TAM F-100 loses door after takeoff

[broadreach]

From local news reports:

A TAM F-100 lost its forward port side door shortly after takeoff from CGH en route to GIG/SSA this afternoon. The aircraft departed CGH at 13:47LT and landed without further incident at 14:04LT. 97 pax on board, most of whom were accomodated on a subsequent flight, three or four having decided not to proceed. The door hit a supermarket marquise. No injuries on board or ground.

TAM still operates 22 F-100s (according to the papers, haven't checked). Once the mainstay of their fleet, they are now relegated to the thinner routes, main routes being taken over by A-319/20/21s.
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Speculating a bit, with Varig for all intents and purposes out of the way, TAM and Gol are under tremendous pressure to fill the demand gap while waiting for new aircraft. Wonder how this is affecting maintenance generally.

[Loose rivets]

If I remember my course notes from 1965, the 1-11 had g-locks to stop the door rising and un-hooking from its latches. Does the F100 have a similar mechanism?

[Nubboy]

On our F100's we had two different types of door.
I seem to recall that if an integral airstair was fitted, then the door was held by bolts, but if not then it was a plug type door. Also something about it was a derivative of the older F28, and a locating bar was needed to help the door line up properley for latching. Either way door unsafe indicators were fitted if the pins weren't fully home.
Or maybe I've forgotten it all already. Either way a scary experience.:eek:

[BEagle]

Surely the only F-100 with doors is a Ford pick-up truck?

In proper F-100s, there were no passengers, the pilot climbed up a ladder and got in through the roof.....

For youngsters or boring people-tube drivers, I mean the mighty F-100 Super Sabre, of course!

[alexss]

From local news reports:

Speculating a bit, with Varig for all intents and purposes out of the way, TAM and Gol are under tremendous pressure to fill the demand gap while waiting for new aircraft. Wonder how this is affecting maintenance generally.

TAM and its predecessor airlines have had a number of incidents with F100s, most recently two separate emergency landings on 30 August 2002 (see http://aviation-safety.net/database/operator/airline.php?var=5196)

[broadreach]

Apparently the door came off at around 6,000 ft (±3500agl), hitting port leading edge and passing under the wing. Yes it has integrated stairs; news photo shows it on supermarket roof, looking fairly intact. Deployed chute would have slowed descent.

Poster on a local aviation forum says he has it on good info that the flight attendant sitting next to the door admitted to checking the handle/switch, at which point the door blew open.

And yes, TAM have had quite a few problems with the F-100 over the years. Port gear torn off in a heavy landing at SDU, an uncommanded starboard reverser deployment on takeoff that caused a fatal crash at CGH, two separate wheels up landings on the same day and - no fault of the aircraft - a bomb that blew a ten-foot hole in the port side aft.

[Grunf]

here's the pic:

http://odiadigital.terra.com.br/flip.php#

If you check that link it seems the door fell off at 9300 m (?!). it seems journalist are the same, everywhere :-(

[mdjtljamj]

here's the pic:

http://odiadigital.terra.com.br/flip.php#

If you check that link it seems the door fell off at 9300 m (?!). it seems journalist are the same, everywhere :-(

For a rough translation on the graphic (which they are being dramatic no doubt), the graphic states in Portugese that the door fell off at 2,000m, where had it gone 4 minutes longer, it would have been at 5,000m and a dramatic decompression would have occured with oxygen masks dropping, had it been at 9,300m it would been a serious tragedy and would have required a quick descent to equalize the pressure. My Portugese is rusty, but this is pretty much what is says....

[rvsm compliant]

We've done a fokker mod on our a/c and third party a/c which involves an electricaly actuated pin that locates into the airframe at the top of the integral stairway door.This pin locates into the airframe when door closes and only retracts when locking handle is put to lock position.Perhaps mod has'nt been done ( believe it's not mandatory but now it might be)this pin should hold door in, if handle is left in unlocked position.

[Grunf]

OK, my bad:\

[Loose rivets]

I doubt the pins would be there to ‘hold the door in', the vast load on the retaining latches is spread over the entire vertical sides. Probably the pin is the equivalent of BAC's g-lock. Any takers?

[Nubboy]

rvsm has jogged my memory.

We had a few cases when this the cabin crew couldn't move the door handle to the locked position due to this big pin not retracting.

As I said earlier this was a mod due to the door design being similar to the older F28. With the longer fuselage on the F100, some aircraft were prone to the main latches not lining up accurately. This pin was designed to hold everything square, and then retract when the door was properley latched.

I certainly wouldn't have liked to go flying, either pressurised or unpressurised, with just that pin holding everything tight.

Fond memorieds of theF100. A real hooligans machine.

[captphil]

Hey guys you must be with KLM or ex Air UK
So was i on the F50

Bet you know me. Hope all is well now at the Ok Coral

Keep in touch:)

[F4F]

anybody with the reg of the aircraft involved?

Cheers :)

[Baron rouge]

This problem with the door was recurrent on the Fokker 100.
Flying for TAT, we had one door opening at lift-off from ORY, the crew managed to land back with the door still attached, and that door was repaired and refitted to the A/C.
The problem was that the cabin crew opened the door when checking it during the T/O roll.
Only the A/C with integrated stairs were prone to this defect.

[Baron rouge]

Surely the only F-100 with doors is a Ford pick-up truck?
In proper F-100s, there were no passengers, the pilot climbed up a ladder and got in through the roof.....
For youngsters or boring people-tube drivers, I mean the mighty F-100 Super Sabre, of course!

AHHH, That F100 D, my first fighter A/C, still flying that in France in 1975:)

[ex jump pilot]

Was on a F100 of TAM on 2nd Aug from CGB to CGR (but didn't write down the reg - sorry). The in flight mag says 22 F100s in the fleet. Not all flights (10 sectors in all over 6 days) were on time resulting in impressive turn around and taxiing to the gate speeds; got heartily fed up with toasted cheese and ham sandwiches or French toast for breakfast but overall was impressed with TAM. Real red carpet rolled out at every arrival and Captain greets you by the mat. Safety briefing is a very smart animation video (think Wallace and Grommet type animation).
Missing Brazil already.