Air Sanga PNG - Twin Otter crash 1st Dec 2020

[Office Update]

Air Sanga PNG - Twin Otter P2-ASM, has been severely damaged in a landing accident at Wobagen airstrip.
Helicopters responded to the accident site.

[Mumbai Merlin]

Only 14 months after the crash of their PAC-750, P2-ASG, which I believe was slung under a MIL-8 and recovered back into Port Moresby.
Not sure if the PAC is a candidate for rebuild.
Twin Otter might have to be dismantled and helicopter out to retrieve unless temporary repairs to nose gear

[Duck Pilot]

This one is worth a mention here.

In general, the experience level of the pilots operating into the bush strips in PNG is significantly diminishing. Not that I’m stating that this may have been a contributing factor to this accident.

Gone are the days when pilots were assessed rigorously by the regulator for the issue of any kind of old CAO 28 approval in any shape or form, now it’s left to the operators. All good if they have a robust check and training system, however potentially a complete disaster if they don’t as history has demonstrated in the past in PNG.

[Mumbai Merlin]

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[tail wheel]

Where is Wobagan? I don't recall a strip of that name?

[megan]

.65 NM north of Bimin airport


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[Kagamuga]

Taily,

Just for you!

24nm; brg: 105 degrees from Telefomin

Assuming the locals don't destroy the aircraft.
I doubt if effective repairs could be carried out in situ, probably take a few weeks?
Remove engines and props to reduce weight.
Perhaps the fuselage complete, could be slung under a MIL-8 to a repair shop. maybe Hevilift in Hagen? or box it up and send to Skytek in Cairns.
Will be interesting .......

[geeup]

Remove engines and props to reduce weight.
Perhaps the fuselage complete, could be slung under a MIL-8 to a repair shop. maybe Hevilift in Hagen? or box it up and send to Skytek in Cairns.
Will be interesting .......

Think the otter is / was leased of Hevilift.

[Duck Pilot]

I bent one at Gulgubip a few moons ago, rooting around in shiity weather pushing the limits and generally messed up. The next day I flew it back to POM after the engineers done some handy work.

If the props and wings haven’t made contact with the ground or hard vegetation and the airframe hasn’t been significantly distorted it could be temporarily repaired on-site and ferried back to a workshop for repairs.

I don’t think the locals in that area will damage the aircraft, more likely to keep it secured.

Is Geeves still with Air Sanga?

[tail wheel]

Thanks Hagen Airport. Two days walk ESE of Telefomin. :}

Duck Pilot, Geeves is still with Air Sanga but I don't believe he was flying at the time of this accident.

[Look Mum - no hands]

The original Bimin strip was damaged beyond repair by a landslide late 90s - the bottom half kind of disappeared. Wobagan is the neighbouring village in the same valley, so became the replacement site.

[Kagamuga]

Any word of a recovery for the Air Sanga Twin Otter?
With the Otter, PAC750 and Cessna 206 out of service; I would have thought there would be a degree of urgency?

[Ascend Charlie]

Balus em bagarup tru!

[Pinky the pilot]

In general, the experience level of the pilots operating into the bush strips in PNG is significantly diminishing.


Gone are the days when pilots were assessed rigorously by the regulator for the issue of any kind of old CAO 28 approval in any shape or form,

Indeed Duck pilot; When I started with Douglas Airways in early 1990 the requirements/training for going into bush strips was extremely rigorous to say the least! IIRC,as a newbie/boggie I had to do a minimum of three trips in the Right hand seat, simply observing along the route to and into each and every strip that I would eventually be flying. Then, from memory, it was Dz policy to do three trips ICUS into the aforementioned strips, via those routes. As the hackneyed joke of the time put it; You were 'stripped and routed!' :}

Once this was completed you were endorsed into that particular airstrip! And once you had, from memory, been endorsed in about three quarters of the airstrips of any one province, you were permitted under ANO 28 (as it was then) to self endorse into any strip you had not previously been into. Had the privilege of doing so two or three times in the Central and Gulf provinces M'self. With no dramas.

Speaking for myself only.. I cannot fault the training I received way back then from Alan Y and Luk V from Dz, and later from the now late Richard Rowe, God rest his Soul, of Simbu Aviation. And that's not to mention the hints/tips etc I learned, (generally at the Club Dero over various types of throat lubricant) from such as Chimbu Chuckles, various experienced Talair Pilots and fellow Dz Pilots such as Tim E, et al. If the current crop of pilots operating in the 'Land of the Unexpected' receive even half of the tuition that those three blokes gave me, then they should consider themselves blessed to say the least.:=

But then again, half of what I received could arguably mean half of the bare minimum!:hmm:

[tail wheel]

.....do a minimum of three trips in the Right hand seat, simply observing along the route to and into each and every strip that I would eventually be flying. Then, from memory, it was Dz policy to do three trips ICUS into the aforementioned strips, via those routes.

I seem to recall that was a regulatory requirement - CAR28?? Three trips for route endorsement?

[Duck Pilot]

Correct wheelie, that requirement was dropped with the implementation of the new regs in 2000. AOC holder is now responsible for crew competency.

Sadly with the demise of GA in PNG, coupled with the retirement of a lot of the old school Check and Trainers has triggered flight standards to significantly drop in most of the organisations in PNG. There is only a small number of experienced old school Check and Trainers left in country these days. Whilst technology such as GPS has helped a lot over the years, however raw stick & rudder and airmanship skills have deteriorated in general, which have attributed to quite a few unnecessary accidents and incidents.

[Capt Fathom]

Whilst technology such as GPS has helped a lot over the years, however raw stick & rudder and airmanship skills have deteriorated in general

Used to fly out of Lae every day in C206’s that didn’t even have ADF’s. All compass and clock! I’m still here!

[Pinky the pilot]

Correct wheelie, that requirement was dropped with the implementation of the new regs in 2000. AOC holder is now responsible for crew competency.
..........raw stick & rudder and airmanship skills have deteriorated in general, which have attributed to quite a few unnecessary accidents and incidents.


A sad state of affairs IMHO, and I would seriously suspect that those with whom I shared the priviledge of cruising about the PNG airspace way back then would agree 100%.

that didn’t even have ADF’s. All compass and clock!

Nearly all of the 'Brumm brumms,' aka Bongo Vans, I flew fell into the same category. Navaids????:confused: What were they? And this is not to mention the ground stations which only worked when the locals had not stolen all the copper wiring from them!:mad::mad:

From memory, only one BN2 I flew on a regular basis with Simbu had a Navaid. A Van X DME which only worked when it wanted to!:ugh:
Thankfully, the one time I really needed it, when I was stuck over a solid overcast headed back to Moresby from the 'Jungles' and had to to a DME homing which enabled me to fly directly overhead the aid.
Then track 5nm out to sea where I could safely descend through cloud, to become visual at 800' and track round the coast to approach the Field from the east!

[Checkboard]

ground stations which only worked when the locals had not stolen all the copper wiring from them!
To be fair, there was probably a good market for copper wiring.

I hear a lot of ground stations had to be re-wired, due theft.

[geeup]

Agree with most of the above.

But the Otter simple slipped off the strip... something a lot of the above guru pilots and Checkies / Trainers also did in the day. Greasy strip is a greasy strip and the otter is renounced for it. Gone for a slide more times than I could count.. thankfully never off the edge.

There wouldn’t be to many otters with a straight station 60 left in the world. -400 series but they don’t count

Rightly or wrongly nobody bothers flying bush up here anymore, like most things in PNG it’s a thing of the past and won’t be returning. Sori tru

[Kulwin Park]

Or if they do go by bush in PNG, then it's been taken over by helicopters nowadays that don't have so many minima requirements

[chimbu warrior]

Then track 5nm out to sea where I could safely descend through cloud, to become visual at 800' and track round the coast to approach the Field from the east!

You sure about that? Although my memory is unreliable I don't recall any sea in the immediate vicinity to the east of AYPY. Lots of terrain though.

[Kagamuga]

Helifix web site shows the Turbine DC3 is still a future project. That will keep the lads busy with bush skills.

If I was CASA chief, all f/w companies would require a C-185 for all new comers to the cut their teeth on first! (dreaming):}

[Pinky the pilot]

when I was stuck over a solid overcast headed back to Moresby from the 'Jungles' and had to to a DME homing which enabled me to fly directly overhead the aid.
Then track 5nm out to sea where I could safely descend through cloud, to become visual at 800' and track round the coast to approach the Field from the east!


Note I said headed back from the '*Jungles' chimbu warrior. Specifically Kagi, which was somewhere about 045 degrees from Moresby. So flying back to Moresby was a SW track which took you straight out to sea once past Jackson Field. But then follow the coast around and approach from the South. Not the East; My mistake.

* The description 'The Jungles' was a Douglas Airways Pilots term for the Naoro, Manari, Efogi, Manumu, Bodinumu and Kagi airstrips. They were all within a few minutes flight time of each other, some actually being in the circuit area of another.

[Kagamuga]

AIC 20-1006 PRELIMINARY REPORT
Preliminary Reports | AIC (https://www.aic.gov.pg/index.php/preliminary-reports)


Extensive damage, Nose compressed, left hand wing root destroyed, engine prop damage,
Unlikely to fly out due to spar damage etc

[geeup]

Interesting.. on take off assumed it was landing.. same result really

[Kagamuga]

Still there?

[Racetrack]

Still there. Rumour I heard was waiting for insurance payout before Hevilift use the Mil to lift it out.

[Duck Pilot]

Has Heli Niugini got any operational Mi-8s left in PNG?

[Kagamuga]

Any news on the Twin Otter being removed.?

Perhaps the Boeing Vertol can lift the machine out; not sure how many Mil'8 are left in PNG?

[Mumbai Merlin]

Facebook page from last week shows Air Sangas sole remaining aircraft, Twin Otter, fairly well bogged and being towed out by the masses......

[Kagamuga]

Almost 9 months and still not recovered !

[geeup]

Almost 9 months and still not recovered !

Who owns it?

Surely it was insured?

[Kagamuga]

14 months (Dec 2020) on the side of an airstrip ?
Recovery is either too difficult or not worth the money... ?

[geeup]

Otter or their data plates are always worth the money.

I’m guessing compensation or insurance problems

[Duck Pilot]

I’m surprised a certain operator in PNG hasn’t bought the wreck from the insurance company and recovered it with their Mil-8 for a rebuild.

I know they done something similar out of West Papua many years ago. There was a bit of a funny story to the recovery that I won’t elaborate on here.

[Kagamuga]

I think the Otter is in fact a Hevilft - Skytek lease aircraft. ?? Not sure..

[Office Update]

The final reports is not good news for the Operator.

Missing paperwork, Over-temp engines, underspeed props, non compliance with SOP's, and operating outside the AFM take-off procedure.

[geeup]

The airframe is parked out the front of the Hevilift Hangar.

Mil8 recovered it

[Petropavlovsk]

Location of hangar? Mt. Hagen or Port Moresby ?

[Duck Pilot]

It was slung loaded under a Mi 8 to Hagen over a week ago.

Obviously the insurance company had come to a conclusion after the accident report was published.

[Petropavlovsk]

P2-ASM has arrived at Cairns; albeit in bits and pieces.

Stored in the open behind the Hawkers (Jet Aviation) paint shop



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