Island Air BN2 stuck in the mud

[pressed_on]

Good to see pilot o.k. and plane relatively unscathed.:ok:

From NZ Herald.

Witness held breath as plane crashed into harbour


A crowd gathers around the site of the plane crash near Tauranga today. Photo / Alan Gibson

Email this storyPrint this story 1:32PM Thursday December 28, 2006
By Hannah Henderson
A man who watched a light aircraft crash land on mudflats near Tauranga this morning said the pilot did an "amazing job" to bring the plane down and walk away unscathed.

A plane piloted by Paul Ensor of Island Air Charters crashed into Omokoroa harbour, north-west of Tauranga this morning.

Mr Ensor was not injured.

Mel Donovan was weeding on his son's property when he heard a plane coming in "spluttering and carrying on".

"It came virtually over the house, losing power. At first I thought it was a training exercise -- cutting motors and starting them again -- but then it continued and I realised it was in trouble."

The plane made it over the next ridge and Mr Donovan thought it was going to attempt a landing in the playground of a nearby school.

He then saw it come around a bluff, steeply banking before coming down in the harbour and digging in on one side.

Mr Donovan's wife immediately rang emergency services.

The couple were relieved to look through their telescope and see Mr Ensor get out of the plane.


"I think the pilot did an amazing job, just watching him bring it in like that, that it didn't go tail to nose and flip," Mr Donovan said.

"But he was very lucky, he no doubt saw the power lines not too far ahead of him, he did a great job.

"I was holding my breath for quite a while, I can tell you."

Senior Sergeant Stu Graham of Tauranga police said the matter would be referred to the Civil Aviation Authority

[flyingkiwi]

from the photo, it looks like a Great Barrier Airlines Islander, is this correct or is it on a lease to another company.

[kiwi_hockey_guy]

It is ZK-WNZ, ex Great Barrier, and also ex Wings-over-whales.....

[pakeha-boy]

yeah mate...good to see he,s okay........bloody good mud tracks for sure.....love the description of the witness......"well I was out in the garden weeding when this bloody thing came over the top and" ......

[kiwiblue]

Yet another light-twin with a "double-engine failure".

Makes ya wonder...

[Sqwark2000]

Yep,

3 mins from top of descent to the muddy runway, coughing and spluttering, a rare double engine failure.... it will be only be a matter of time before it comes out in the wash.... not just the plane either.

Herald report quoted a witness (or pilot) "that he tried to feather the engines to get them going again..." Brillant.

S2K

[kiwiblue]

I believe WNZ is equipped with tip-tanks also... they can take a wee while to transfer -but not that long. Reasonable aviation practice would dictate that only one engine at a time was transferred to/from the tips anyway -if indeed that has anything at all to do with it.

But even with the tips, a simpler fuel-system is harder to imagine... one tank, one engine. As long as the fuel's there, they'll keep turning & burning.

[Hanz Blix]

I read in the paper that a witness said the engine was surging and coughing..........hmmmmmm double engine failure on a gin clear day...coughing ect ect sorry I know I shouldn't say this but one should wonder just how much gas was on board:ugh:

[haughtney1]

I'm not sitting on the fence......

Cause, fuel starvation.....either he ran out, ran dry, or turned them off:ok:

[remoak]

Yeah they don't run very well on air, do they...

Noticed on the news tonight that the CAA pulled his licence whilst congratulating him on the forced landing... so maybe they smell fumes as well!

[slamer.]

Crash pilot & company grounded

http://media.apn.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/ACFYKAlQayRC.jpg
Paul Ensor's plane came down on mudflats.

A pilot who made an emergency landing in Tauranga Harbour has been banned from flying amid claims he carried out unauthorised maintenance before both engines failed.
The Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the pilot's licence of Paul Ensor and the air operating certificate of his company, Mt Maunganui-based Island Air Charters.
It is the third time his company's air operating certificate has been suspended since July. The latest suspension is for 10 working days, pending an investigation.
It emerged yesterday that the plane Mr Ensor put down on mudflats on Thursday had made two earlier precautionary landings, although on those occasions Mr Ensor was not the pilot.
Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said the air operator's certificate was suspended after two senior executives, including the chief executive, resigned on Thursday, and because of the company's history.
"There were also allegations that Mr Ensor had been carrying out unauthorised maintenance of the aircraft," he said.

Mr Ensor did not return calls from the Weekend Herald yesterday.
But when asked on Thursday if he had previous problems with the Britten-Norman Islander, he said no and that both engines had been replaced a year ago.
The plane was winched off the mudflats by a five-tonne Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter yesterday and will be taken to Hamilton for inspection.

[Chimbu chuckles]

It has been 20 years since I flew a tip tanked Islander but my memory of the system was that fuel was not transfered it was simply a matter of tank selection.

Did this Islander have a different system?

[kiwiblue]

ChimbuChuckles: was not my intention to suggest that this airframe was in any way different to any other tip-tanked Islander. I certainly have no reason to believe it was in any way different. Apologies if that is the impression I gave.

Where I used the word "transfer" I was referring to the valve(s) "transferring" the fuel-feed from the mains to the tips, or vice versa, rather than suggesting that the fuel transferred from the tips to the mains for engine-feed.

[the maori mobster]

i don't think he (Paul) needs this at the busiest time of the year!!!!!

good on ya boy!!!!!! you dah man!!!!!!

[V1OOPS]

If I recall correctly, changing tanks in a typical tip-tanked Islander involved switching on an electrically driven Meccano-like arrangement of chain, cogs and a valve outboard in each wing. I can't recall how it indicated a successful conclusion, apart from the engine continuing to run (I think there was there a pair of yellow lights), but after a bit of whirring you could breath again.

[ContactMeNow]

More interestinf news on the matter

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3914588a11.html


A pilot forced to make a crash landing when the engines failed has been banned from flying amid revelations he was already facing prosecution for allegedly carrying out uncertified maintenance.


The Civil Aviation Authority has also suspended the operating licence of Island Air Charters after a nine- seat aircraft flown by company owner Paul Ensor landed on mudflats near Tauranga on Thursday. Mr Ensor and the company have been grounded for 10 working days.
The same plane had made "precautionary" landings on December 22 and Boxing Day after developing electrical problems, a CAA spokesman said. One of the landings was made after smoke appeared in the plane's cockpit.
The company's licence had already been suspended on two other occasions this year, with an investigation showing Mr Ensor might have done unauthorised maintenance on the firm's aircraft, a CAA spokesman said. "There is prosecution pending from this investigation."
Mr Ensor was a qualified pilot but was not licensed to carry out maintenance, the spokesman said.
Both the chief executive and maintenance controller of Island Air Charter resigned within hours of Thursday's crash. Mr Ensor told The Dominion Post he was "bummed out but not wiped out" and would not comment further.
As well as the two-engined Britten-Norman Islander that crashed, Island Air operates two single-engined Cessnas on scenic flights around the North Island.
A message on the company's website says its pilots "have over 25 years combined experience and an uncompromising stance on safety".
Firemen attached drums to the damaged plane to keep it afloat and it was then lifted from the mudflats by helicopter and taken to Hamilton, where it will be examined.
The CAA spokesman said Island Air's operating licence was suspended in July after the company was slow in following recommendations made after a routine audit.
The licence was reinstated a day later, after the company quickly responded to CAA concerns. But the CAA suspended Island Air's licence in November amid concerns unauthorised maintenance had been performed. Island Air responded by appointing a new chief executive and a maintenance controller and its operating licence was reinstated, the CAA spokesman said.
The chief executive contacted the CAA on Thursday to say he was resigning from the company and had been unable to "operate effectively" in his job, the spokesman said.
The revelation that the CAA had investigated Island Air before the crash comes at the end of a difficult year for the agency. A scathing coroner's report into the 2003 Air Adventures crash near Christchurch, which killed the pilot and seven passengers, called for better safety monitoring and stronger enforcement of rules by CAA.
HISTORY OF INCIDENTS
July 6, 2006: Civil Aviation Authority suspends Island Air's air operating certificate after the company fails to follow orders made after a routine audit earlier in the year.
July 7: The licence is reinstated after the company's "rapid" response to CAA concerns.
November 7: CAA again suspends Island Air's licence, this time because of maintenance problems. The company appoints a maintenance controller and chief executive and the licence is returned.
December 22: A Britten-Norman Islander operated by Island Air makes a forced landing at Waihi Beach because of electrical problems.
December 26: The same aircraft makes a second "precautionary" landing at Great Barrier Island, after again suffering electrical problems. December 28: The plane makes a crash landing in mudflats near Tauranga and CAA suspends the company's licence and that of owner Paul Ensor.

[remoak]

good on ya boy!!!!!! you dah man!!!!!!

More like "You da muppet!!!!!!"

[always inverted]

surely he is a muppet ???
Heard and UNCONFIRMED that he was doing some sort of dodgey maintinence out of hamilton or something. Flying over there in the evening and so on... He was the chief cook and bottle washer for the outfit wasnt he. It's unfortunate that the plane landed in the mud but very lucky that there were no public injuries or worse in the accident, wonder what caa will do to him for this.
Looks like there was a trend starting over the preceeding weeks regarding the "precautionary landings" etc...:uhoh: