RJ crash in Kigali? [Archive]

flyboy2

12th Nov 2009, 18:12

2009-11-12 19:35

Kigali - At least one person was killed and several were injured on Thursday when a plane operated by RwandAir crashed on takeoff at Kigali's airport, officials said.
"I know that one person was killed and several hurt," Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo told AFP.

She said the flight, that was heading for Entebbe in Uganda, developed a technical problem when it had almost left the ground. The pilot aborted the take-off but ran into the airport's VIP lounge.

An official at the airport also said the plane had developed an engine problem immediately after taking off.

"There were 10 passengers on board, including a baby and there were five crew members. They have all been taken to Roi Faycal hospital and their situation is stable," Ignatius Kabagambe, director general at the information ministry told AFP.

RwandAir had no immediate comment.

- AFP
Source:
Rwanda plane crash: 1 dead: News24: Africa: News (http://www.news24.com/Content/Africa/News/965/15eb55d6c72345f2828de765f3f57aef/12-11-2009-07-35/Rwanda_plane_crash_1_dead)

RWEDAREYET

12th Nov 2009, 18:20

Anymore info would be great.....thanks.

skytango1

13th Nov 2009, 01:43

Parking plane crashes into VIP lounge, killing passengerNovember 13, 2009 - 12:15PM

Rwandan officials look at a Jetlink plane that crashed into the VIP lounge at the Kigali airport. Photo: Reuters

A Rwandair passenger plane bound for Uganda crashed into the airport VIP lounge in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, yesterday and killed one passenger, officials said.

Richard Masozera, director general of Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority, told reporters the pilot of the 50-seat jet reported a problem two minutes into the flight from Kigali and asked to land again.

"He landed safely on the runway and was guided by the marshals into the parking area," Masozera said.

"For some unexplained reason, the plane, from the parking spot, took off again at full power and ... took a right turn, unexplained, into the technical building," he said.

Information Minister Louise Mushikiwabo said the plane, reportedly a Bombadier CRJ-100, had hit the VIP lounge, which is inside the technical building.

Masozera said emergency services responded within two minutes of the crash, but one passenger later died of their injuries.

Jack Elk, acting chief executive of Rwandair, said the airline's best guess was that the plane "auto-accelerated".

"The captain could not control it. The plane did not get airborne again, it taxied into the building," Elk said, adding that the aircraft's black boxes would be studied by experts.

"The captain was taken to the hospital with a broken leg. He has not been able to give us any information so far," Elk said.

Its sad that happened we pray for the lost souls and God help all that survived.From Reuters look like the did take off landed and for some unexplained reason i will personally wait for the report later the Jet blasted off the parking slot,,,,?????

Sky..tango

Reuters

flyboy2

13th Nov 2009, 03:45

Date: 12 NOV 2009
Time: ca 12:30
Type: Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-100ER
Operator: Rwandair Express
Registration: 5Y-JLD
C/n / msn: 7197
First flight: 1997
Engines: 2 General Electric CF34-3A1
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Passengers: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 10
Total: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 13
Airplane damage: Substantial
Location: Kigali Airport (KGL) (Rwanda)
Phase: Taxi
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Kigali Airport (KGL)
Destination airport: Entebbe Airport (EBB)
Flightnumber:
A Canadair CRJ-100ER RegionalJet passenger plane, 5Y-JLD, operating for Rwandair Express, was substantially damaged when it struck an airport building at Kigali Airport (KGL), Rwanda. One passenger was killed. The airplane operated on a scheduled international flight to Entebbe Airport (EBB), Uganda. Two minutes after take-off, the pilot requested to return because of unspecified technical problems. The airplane landed safely and taxied back to the apron. However, when the plane reached it's parking spot in fron of the VIP lounge, the pilot reported that the engines had failed to stop and were running at " 100 percent power" according to the Rwandair Chief Operating Officer. The airplane moved forward, knocking over blast fences until it smashed through the concrete wall of the airport building. The nose gear collapsed and the nose was burried inside the building up to and including the forward passenger doors. Weather reported about the time of the accident (12:30 local, 10:30 UTC): HRYR 121030Z VRB03KT 9999 BKN030 24/18 Q1018 NOSIG= [Wind variable at 3 knots; unlimited visibility; Broken clouds at 3000 feet; temperature 24 degrees C, dew point 18 degrees C; 1018 MB]

bush man

13th Nov 2009, 04:26

crj's dont have auto throttle do they?:confused:

RWEDAREYET

13th Nov 2009, 04:35

Some do, but it's rare to find one with them.

V1... Ooops

13th Nov 2009, 04:49

From another discussion forum (from the link posted above):

To compound the situation, a casualty that survived the incident died when the ambulance he/she was being transported in to hospital was involved in a motorcar accident.

and then, later:

Sad news that a further three injured passengers who were occupants in the ambulance accident passed away en-route after the ambulance accident.

Cripes, I was a passenger in that exact aircraft 3 weeks ago when I flew from HKJK to HRYR... :eek:

bush man

13th Nov 2009, 05:00

just imagine surviving a plane woopsie like that and then dying when the ambulance crashes. only in africa.... too sad

groundfloor

13th Nov 2009, 05:15

Wonder how many Pax still had their belts on and were actually still sitting down? From the casualty reports not many I would think...

bmabango

13th Nov 2009, 07:24

Any further confirmation on what exactly transpired?

groundfloor

13th Nov 2009, 08:20

bmabango....first post fishing....:hmm:

atpcliff

13th Nov 2009, 11:58

Hi.

Was there last night. Everything I heard was 2nd hand...

Plane came back with technical problem. Taxied in w/ marshaller and was chocked.

Engines went to full power, and the pilots could not shut it down. Jumped the chocks, and ended up crashing into building that houses the ATC tower. 1 pax died, capt lost a leg, and female FO lost both legs. Ambulance crashed (rolled over) on way to hospital.

The airport was closed for a couple of hours or so. It was RwandAir flight, with Jetlink markings (Jetlink has one or more planes in RwandAir markings).

Observations:
The ramp is about 700m or so across. From their normal parking spot, they would've had to turn right to hit the tower building (the right turn was reported elsewhere). Emergency vehicles and lots of people still there around 2300. Fire fighters did a good job of putting out fire, or else everyone would have died.

This accident makes no sense to me:
Why couldn't the engines be shut down?
Why didn't brakes stop the aircraft?
Why did it hit the building, vs. going into grassy berm that was straight ahead?
I hope it was a mechanical fault that can be fixed on all CRJs, and not the pilots' fault!

cliff
NBO
PS-It could have been me. I tried to get hired at Jetlink. My buddy said they had a very good operation...very professional.

Aquapilot

13th Nov 2009, 13:29

There are 2 Engine Fire Push switches on the glare shield that will stop the engines regardless of the malfunction. The SOV's will all close and the engine WILL shut down. I am not sure why they didn't do this.....I have also done many engine runs at 98% N1....the Brakes will hold the Aircraft at full throttle....and the AC was Chalked....the emergency brake should have been set.....

FIRESYSOK

13th Nov 2009, 13:32

Okay, I've read it may have been a thrust lever jam. These are cable-driven fuel controls so it is entirely plausible that either one thrust lever or both became stuck in an open position.

Question remains- why did the crew decide to taxi back on to the apron in this condition. Better to shut down both engines after touchdown with the fire switches. The brakes must have been extremely hot and faded after a power-on landing and taxi-in...

Aquapilot

13th Nov 2009, 14:25

The CRJ 100/200 would be hard to land with the Thrust levers stuck in a position other than idle.......at 50 feet you pull the thrust levers to idle or you will float all the way down the runway....if it was applying much power it would be almost impossible to land and get stopped before going off the end ....much less what would happen to the brakes....you would quickly get a Brake Overheat master warning and the its possible the brakes would catch fire trying to taxi to the gate with power........something doesn't add up....we will see with the investigation......I have never flown a CRJ with Auto Throttles but I have heard that is is an option..possibly a malfunction if equipped?.......or a problem with the cables for the FCV....its all just speculation at this point...

ugflyer

13th Nov 2009, 15:18

dzaaam! very unfortunate.

V1... Ooops

13th Nov 2009, 22:53

Maybe they can buff the damage out.

http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/robbreid/5Y-JLD.jpg

FIRESYSOK

14th Nov 2009, 02:21

I believe similar incidents have occurred on this type, but not both engines simultaneously. I would suspect an AD coming soon if there isn't one already.

This aside from the very poor decision to taxy back onto stand with an engine at full thrust and white-hot brakes. 8000+ pounds of sea level thrust and you want to chock the airplane and see if it holds? Unbelievable and tragic.

perceval

14th Nov 2009, 09:25

fyresisok , that's pure speculation ! It doesn't say anywhere that the airplane taxied from the runway at full power . In fact , one of the press report said specifically that it taxied to the apron normally . I believe someone would have noticed if it tried to taxi with one Engine at 100 % and the other at idle . It looks like it happened on stand , with the airplane already chocked in . Somehow the left engine when to 100% N1 ( report says the A/C turned to the right before impacting ) , and probably took both pilots by surprise so they didn't have time to react and press the fire handle or maybe even brake . I guess No one would expect an engine to suddenly go to full power uncommanded when just about ready to shut down .
The Question is : Why did it do that ? Auto/Throttle malfunction (if equipped ) , FCU malfunction , EP or accidental application by the pilot (ie uniform sleeve caught on the PL ????) . Hopefully , one of the pilots will remember .

outofhereoyibo

14th Nov 2009, 10:38

gets it all the way to the stand, brakes already cooked with left or both engines still at full blast... the rest is history...

atpcliff

14th Nov 2009, 10:46

Hi.

Accident: Jetlink Air CRJ1 at Kigali on Nov 12th 2009, throttle jam, impacted terminal after return (http://www.avherald.com/h?article=422a16dc&opt=0)

Updated information from a pilot who knows Jetlink crews:

Engines went to full power, uncommanded on takeoff. After takeoff, they shut one down using the emer shutdown procedures (do not know what they are in CRJ). They landed with one engine at full power, and taxied back to parking.

The report above says just before chocked, the airplane started moving (hot brakes couldn't hold plane anymore???). The pilots tried to shut down the engine with emer procedures, but were unsuccessful. Crashed into building, and capt had broken leg, and FO broken ankle, so they are OK.

One pax was taken to the hospital, and died when ambulance crashed. Heard in Kigali that ambulance killed two bystanders.

Kudos to fire crews who put out fire, otherwise would have been a number of casualties.

cliff
NBO

outofhereoyibo

14th Nov 2009, 10:53

The only way to shut down the engine is to push the ENG. FIRE push button which closes the fuel SOV if you loose throttle control. NO auto throttle on this aircraft. ON the -700 and 900 you have fuel SOV Push buttons you can
use without having to use the ENG. fire button..

Cardinal Puff

15th Nov 2009, 15:13

Dang! Right into the dunny by the look of it.:ooh:

Mister Geezer

15th Nov 2009, 16:12

One pax was taken to the hospital, and died when ambulance crashed. Heard in Kigali that ambulance killed two bystanders.

So the aircraft incident was really a storm in a tea cup in comparison!!! :eek:

TonyWilliams

16th Nov 2009, 05:25

Engines went to full power, uncommanded on takeoff.

It could be that "APR" activated, which needs to be armed in the CRJ-100/-200. If so, the power actually went about 500 pounds thrust over normal takeoff.
This is electrically activated.

When it senses a lack of thrust on the opposite engine (don't remember the parameters), that's when APR is supposed to kick in.

Fuel controller on CRJ-100, -200 is a cable that could jam, but having two do that at once seems unlikely. I'm guessing APR.

Willie Everlearn

17th Nov 2009, 01:39

I thought this happened on the ground. APR will not activate with weight on wheel input (shutdown at the gate). Interesting theory though.
I have heard of the cable to the TL disconnecting. At an inappropriate power setting this could be very interesting.
As for a landing with one shutdown and one at full thrust, I don't think so. Interesting, but I don't think so. If it's true, it's ***kin' amazing.

Willie :ok:

TonyWilliams

18th Nov 2009, 02:05

APR will not activate with weight on wheel input (shutdown at the gate). Interesting theory though.

My point, of course, is that there was a failure, so clearly, should my theory hold any water, whatever activation parameter(s) would have failed.

Willie Everlearn

19th Nov 2009, 02:04

Tony,
To be honest...
I don't believe APR had anything to do with this.

If the crew made it to stand (as reported) with one engine at a fairly high power setting whilst the other remained at or near idle, it begs the question, which engine was most likely to have been shutdown first? My guess is, based purely upon the result, the one with the working thrust lever (doh), which IMHO would seem most probable as the other was jammed or not working properly and to this point in time it hasn't been confirmed that the problem engine had been shutdown. In any event, as some have suggested, why had they not pushed the FIRE push switch on the glareshield (at some point) prior to landing, or prior to entering the apron area? Because of their being WOW, airspeed likely at or near zero, no APR activation would result due to incorrect logic.

Willie :ok:

atpcliff

25th Nov 2009, 01:56

Hi.

Update...
Saw the plane yesterday. It is quite destroyed. It resting on the center wing box, as that has completely detached where the front of the box connects to the fuselage.

Heard that Jetlink lost their contract with RwandAir. Heard from two JetLink FAs that the pilots were sacked soon after the accident.

Kenya Airways had a plane full of pax on the ramp at the time. When this accident started, they were worried the JetLink plane would taxi into them, so they deployed their escape slides. Their PAX exited normally, but the plane then had to fly back to NBO empty, to get new slides.

cliff
NBO

JTrain

25th Nov 2009, 11:41

Heard that Jetlink lost their contract with RwandAir. Heard from two JetLink FAs that the pilots were sacked soon after the accident.

Will RwandAir start flying their own airplanes? They are a virtual airline in every sense of the word - they use Jetlink for some CRJs, and another Kenyan operator for their Dash 8s - nothing of their own I believe.

As recently as 2007 they had a 737, and in 2006 they had an MD80. Its high time they got back into their own equipment.

four engine jock

25th Nov 2009, 12:54

Its seams that every time there is an incident the CAA in Rwanda bans aircrafts. Heard that B727-100/200,B737-200,MD80 and now CRJs are banned in Rwanda. At this rate soon mybe only the B787 can operate into Kigali.

atpcliff

26th Nov 2009, 08:30

Hi!

RwandAir is schd to get 2 737-800s, and later 2 CRJs of their own.

I don't think CRJs are banned, but last time I went in there there were no CRJs, but it was late and not much traffic.

cliff
NBO

9XR-SC

27th Nov 2009, 22:34

Will RwandAir start flying their own airplanes? They are a virtual airline in every sense of the word - they use Jetlink for some CRJs, and another Kenyan operator for their Dash 8s - nothing of their own I believe.

As atpcliff said, Rwandair will add new aircraft and open new routes to Goma and Dar Es Salaam. They paln to open new routes to Addis Ababa, Lusaka, Mwanza and Kinshasa.

Now the airline will hire rwandan pilots.

RwandAir is schd to get 2 737-800s, and later 2 CRJs of their own.

Do you know when 737-800s will arrive ? I read yesterday that one 737-800 is schd on 2011, but a friend said to me last week that one 737-700 will arrive next year. I m liltte bit confused lol.

JTrain

28th Nov 2009, 10:46

Any plans for Kigali to upgrade its pax terminal? Its massively over-cramped, especially if you happen to be taking a flight at ~ the same time as the Brussels A330 that comes in 4x/week.

Rwanda really does seem to have a vision for the country - I hope it carries over to aviation. They could use something more like EBB.

9XR-SC

28th Nov 2009, 16:24

Yep they will open a new airport in 2013.

TPS | New Kigali Airport (http://www.tpsconsult.co.uk/tps/news/2009/01_kigali.asp)

atpcliff

28th Nov 2009, 21:06

Hi!

I heard the 1st 737 is due now.

cliff
NBO

nugpot

21st Dec 2009, 11:21

We have a summary of the preliminary report in our briefing files (we operate CRJ 200's).

It states that the left engine thrust lever became stuck at t/o thrust lever position and pilots could not move lever. Right engine controls OK.

After return and taxiing to gate, the right engine was shut down with the thrust lever, but the left engine remained operating at close to full power. After parking and just before disembarking of passengers started, the a/c started moving and accelerated to finally end up in the lounge.

There is no indication in the report of the pilots attempting to shut the left motor down using the Fire switch and considering the fact that the motor was "still running at high power" in the bay, I guess that no attempt was made to shut the left motor down with the fire switch. I assume that the prelim report would have mentioned a failure of the electrical firewall switches.

It does state that they are investigating interference by the cowl strut with the thrust lever mechanism and also investigating the crew handling of the initial failure.

squared

22nd Dec 2009, 21:20

Plane Crashed In Building But No One Was Killed There.
Female Copilot Breaks Both Legs,she Did Not Loss Them.ambulance Crashes Enroute To Hospital.captain Breaks One Leg And Ambulance Driver Dies On The Spot.

4runner

8th Jan 2010, 12:50

CRJ's are not banned in Rwanda. Rwandair has their own and now operational CRJ 200's which can be seen at Kigali. The Jetlink aircraft did land with one engine at full power. When you shut down an engine on an RJ, you lose hydraulics for inboard or outboard brakes. My guess is that the captain shutdown the good engine, lost inboard or outboard braking on already overheated brakes, and the rest is history. I don't like to critique or criticize other pilots but let's face it, this was an example of bad decision making, lack of systems knowledge and poor CRM. The captain obviously did not use the QRH which states that the engine will be shut down using the fire button. He wanted to shutdown the engine by spraying water from the fire truck into the intake??? Are you kidding me? The f/o supposedly suggested that the captain shutdown the engine using the fire button. My buddy replayed the event in the sim at his last recurrent and was able to land with one at full power and the other at idle. Flight spoilers were used and the approach angle was shallow but he got it on the tarmac(in the sim). A normal single engine landing is easier and safer which is probably why the QRH tells you to shut down the engine in question. Just my 2 cents and probably why Rwandair has their own CRJ's now.

4runner

12th Jan 2010, 18:00

Hey, after speaking to one of our engineers, we came to the conclusion that shutting down the engine would not have immediately caused a loss in hydraulic pressure to the A and B pumps. The B pumps would not have been on if the flaps were up but regardless, pressure should not have been lost. I heard through a grapevine that the engineer for jetlink pushed the jammed throttle even farther forward. I feel that I'm speculating too much and apologize. I still feel that there was a fundemental lack of CRM, sound judgement and systems knowledge.:ugh: