Partinavia hit Dundee Hill???

[hemel]

Does anybody have information regarding an accident in the late 80's or early 90's when a Partinavia twin clipped the summit a a hill west of Dundee at night whilst doing a NDB into the city's Riverside Airport??? I think the stricken a/c limped across to RAF Leuchars to land later.

[much2much]

knew the pilot ;try AAIB,reports

[ALTSEL]

So did I, very well. What was the date then????

[jabberwok]

My brain cells aren't what they used to be but I seem to recall that a similar incident had occurred at Dundee within a few days of the Partenavia hitting the hill. I think both were in the same Bulletin..

[hemel]

Yes a German reg Beech I think, fatal. can anybody offer further info or year the Partinavia kissed the summit?

[BOAC]

T'was in 'my time' at Dundee, and the second (fatal) was a Cessna 310, which caused a bit of a personal stir since I was away in a 310 from DND that night. Cannot fix the year but it was between 83 and 87 and I think probably 84/5. Both flew the NDB teardrop from the beacon over the Perth hills and descended below procedure height too early, in or after the inbound turn, 'collecting' the hard stuff. I recall the Partenavia was 'lucky' and wiped the gear.

[hemel]

BRAL that would be great if you could peg the Partenavia date as the AAIB bulletins do not go back that far without me requesting a specific date/time/place/type. The internet archieve only goes to 1995. Thanks

[treadigraph]

Think I've just recently read the report for the 310 in an old Pilot - I'll see if I can find it. From memory the pilot survived but a pax didn't?

The P-68 must be in a near neighbour issue... See if I can find that too.

[BOAC]

There were, if I recall correctly, some 'questions' over the exact status of the 'private flights' from (I think) Gloucester to DND. Was it a hockey thing?

[hemel]

It is the P68 report I really want to get sight off, I had an idea it departed Cov - Dundee and the pax were golfers.

[much2much]

Tried AAIB my self on line and to contact them !the date! m not sure; does any one know the departure point,might be able to put people in places of work,winter84/5seems to fit(;only summise.i will keep looking and asking.)
HEMEL sorry crossed in typing .from cov was aircraft ema based?mind so do some of the early 80 s winter81/2or 82/3,not much help sorry,

[PPRuNe Radar]

Sometime in the early 80's but can't be more specific :(

The Cessna was Swiss registered and carrying a curling team.

For many years the charred outline of the Cessna was visible on the hill top.

[Warmtoast]

Sometime in the early 80's but can't be more specific

13th November 1983

As reported at the time:

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Image6-1.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Image4-3.jpg

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r231/thawes/Image5-3.jpg

[PPRuNe Radar]

Thanks for that ... it seems the Cessna was 'G' registered after all.

I'm sure your info will however help narrow down the time frame for the Partenavia prang as well :ok:

[treadigraph]

Here's the P-68 report from Jan '84 Pilot...

Struck high ground during instrument approach

A Partenavia P68B was on a charter flight from Manchester to Dundee. An aftercast of the weather showed that there was broken stratus at 400 feet over Dundee with further layers from 1,000 feet up to 25,000 feet. The surface wind was 120°/15 knots and visibility below cloud was 3,000 metres. The pilot approached Dundee from the southeast at FL45 on a VFR flight plan, using RAF Leuchars lower airspace radar service. Leuchars cleared the aircraft to FL40 as it approached Dundee. Another aircraft en route from Glasgow to Dundee was seven minutes ahead of the Partenavia, and
reported over the Dundee NDB. The pilot of this aircraft had sight of the runway from 3,000 feet and carried out a visual descent.

After landing, the pilot reported scattered stratus at 600 feet with a main cloud base of 1,000 feet over Dundee. According to the evidence of the Dundee controller, shortly after the aircraft ahead had begun its visual descent the Partenavia was cleared to 3,000 feet and later for an NOB
approach, the pilot confirming that he had copied the weather details transmitted by the earlier aircraft. Some minutes later he reported "beacon outbound'' at an altitude that cannot be verified: however, he believes he crossed the beacon at 4,000 feet.

The NDB approach at Dundee specifies an outbound track of 262° (M) for 5 nm, followed by a right turn to intercept the inbound heading of 102° (M) at 2,240 feet QNH. Descent inbound is to 1,543 feet at the fan marker (outer marker), to 983 feet at the NDB and thence to decision height. The pilot of the Partenavia called "base turn complete", but four minutes after leaving the NDB outbound he reported to Dundee that he was overshooting and diverting to RAF Leuchars. The tape record of the telephone link between Dundee and RAF Leuchars shows that the Dundee controller reported that the pilot had said he seemed to have struck the ground at 1,100 feet and had lost a wheel. The controller relayed to Leuchars that the aircraft was maintaining 1,300 feet but was unable to climb. Two minutes later the aircraft was handed over to Leuchars Radar, to whom the pilot reported that he was at 1,000 feet, that he had elevator control problems and that the aircraft was persistently attempting to turn to the right. The pilot was passed directions for a wide right-hand pattern, during which he managed to climb to 2,000 feet before executing a precision radar approach at RAF Leuchars. The aircraft landed without further damage to its remaining two wheels and turned gently to the right, settling on the grass beside the runway on its left main wheel, tail and right wingtip.

The aircraft's right main wheel and undercarriage leg were found on the northern shoulder of a hill 994 feet high, 200 metres south of the inbound approach track and 8.3 nm from touchdown. Ground marks showed that all three wheels had run through the heather for 93 feet along the 950 foot contour before the right leg was torn off by rising ground. The magnetic track of the ground marks was 069°.

The pilot's recollection of the time before the impact is unclear. He stated that the horizontal situation indicator was unserviceable in the heading mode and that he was flying the aircraft on the directional gyro. He described flying an NDB approach exactly according to the approach plate, setting twenty inches manifold pressure and fifteen degrees of flap over the NDB, descending outbound for two minutes fifteen seconds, allowing for tailwind and ten degrees starboard drift, before turning right at the standard rate at 2,200 feet. He described how, when he had completed the base turn and established the aircraft on the inbound track, he began a further descent to 1,550 feet again using twenty inches of manifold pressure, and in less than one-minute from commencing descent inbound he felt an impact with the ground. He stated that his No.1 altimeter was reading 1,600 feet at the time, but he could not recall the reading on the No.2 altimeter.

After the impact it was apparent to him that he had lost elevator control. He reestablished pitch control using power and trim, and then found that although he needed right rudder to maintain directional control the aircraft wanted to turn to the right, and was very reluctant to turn left. Despite these serious control problems he still succeeded in carrying out a radar approach (for the most part in IVIC), and landed the aircraft safely.
Inspection of the aircraft revealed that when the right undercarriage leg was torn off its inboard section had torn downwards from its inboard mounting, severing the stabilator down cable and both rudder trim cables and displacing the right rudder cable from its pulley. Before separating, the rudder trim cables had pulled the tab to full right deflection. The leg had impacted heavily on the right stabilator, puncturing the underskin and rupturing the main attachment frame for the stabilator pivot tube.

Both altimeters were found set on 1001 mbs, which was the Dundee QNH at the time of the accident. Both were removed from the aircraft and tested. The No.2 altimeter was found to have a small amount of stiction, causing it to lag by up to forty feet in descent; but the No.1 altimeter was fully serviceable, with a maximum error of twenty feet in the range of 0-5,000 feet. The aircraft pitot/static system was tested and found to be free of defects. Further checks showed the vertical speed indicator, directional gyro and ADF equipment to be operating within limits, and no significant errors were found during an ADF loop swing.

The pilot, aged 35, held a CPL and had 2,800 hours, including 24 on type.

And the 310 from June '84...

Another Dundee let-down accident

The pilot of a Cessna 310 had originally planned to fly from Gatwick to Aberdeen. An hour before take-off the destination was changed to Dundee, because due to industrial action by certain ATC personnel at Aberdeen no aircraft could be accepted there without a previously booked landing time, and no booking was available. When the pilot changed frequency from RAF Leuchars radar advisory service to Dundee he was given the Dundee weather which gave a surface wind of 100°/6 knots, visibility fifteen kilometres, four oktas stratocu at 1,000 feet, eight oktas stratocu at 2,000 feet. Shortly afterwards he reported difficulty in receiving the Dundee NDB and asked for confirmation of the frequency.

At the pilot's notified estimate for Dundee, the approach controller at Leuchars saw the aircraft on radar some ten to twelve miles south-west of Dundee, tracking north-west. It was given a heading of 090° to bring it overhead the Dundee beacon. The pilot then reported that he had a good ADF bearing on Dundee but was receiving no identification signal. At this time the coding unit of the Dundee NDB was unserviceable, and a Notam was in force to this effect. The pilot reported over the beacon and carried out a procedure turn in the overhead to establish the outbound track of 262°. He reported "overhead outbound''. The Dundee controller expected to receive a "base turn complete" call 31/2 minutes later: when he did not he waited for what he described as a reasonable interval and then called the aircraft to ask if the base turn was complete. The pilot replied that he was "half-way round", and within one minute of this transmission further reported "base turn complete". This last call was of low received signal strength, as if the aircraft was either at a considerable range or was shielded by high ground. The controller, thinking that the aircraft had possibly gone too far outbound, made a further call but received no reply.

The pilot afterwards described how he saw a glow through the clouds from the lights of Dundee when close to the overhead. He then flew outbound for 21/2 minutes at 120 mph, descending to the height on the approach plate (2,240 feet for the base turn. On completing the base turn he could not obtain a usable bearing from the ADF needle, which was hunting through +20°; but he could see ahead of the aircraft a line of lights which he thought were reflecting on water, He expected to be close to the Tay Estuary, and his impression of water reinforced this expectation. In fact the inbound track on completion of the base turn lies 6 nm north of the River Tay. He descended to 800 feet on the QFE to identify the lights, with the intention of then remaining in sight of the ground. After flying over the lights he had no further visual contact, and accordingly commenced a climb. Soon afterwards the aircraft struck high ground and caught fire.

It had crashed at 860 ft amsl on the northwest facing flank of a hill 8.3 nm west of the threshold of runway 10, almost directly beneath the extended centreline and some 200 metres from the impact point of a Partenavia P68B which had struck the same hill two months earlier whilst carrying out an NDB approach to Dundee. (See January `Safety Matters'.)

Ground marks revealed that the aircraft had hit the hill obliquely whilst on a heading of 107°, in a level pitch attitude and with eighteen degrees of right bank. The right wing-tip and right mainwheel had struck the ground almost simultaneously, followed by the right engine; the aircraft had then yawed violently to the right. The initial impact had been fairly flat and had been followed by two further impacts as the aircraft had continued along the slope and up the hill, coming to rest sixty metres from the point of initial impact. Propeller marks showed that both engines had been developing power and that the aircraft's speed on impact had been between 98 and 109 knots. The cabin had been distorted during the impact sequence, causing all windows to either pop out or disintegrate. In addition, t he cabin door had been forced out of its aperture. Fire appeared to have started after the aircraft had come to rest, and to have burned fiercely for some time until the cabin was completely destroyed. Despite the fire damage, it was ascertained that both aircraft altimeters had been set on 1026 mbs.

A rescue helicopter took off from RAF Leuchars to search for the aircraft, but the cloudbase had lowered to 400 feet, the hills to the west of Dundee were covered in cloud, and the search could not be continued. Mountain rescue searched throughout the night but were also hindered by hill fog, and it was not until the next day that the survivors were found by a searchand-rescue dog team.

The aircraft was fitted with shoulder restraint harnesses for the front seat occupants-, the pilot and the front right rear seat passenger had only their lapstraps fastened, and both had suffered head injuries as well as severe injuries to their lower limbs. However they were able to drag themselves out of the aircraft through the door aperture. The passenger seated behind the pilot had not fastened his lap strap and had been thrown clear, probably on the second impact. The rear seat passenger has no recollection of how he escaped from the aircraft, but recalls finding his clothes on fire. The remaining two passengers, on the right side, had been unable to escape from the aircraft, and died.

After the accident the Dundee NDB and its associated fan marker were flight-checked. Bearing information and radiated field strength from the NDB were found to be within correct tolerances, and no spurious fan marker radiation was detected.

As a result of the two recent accidents in the same location the CAA have been invited to review the instrument procedures at Dundee and to consider whether any changes or special warnings are necessary.

The pilot, aged 33, held an SCPL with an expired instrument rating, and had 2,300 hours of which sixty were on type.

[blue up]

I was involved in repairing a Partenavia that went gardening in a forest near Redhill in the region of 20 years ago. Pine tree logs right back to the main spar, spinner crushed on one side, no pitot head and (IIRC) the left main gear leg off at the root. Never bothered to find out the story. It must've carried on since we collected it on a trailer from what I recall as being Redhill. Surely not the same story but it seems to have a lot of similarities.


Bitch of a job to replace the teleflex cables for the fuel cock since it went behind the engine bearer. Start of my engineering career.

[scrivenger]

A/C involved was GOCAL s/n 182 operated by Grosvenor Aviation at EGCC. Flight was commercial 1 POB EGCC/EGPN. A/c was brought back to MAN, repaired and put back in the air to work. Great workhorse.

treadigraph - thks for the report , I couldn't find it anywhere

hemel - out of curiosity what's your interest? pm me if you wish

[ZeBedie]

Didn't a Partenavia do an IMC touch and go in a field on the approach to Shoreham as well? Late 70's?

[Kiltie]

There is a story that a Loganair Twin Otter dragged its wheels through the heather at Abriachan on the inbound track to the old NDB at Inverness in the 80s. The NDB was located on the final approach of 06 in the town's Cameron Barracks with Abriachan hill some miles to the south west.

Interestingly from the report above, it would seem up to the early 80s few people gave a damn about wearing a seatbelt, and there are many instances of shoulder harnesses being discarded if you read the AAIB archive reports of the 1970s.