance error crashes plane
By: WERNER MENGES
THE official investigation into an aeroplane crash that claimed the life of a Swiss visitor to Namibia in September ended late last week with a finding that the crash was the result of an error made during maintenance of the aircraft.
A plastic bag left in a part of the air intake system of the Cessna 210 aeroplane that crashed after making an emergency landing in a street in Windhoek’s Hochland Park residential area on September 7 was the cause of the engine failure that led to the forced landing.
This is the conclusion in the report on the official investigation of the accident that was released by the Minister of Works and Transport, Helmut Angula, on Thursday last week.
With the report, a preliminary finding on the cause of the crash that was released by the Ministry nine days after the incident has been reaffirmed.
The aircraft – a Cessna 210, carrying the registration number V5-BIG and belonging to air charter operator Wings Over Africa CC – took off from Eros Airport just before 09h00 on September 7.
A 63-year-old Swiss pilot, with some 19 940 hours of flying experience, was in control of the aircraft, which was heading for Huab Lodge in the Kamanjab area. Four passengers – also Swiss – were on board.
The pilot did not notice any abnormalities during his pre-flight checks and during takeoff, it is stated in the report on the investigation, which was conducted by Ericksson Nengola, the Director of Aircraft Accident Investigations in the Ministry of Works and Transport.
Everything was normal during the initial climb of the plane after takeoff, it is related in the report.
However, about 600 to 700 feet (about 182 to 213 metres) above the ground, after the pilot had retracted the undercarriage and reduced the engine speed to 2 500 revolutions per minute, the engine power faded away without any warning.
The pilot initiated a descent for an emergency landing, which was carried out in Papegaien Road in Hochland Park.
With the landing, the left wing of the aircraft struck a lamppost, which swung the plane to the left. It collided with the boundary walls of four houses before it came to a rest.
The aircraft was a write-off, and all the people on board were seriously injured, the report states.
One of the passengers was Nicolas Peloponissios, a 44-year-old surgeon from Lausanne in Switzerland. He was rushed to a Windhoek hospital, where he died of his injuries a few hours after the crash.
During the investigation a piece of plastic was found in the plane’s engine, it is stated in the report.
Nengola concluded that during the takeoff, this material obstructed the air-intake ducts of the engine, leading to engine failure.
The aircraft had undergone a maintenance inspection on September 4.
“During the inspection, the air-intake ducts were removed, air filters were also removed for cleaning and the engine had to be washed with water,” the report reads.
“As per the engineer’s report, plastic bags were used to cover the air-intake ducts during the engine wash to prevent the water from entering the air-intake ducts.
“The aircraft was ground run before it was delivered back to the owner on the 5th September 2008. It appears that the plastic bags were not removed prior to refitting of air filters.”
During the investigation, the engine was restarted, with the plastic material again in the air intake system. The engine operated successfully at low power setting. Once the engine power was increased, as during takeoff, the engine stalled within 38 seconds, it is stated in the report.
The report ends with a set of recommendations. These include recommendations that detailed additional training should be scheduled for all aircraft engineering staff, including assistants and cleaners, that specific checks should be done for the removal of any covers used during maintenance, and that special solid air filter covers, with clear markings, should be used during maintenance work on this type of aircraft.
The last maintenance work done on V5-BIG was performed by Westair Maintenance, which is probably Namibia’s best-known and largest aircraft maintenance company.
This incident was the first of its kind to occur in the 41-year history of the company, Westair director Peter Keil said on enquiry on Friday.
He said the company was working with aviation authorities on the issues addressed in the accident investigation report, and had already “instituted serious measures” to prevent a repeat of the same sort of mistake.
The Hochland Park crash was the third fatal incident involving a light aircraft shortly after takeoff from Eros Airport since October last year.
The official investigation of the two previous fatal accidents, which claimed a total of eight lives, attributed both those crashes to pilot error.