Aircraft hits taxi during takeoff

[4HolerPoler]

Only in Africa. This just in:

Blantyre - One person was killed on Saturday after a plane carrying Malawi's second vice president overshot the runway while taking off from a small air field on Saturday and smashed into a minibus, an official said.

Chakufwa Chihana and his wife were aboard the Air Malawi eight-seater Cessna when it had "engine problems" and overran the runway at the northern airport of Mzuzu near a densely populated quarter, Rodney Simwaka told AFP. He said the plane crashed into the vehicle as it was travelling on a busy road close to the runway, about 100m from the airport perimeter. Simwaka identified the dead person as a lecturer from Mzuzu university, who died instantly, adding: "Many other people travelling in the minibus sustained injuries."

Second vice-president Chihana, leader of Aford party with a strong base in the north, told AFP by phone that he suffered bodily pains but "otherwise I am fine". He said if the plane had not crashed into a minibus the accident could have been worse as it could have hit homes in the nearby township. Chihana said his wife Christina sustained jaw injuries and a security officer had neck injuries. Only small aircraft land at the run-down Mzuzu airport, which is not fenced and does not have landing lights.

[126,7]

Only small aircraft land at the run-down Mzuzu airport, which is not fenced


Maybe they should fix the airport up a little and then they could take bigger aircraft. Maybe they should also maintain the smaller aircraft better.......

I remember when we flew to Monkey Bay once and the grass on the runway was nearly waist high. Goats and goat herders all over the place. Thank goodnes for GPS and the windsock that stuck out above the grass, without which we would've never found the place.

[OldNo.7]

Wasn't aware Air Malawi had an 8 seater cessna... was it the Grand van?

[Flying Bean]

SKYTOPS

Is'nt this one of your regular haunts?
Whats the gen??
Was it the Caravan?

Good Flying for next season
FB

[V1 Rotate]

I thought the Caravan buffs always insist that the donkey is so reliable it will never stop ??

[Cardinal Puff]

Ah reckons they does it to instill a warm feeling in the mudbox when they're over the Sudan or DRC and 100nm or more from anything that even remotely resembles a road or a village.

If it wuz me they'd have to use crowbars to break my grip on the bar at the Nairobi Hilton.

I'se too young and beautiful to die.....

[planecrazi]

I remember a few years ago (1994) when a Cessna Caravan hit a train in Sudan on take off. The funny thing was the train only came past once a year and it got hit by a Caravan.

I don't believe there were any serious injuries, however I did see the aircraft in our hanger in Nairobi, shortly after the accident, being rebuilt.

The pilot supossedly did a rejected take-off towards the train and swerved into it sideways.

"Only in Africa"...

[soggyboxers]

Caravan buffs may insist that the donkey never stops, but there was the Pan African one which went in the swamp just to the south of the runway in old Warri Airstrip (Nigeria) a few years ago. Luckily nobody was hurt and the pilot was rescued from his aircraft by an ACN Twin Squirrel when it was surrounded by a mob of angry villagers. A lot of the remains of the aircraft were stripped by villagers but some of it remains there still.

[Solid Rust Twotter]

Didn't Rossair or Solenta have an engine out on a 'Van in West Africa a few years back? Seem to recall they put it down OK and walked away. It was flown out later if I remember correctly.

[Check 6]

Possibly it was a Cessna 207A, which had eight seats starting on the 1979 models.

;)

[skytops]

Air Malawi's grand van, 7Q-YKU.

Looks like mechanical failure at this stage, and looks like an interersting one....ie of interest to van owners.

Sadly another passenger from the minivan died later in hospital.

ATRs and HS-748s often fly into Mzuzu, and it is, more-or-less, fenced.

With regards to the incident, the pilot lost control less than 150 m from the start of his take-off roll. He then travelled 50 m to the right of the runway, at approximately a 60 degree angle from the runway direction !? He had no directional control whatsoever.

[clipboard]

:( If one loses directional control of an airplane accelerating down the runway in less than 150 meters of the start, surely the right thing to do would be to abandon the take off roll???

Depending on the weight of the aircraft for the take off, I will bet that the "Van" had not got to 60 knots yet, which means that should the pilot have lost directional control, he could have "reversed" and braked real hard to slow or stop the airplane.

One can only but wonder why he continued?

What also puzzles me is the fact that he lost directional control to the right of the centreline. If it was mechanical failure, as "Skytops" mentioned, I would be keen to know from the experts, what sort of mechanical failure would cause an airplane to lose directional control to the right, when it is the tendency of the airplane to yaw to the left!

Whaddaya fellas say?

I have personally had an experience where the right brake on a "Van" I flew locked on take off, which resulted in the aircraft "drawing" to the right, but it was not a problem in stopping the aircraft or maintaining directional control. The engineer that came to inspect the problem advised that the right hand master cylinder did not fully release due to a worn out spring in the master cylinder, which kept pressure on the brake. Apparently it just got worse as the heat built up on the brake, resulting in binding.

[OldNo.7]

What a shame. Always looked like it was in good running order, a lot cleaner than ours! Have spent many a time jostling for levels with that machine. How's the pilot?

[skytops]

The pilot is fine, at least physically. Only one passenger required hospitalisation with multiple jaw fractures, who incidentally was the 2nd vice-president's wife. She was picked up four hours later and flown to Lilongwe in one of the Malawi Air Wing's Dorniers.

The caravan was initially seen to veer left, then right, then left again and then finally right. Pilot has stated that he simply could not control her. Some passengers have said that they think they felt very strange vibrations as soon as the aircraft started rolling. There has been a suggestion that the pilot was too slow to initiate the abort.....but fellas....this is pure speculation.

I arrived at Mzuzu a few hours after the incident. Coincidentally the director of DCA was in Mzuzu at the time and I had a digital camera, so I was asked to photograph the wreck. At the time the director asked me the possible result of three scenarios: non-removal of control lock, non-disengagement of rudder lock and early rotation. However there was no evidence that any of these events occured. The nose-wheel disconnected completely not far from the point that the aircraft departed the runway.

Tragic that people died, but obviously it could have been worse.

[Flying Bean]

HI SKYTOPS

Thanks for that additional information. As you say this is going to be very interesting for us Caravan Owners. I am still in London at the moment and dont have access to the local info. Can you enlarge a bit.
What is Mzuzu's total length now?
Did the aircraft veer off over the side perimeter fence or at the end of the runway?
What was the approx distance from rolling to impact?
When you say the nose wheel 'disconnected' do you mean collapsed or literally took off in a different direction?

Clipboard.
Yes we had an identical incident. Binding on take off, slight yaw but no major control problems. Same cause.

[Nineiron]

A hot brake might have caused a deflating main tire which would have aggravated the situation.

[skytops]

Flying Bean,

Mzuzu runway length 1200 m, at elevation 4050'. Aircraft veered to right of runway, far from the end of the runway. Impact with minivan, followed almost immediately by a big ditch (resting place) on other side of the road approx 350 m from start of take off roll. Nose oleo apparently didn't collapse. Cause of nose-gear breakage perplexing.

Despite strong possibility of mechanical failure, failures by the pilot also seem very likely. Sorry can't comment further at this stage.

[Kernel]

Hi folks

Our company is now operating the replacement van for Air Malawi. I arrived back this morning after ferrying the van up and flying the schedule for a few days.

It is indeed tragic. Had a good look at the pranged one and in my (humble) opinion the plane is a right off. Nose wheel ripped off, cuts on both sides, engine smashed and the left wing sitting at a variety of strange angles. Speaking to the rescue services they also backed up the statement that the aircraft swung 90 degrees on the takeoff roll and landed up in the road running perpindicular to the runway. The skidmarks are about halfway up the runway from where the plane veered right. Nobody was sure exactly what caused the loss in directional control.

Mzuzu runway is no problem for the 208 and so I suppose we will just have to wait and see what comes out of the report.

In the meantime, fly safe all.

[togabutton]

About 7 years back I was flying a van out of Virginia, Durban (tar runway) when the shimmy dampener abruptly failed and the aircraft was instantly directionally uncontrolable. This occured at about 55 knots and the airplane felt like a bucking bronco. I immediately applied reverse and braking and stopped on the runway. This all happened very quickly and even the tower controller radioed to enquire if all was well the second it happened. I taxied in to maintenance who simply replaced the shimmy and all was well. Perhaps something similar happened and the pilot did not react appropriately for whatever reason?

Anyhow, sad to hear about it. The van remains a great aircraft in my book.

[Flying Bean]

Have some info from my man on the ground in Malawi.

I got this some time ago, but did not want to post all the information as some of it was a bit speculative and controversial.
However I was in Chileka last week and riding into Blantyre my TAXI DRIVER gave me the full run down on:-

1. The drunk state of the pilot
2. The condition of the nosewheel
3. The status of the airframe and whether it was a write off or not!!!

Always the case in Africa, and elsewhere to think about it, if you want to know whats going on – ask the local cab driver!!

The Air Malawi Caravan pilot is now being investigated for being
unfit to fly. A number of people are willing to testify that
he was drinking at a nightclub in Mzuzu until at least as late as 0400 in the morning, and didn't get back to his hotel until 0600 prior to a 0700 departure from Mzuzu. The passenger in the right hand seat was a priest from Karonga who just happens to be an ex-airforce pilot!! He wants to testify that the pilot was unfit to fly (drunk?) to the extent that he couldn't even taxi straight and didn't perform a preflight check. Police took a blood sample from the pilot which has been sent to Joburg for analysis. The pilot maintains that he was in bed by 10 pm the previous night. Apparently the pilot is rated as captain on Air Malawi's Boeing and ATR as well as the Caravan.
>
>After the pilot started rolling he initially went off the runway
to the left - the left main wheel and the nose wheel both went onto the grass. The nose wheel was seen to be bouncing. There were bushes on the side of the runway that it bounced through. The aircraft then veered to the right, and left the runway at a nearly 90 degree angle 300 m from the start of the take-off roll. Note: figures and details here are different to what I was initially told and quoted on PPRuNe.
>
>A number of passengers on the aircraft claim that power was
increased at about the point that the aircraft left the runway to the right, and was only cut when the aircraft hit the minivan. In the pilot's statement to aircraft accident investigators he states that the rudder peddals AND BRAKES were not responding. Amazingly the pilot did not indicate when or if he pulled the power!?
>

However it appears the of a failure of the front wheel fork may be a possibity and is also being checked out. Whether this would be a co incidental failure or due to the "4 x 4" path of the the take off run remains to be seen!!