Trouble at Manila NAIA

[martynj3]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1244253777122611200
Just breaking, Lionair medical evacuation flight, no other reliable info yet...

[Airbubba]

From the Manila Bulletin:

Lion Air plane bursts into flame at NAIA runway, 8 passengers on boardhttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/960x720/naia_crash_4dbc4be38f865c9d9feaff8172724b67c7ab67be.jpgUpdat ed March 29, 2020, 9:51 PM
By MB Online

A Lion Air plane that was taking off at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday night burst into flame and crashed onto the runway with eight people on board.

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) confirms that there were no survivors of the aircraft accident in NAIA.

Initial reports indicated that the aircraft, with four flight crew, a doctor, nurse, and a Canadian national who is believed to be the patient and an American companion were headed to Haneda Airport in Japan on a medical evacuation flight. Witnesses said the plane caught fire while taking off.

[Airbubba]

I'm thinking that the operator is probably Lionair Inc., a charter outfit in the Philippines, not Lion Air in Indonesia.

[Jn14:6]

Looks like a Citation or similar.

[Airbubba]

Apparently Westwind 1124A RP-C5880. They were taking off on runway 06.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1200x819/37731_1520311325_3c97ad0758964cf0a967e709bdc06924425d4d35.jp g
Picture from Jetphotos.com

[Airbubba]

Weather was good.

RPLL 291200Z 11006KT 080V160 999 FEW025 30/23 Q1010 NOSIG RMK A2983

[Airbubba]

More photos from news reports and social media.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/960x540/91076844_217004862694523_4240117290865000448_n_2b5f4f77f4fa3 03c501a98280cdea85e0ac680ab.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/960x720/91207937_2998353156869836_6906415580719349760_n_77fc6d793f18 fcb3de3f7ead7106b27d8a0182d0.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1080x1440/eur1nlnuwaaxjzo_large__dd5a0e9cce5262bbb98962f79774e9447e189 4ec.jpg

[Lake1952]

CNN reporting 8 dead, an American and a Canadian along with 6 Filipinos. They were transporting medical supplies to Japan.

[Airbubba]

They were transporting medical supplies to Japan.

Other reports are that it was a medevac flight for a Canadian with an American companion.

This may be the same outfit that had the King Air 350 medevac crash last September with 9 fatalities.

A medical evacuation plane has exploded in a ball of flames during take-off in the Philippine capital, killing all eight passengers and crew on board, officials say.

The Lion Air plane was bound from Manila to Haneda, Japan, and burst into flames at the end of the runway about 8pm local time, Manila's main airport said.

Vidoe footage showed a huge plume of smoke rising into the night sky as fire crews doused the fuselage with foam.

The twin-jet West Wind 24 was carrying three medical personnel, three flight crew, a patient and a companion, Richard Gordon, a senator and head of the Philippine Red Cross, said on Twitter.

"Unfortunately, no passenger survived the accident," the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said in a statement.


https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/philippines-medevac-plane-crash-kills-8/news-story/c265a883dbb459ab25ac66b37f8e49f6

From a news report on the September 2019 King Air crash:

A New Zealand couple was among nine people killed in a small plane that was conducting a medical airlift when it crashed and exploded in flames at a resort south of Manila on Sunday, Philippine authorities say.

Philippine authorities identified the couple as Tom Carr and Erma Carr, a Filipina with New Zealand citizenship.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said it was investigating why the Beechcraft King Air plane carrying the couple and seven Filipinos, including a medical team, crashed on Sunday in Pansol village in Laguna province as it approached its destination, Manila.


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-02/manila-plane-crash-new-zealand-philippines/11472324

[bud leon]

Yes it was a medivac flight operated by local company Lionair that also had the Laguna crash. CAAP is considering grounding the company.

[Smilin_Ed]

Patient on oxygen? Potential for this kind of fire?

[unobtanium]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/world/asia/lion-air-crash-philippines-coronavirus.html

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1333/29philippines01_superjumbo_c9f994824522940eef3628254b045ccf6 985d77b.jpg

[Airbubba]

The confusion about whether the plane was doing a medevac or a medical supply flight seems to result from the Covid-19 supply flight the day before using the same aircraft.

Captain Don Mendoza, deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, did confirm that the plane was being used to ferry medical supplies and protective gear to health workers outside Manila trying to slow the spread of the virus.“It was in Iloilo (province) yesterday (March 28). It ferried medical supplies, then went back to Manila safely,” he said.


https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/coronavirus-eight-people-die-as-ambulance-plane-is-engulfed-by-fire-at-manila-airport

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x768/eur7vkpuwaadbpl_d02854a627242190ea55fd4abb4a3d6f12b57e6c.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1023x1024/euscpojucaam2pm_38993500bc53b0fa1a5e6dc807549ba3e8a253f0.jpg

[capngrog]

What a tragedy! The airframe looks relatively intact, but extensively fire-damaged. Although it may have been jammed, the main entry/exit door is shut. The fire must have spread rapidly and have been extremely intense. It is quite possible that the crew and passengers were disabled by smoke inhalation either prior to the aircraft coming to rest or soon thereafter and were unable to attempt an exit.

That's just speculation on my part. I did not know any of the victims; however, I mourn the loss of an accomplished group of people.

R.I.P.

Regards,
Grog

[Jet Jockey A4]

Not even a few hours after the accident and probably before next of kin were advised, the copy of the inbound/outbound customs declaration with all the names of the crew and two passengers (a Canadian and American) along with all their information was on the Internet. Hope they find out who leaked that info.

R.I.P.

[Airbubba]

The crew and passenger list looks tragically similar to the one in the September 2019 King Air crash. An older patient, his Filipina wife who holds a foreign passport as the local media would say.

From the Sunday night news conference with airport general manager Ed Monreal:

One reporter asked, “Aside from the two foreign nationals (on board), what was the nationality of the other passengers?”

[Jet Jockey A4]

The flight crew and the medical crew were all Philippino IIRC.

[Airbubba]

One reporter asked, “Aside from the two foreign nationals (on board), what was the nationality of the other passengers?”

The flight crew and the medical crew were all Philippino IIRC.

If they are not 'foreign nationals' I think that is implied.

As always, tragic losses including the young flight doctor in the picture below who a week ago was eulogizing a med school classmate recently lost to the Covid-19 battle.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1500x2000/86853644_1370778356416851_3035438810411302912_o_c56dfa4ef00a 8fc3808c4e53d9aca385c9723e0c.jpg
Facebook photo
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1090x934/91006750_10157434726824856_7853399231753617408_o_2__0a1f2ffe 18c6bbb0856c2a41169d501c1c9de549.jpg

[fdr]

Some aeromedical groups are quite aware of the O2-alcohol matters, oddly they aren't universally stupid, but mistakes can happen. O2 bottles are invariably added to any Air Ambulance aircraft, and functionally that is a act of life. For this aircraft, they were about where the damage would suggest.

The departure is about 1:50 after dark, birds are not highly likely but do occur.

VR for this aircraft on the day... (heavy, warm not hot) is a F0 takeoff, and 152 KIAS. TODR is around 8800'.

STAB trim. the CG would be around 24%, and anyone who has flown WWs and similar is familiar with the rotate characteristics, which are, interesting, even with the correct trim setting. (any WW with a load of people will have a fwd CG, fuel changes that slightly but not enough to bother about). That is about -2.8 to -3 on the stab. That is about what the accident aircraft appears to show. The trim is about the right spot, so long as the aircraft is within the trim envelope of the plane. If it is outside at the forward end of the envelope (24% is about the exact fwd limit) then the rotate will be a laborious and long time happening.

O2 probably didn't start the problem but is a perennial favorite once things go into the rough. This plane would have had between 6500L and 10000L of medical O2 onboard. O2 is great in small doses. O2 is a necessity for any ambulance task unless the patient is already in the binary state of being dead.

Doors on the WW in this case would not have been compromised. The design is a great bit of ingenuity to get a plug door working in a small airframe. Had it been possible to move the lever, it would have shown on the outside of the aircraft. the door was never attempted to be opened, that is how fast it went bad after fire erupted.

Look for feathers around 5000'-6500' down the runway, but that seems like a long shot. given the time. Minimise the amount of C, D, & E bottles that are carried. fixed systems sound safer and are tidier, but O2 is O2, its an oxidiser, that's where the term comes from. It was necessary on the space shuttle, and until there is an alternative to breathing, it is a necessity for ambulance operations as well.

Nomex looks great, and will make zero difference in a conflagration like this.

The airframe itself was fully survivable, the WW is built like a tank, the rupture of the aft fuselage opens up the main and stby fuel boost collector tank outlets to the engines, and that starts a bad day. The fuselage failure forward of the CWT/aft bulkhead is similar to the waterwings effort off YSNF. The passenger compartment was completely survivable other than the fire. They would had more than 6500lbs and up to about 8500l a little shy of full fuel on the day.

Before every takeoff, be it an Airbus, Boeing Learjet GEX, or WW, there are specific decision points to consider. "above ... Kts, we will reject for. ...... ,......, ..... and .... " Those items are not random, they are limited for very good reasons, as often RTO's don't end well.

For the WW, if you enter any takeoff with flaps zero, and give a failure of spoilers/lift dump and anti-skid, you cannot get a performance solution, at any weight. APG does not permit just the spoilers inop for the analysis, but the hint is, that in an RTO, brakes/LIFT DUMP/TR's are absolutely necessary for a successful conclusion. What happened here will be known in full soon enough, but it is a timely reminder to listen to our own briefs and heed the cautions that are in that. In airlines, RTO's get practiced at some level of continuity, still not enough to guarantee crews will achieve the correct actions, and worse, often the everyday procedure of landing compromises the procedures for an RTO... use idle reverse... use this, use that, things that differ from the bad day scenario.

Condolences to all, and for those in Aero Medical, take care out there, inherent risks come with the task.


fly safe.