CIAS BN2 force landing

[radiosutch]

Channel islands Air Search BN2 G-CIAS is reported down on north coast of Jersey. 5 SOB, accounted for, condition unknown
Double engine failure, right then left.

Extremely lucky they made it to land as the sea state is reported as very rough, with confused swells at 16ft.

[Jerbourg]

From my Facebook news feed tonight.

"There are 2 missing fisherman off Jersey, CI air search joined the rescue but lost power to both engines & crash landed in a field in St Mary's. All 5 crew are safely with the Jersey Police & are un hurt. 2 fisherman are still missing & the wind is gusting force 10"

[welkyboy]

News coming in......
The Channel Islands Air search BN2 has force landed in a field in St.Mary's Jersey due to engine failure, all believed OK.
If this is correct it's amazing as it was dark and the weather is driving rain with a southerly gale blowing and the fields in Jersey aren't very large!!!

[VB]

Sadly it is true, but I can confirm that all crew are safe and sound. Fantastic job done by the Captain in awful conditions.

[flyboyike]

It's a good thing the Islander doesn't need a large field.

[akerosid]

I heard that it came down near Devil's Hole. I've just been out, driving from town to St. John and it's a wild night out there; kudos to the crew for a brilliant result.

Photo: G-CIAS (CN: 2162) Channel Islands Air Search Britten-Norman BN-2B-21 Islander by John Fitzpatrick - JetPhotos.Net (http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6962185&nseq=1)

[staplefordheli]

Vouch for the other comments Not much room to put a rotary down let alone fixed away from the beach Conditions sound atrocious over there, glad I am not over there at the moment. Had my fair share of bad weather on the CIs
Not much hope for the poor fishing crew lost at sea. At least there is some positives though for the aircrew from reports

[akerosid]

Latest picture from the scene; you may need to log onto Facebook to see this.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10151665980267522&set=a.275880522521.152639.272688757521&type=1&theater

[OA32]

It won't be flying anytime soon, kudos to the pilots on getting it down relatively intact.

G-CIAS (pic.twitter.com/OgX3Bod4yS)

[Deep and fast]

John Gripton, managing editor of BBC Radio Jersey, said: "There are reports that engines on the aircraft failed and that the plane used the twinkling lights of the pub in the darkness on the north coast as a target to try to land the craft on dry land.

"Five people were on board and miraculously they appear to be ok and uninjured, and currently with the emergency services at the pub."

Crashing near a pub, now that is good flying!

[SOPS]

And they were looking for 2 guys in a dingy. By the sounds of the weather there, a dingy is not a place you want to be. Well done to the crew of the Islander:ok:

[golf yankee one one]

Islander + heavy rain + loss of power.

Same ingredients as the Islander lost in Antigua 07.10.12 ( pprune passim)

[captplaystation]

Sorry to "spoil" the party, but WTF (or should that be HWF ?) did we (having UK nationality I can't say they) ever certify this thing as a multi engined aircraft if the only purpose of the 2nd donk is to prolong the glide ? & the trislander ? ? jeezuz, the CAA was REALLY cheap to pay off in the past, or was/is EVERYONE involved in UK aviation in the Masons ?

Edited to say, RTFQ2 . . . if I had read the report properly I would have seen that SE performance was the least of their problems Duh ! :ugh:

[G-CPTN]

Quote:
Jersey Coastguard said the two fishermen were found just before 23:30 and a rescue operation was under way. It is understood the men are conscious but suffering from hypothermia.
They are being taken by helicopter to Jersey's General Hospital.
From:- BBC News - Search-and-rescue plane crash lands on Jersey (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24799619)

[Chris Scott]

JER (EGJJ) airfield is in the south-west corner of the island, only about 3 - 4 nm from the north coast at St Mary.

It seems the incident started around 1900Z, when the wind at the airfield was southerly at about 30 kt, in moderate, occasionally heavy rain. Presumably there would have been turbulence and downdrafts over the cliffs on the north coast, plus layers of low stratus cloud.

EGJJ 032350Z 25030G41KT 9999 BKN014 14/12 Q0990 NOSIG
EGJJ 032320Z 25029KT 9999 BKN014 14/12 Q0990 NOSIG
EGJJ 032250Z 25033KT 9999 FEW010 BKN014 14/12 Q0991 NOSIG
EGJJ 032220Z 24026KT 7000 FEW010 BKN013 14/13 Q0991 NOSIG
EGJJ 032150Z 23029KT 9999 FEW010 BKN014 14/12 Q0992 NOSIG
EGJJ 032120Z 23026KT 9999 FEW008 BKN014 14/12 Q0992 NOSIG
EGJJ 032050Z 22029KT 9999 FEW008 SCT012 BKN018 13/12 Q0992 NOSIG
EGJJ 032020Z 20029KT 7000 -RA FEW005 BKN008 12/11 Q0993 TEMPO BKN012
EGJJ 031950Z 20028G39KT 5000 -RA SCT006 BKN009 11/10 Q0994 RERA TEMPO 9999 BKN012

EGJJ 031920Z 17029KT 3000 RA SCT006 BKN010 11/10 Q0995 TEMPO +RA BKN005
EGJJ 031850Z 17028KT 5000 RA SCT008 BKN010 10/09 Q0996 TEMPO 3000 +RA BKN005

EGJJ 031820Z 17024KT 7000 RA FEW008 BKN012 10/09 Q0998 TEMPO 4000 BKN006
EGJJ 031750Z 19019KT 8000 RA FEW010 BKN020 11/09 Q1000 BECMG 5000 BKN010
EGJJ 031720Z 18018KT 9999 -RA FEW012 SCT020 BKN040 11/09 Q1002 BECMG 5000 RA BKN010
EGJJ 031650Z 21017KT 9999 -RA FEW018 BKN045 11/08 Q1002 BECMG 5000 RA BKN012
EGJJ 031620Z 21022KT 9999 -RA SCT020 BKN035 11/08 Q1004 RERA BECMG 5000 RA BKN012
EGJJ 031550Z 21016G26KT 9999 -RA SCT025 BKN040 11/07 Q1004 BECMG 5000 RA BKN012

Link for current BBC News item, which also reports the fishermen have been rescued alive:
BBC News - Search-and-rescue plane crash lands on Jersey (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24799619)

[draglift]

Catplaystation

Having flown the BN2A (with 300 hp engines) I confirm that with 7 people on board it maintained altitude with temp above ISA with one engine operating at simulated feather.

The initial post said the aircraft involved in this accident had a double engine failure. If that is the case your rant about the single engine performance is not really relevant.

if one engine failed with only 5 people on board I would have expected it to maintain altitude but only if the inoperative propellor was correctly feathered.

[D'pirate]

BN2 will fly on one engine, done it twice myself in much hotter conditions, but only glide (quite well) with none! It can land on a postage stamp in 30 kt winds and I suspect local knowledge was a great help.

Hope the fishermen recover fast and respect to all those who risk their lives to help others :ok:

[RadioSaigon]

Hmmmm... I have a few hrs in the BN2 -relatively often in flogging rain too, but have yet to experience anything like that suggested by yg11. Without wanting to preempt any investigations of fact, it strikes me that there is only one "usual" cause for a double engine-failure, related more to a dire lack of the necessary, or a failure to supply.

Time will tell.

[swh]

From the BBC

John Dowling, manager of the Priory Inn, said the five people on board had gone into his pub with police after the incident.

Nice to see the police participate in the debrief !!!

[Charlie Fox]

BBC News - Jersey rescue plane crash: Missing fishermen found (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24801398)

[OFSO]

Message from a local to me - the Channel Islands Search and Rescue Plane crashed yesterday evening on the north coast.
It was answering an emergency call to rescue two fishermen who had gone to secure their moorings on L` Ecrehous (a group of islands of Jersey's east coast and approx. 6 miles from the shore). They were actually sailing in a dinghy in gale force winds! One was found clinging to a rock and the other was still in the dinghy when they winched up by a helicopter.
There was the French helicopter, a UK helicopter, the Jersey lifeboat and the search and rescue plane involved. Both men were flown to Jersey Airport and taken by ambulance to the general Hospital in St Helier. One was hypothermic and the other was partly hypothermic -the latter was discharged from hospital but the other is stable in Intensive Care.

It is thought that the aeroplane suffered an engine failure (but not confirmed yet). Bearing in mind the weather conditions and that it was dark, it is amazing that none of the crew were killed ........... and I haven`t heard of any injuries either! The plane crashed close to the cliff edge and embedded itself in a tree; the emergency services were there within minutes.

As you can imagine it is the topic on everybody`s lips, here, today and we are in total praise of all the emergency services - they did a fantastic job.

The weather, thankfully, has abated now and it is sunshining.

[toolow gere]

having flown the islander both public transport and on CofA flight tests, I can assure you that ( with one engine feathered ) at max weight, it climbs very well. and the trislander will go up on two nearly as good as some with only two.

[The Ancient Geek]

Indeed, the Islander is good at doing what it was designed for, island hopping.
Hot & high or overloaded is a different can of worms and not recommended.

[Herod]

The big question has to be: why a DOUBLE engine failure?

[Flap40]

Sadly, Islanders fitted with tip tanks have previous form with regard to double engine failures:-

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/7-1982%20G-BBRP.pdf
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/2-1983%20G-BDNP.pdf

[beamender99]

Jersey air search charity launches appeal for funds

BBC News - Jersey air search charity launches appeal for funds (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-24844281)

[seasaw]

GCIAS moved to safer position and STBD engine up and running without too much encouragement....maybe fuel mismanagement as suggested above.

Been reported the starboard was first to shut down.

[Pittsextra]

The big question has to be: why a DOUBLE engine failure?

It ran out of fuel....

[Michael111]

Hi

Irrespective of the circumstances, this shows how fortunate those on board were. I was out that night on the Lifeboat, the weather was WSW F9, almost zero vis at times...

Jersey Search And Rescue plane crash site - YouTube


This was taken a couple of days after the event when G-CIAS had been removed from the tree!

[Herod]

Give that man a medal!!! I can see why they retired to the pub; in fact, I think I'd still be there.

[oceancrosser]

Give that man a medal!!!

For running out of fuel? (if true), but something saved their a***** be it luck or skill. It was dark wasn't it?

[Pittsextra]

.....superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills.

[MPN11]

An extra 50-100 ft further on and I doubt there would have been 5 people making their way to the Pub. What a fortunate location for that tree!

[macuser]

Link to the AAIB report released just now

Air Accidents Investigation: Special Bulletin S8/2013 - BN2B-21 Islander, G-CIAS (http://www.aaib.gov.uk/latest_news/special_bulletin_s8_2013___bn2b_21_islander__g_cias.cfm)

Tip tanks again.

[Flap40]

Further investigation

The AAIB investigation continues, focussing on
operational procedures, training, safety management,
and fuel quantity alerting.

We now have at least 3 accidents where 'operational procedures, training and safety management' have failed to prevent the accident.

Maybe a mod to the aircraft is required.

[Pittsextra]

A mod the the aircraft... Really?! what do you imagine is on the check list?

[JW411]

I used to fly Islanders at Netheravon (and other places) for fun 30-odd years ago. We had two aircraft; G-AYRU which only had main wing tanks and G-BBRP which also had tip tanks (see AIIB report in Post #26).

What struck me right away, as an obvious Mega Murphy, was that the "Tip to Main" selector switches in G-BBRP were absolutely identical to the "Fuel Booster Pump" switches which were normally switched on for take-off and landing and were mounted alongside one another above eye level.

This Mega Murphy was largely responsible for bringing down G-BBRP and I am astonished that nothing seems to have been done since.

If I haven't got this exactly right then forgive me. It was 30 years ago and my memory is not what it used to be.

[Flap40]

I was thinking along the lines of:-

a) Rework the fuel system so that the engines only run from the mains and the tips transfer into the mains with a cut off if the mains are not below a certain level.

b) Change the indication system so that the gauges show the contents of the tanks currently selected. *

c) Both of the above.

* It's a long time since I have been in an Islander but from what I can see from photo's on the internet there are no gauges for the tips. Trislanders seem to have tip gauges on the sidewall above the P2 seat.

[JW411]

frontlefthamster:

I am grateful for your reply. As I have already said, it was a long time ago but perhaps your left-right switch came about as a result of the demise of G-BBRP?

In any event, it would appear that the Mega Murphy has struck again.

[VP-F__]

I spent ten years flying islanders, a fair percentage of which was in tip tank equipped fishery protection models. The transfer pump switches were identical to the boost pump switches including the direction of movement. The only difference being that they were located between the tip and main fuel gauges and had a light to say they were turned on.
What I could never fully understand was the logic of the POH checklist, for fuel transfer it said to wait until the mains were low (IIRC maybe under 15 USG). Our SOP was to start transfering about an hour into the flight (always max fuel on takeoff) so that we could visually see the tip tank contents coming down and the mains going up, the only true way of telling if the transfer pumps worked. It would afterall be a bit daft to follow the book to letter and not start transferring until the mains have an hours worth left in them with land being an hour away! I certainly aborted a flight more than once due to the pumps not performing properly.

[toolow gere]

Dont forget that there are two different systems for the tip tanks. One where selecting tips transfers fuel from the tips to the mains, thats why one has to wait until there is space in the mains. the other system ( as fitted to the -21 model ) feeds the engine directly from the tip and closes off the main.

[VP-F__]

the under wing tanks were gone before I flew them although they would have looked good installed and painted green with a yellow tip.
On the -27 the tip tanks only transfer to the mains, they don't feed direct to the engine.

[MartinJsy]

Do the "standard pre flight checklists" include checking fuel switches are set to Main Tanks ?
Plus surely as soon as the first engine stopped (and even as it was spluttering) the first thing would be to change to Reserve tanks ?
(then the Pilot would immediately have found he was already on Reserve tanks, and switched back to main & restarted the engine)