"Friendly 246" out of IAD, immediate landing off airport

[GregAmy]

Cessna 208B takes off from Dulles International and immediately lands on roadway. ~1747UTC 19Jan24

ATC radio indicates "Mayday Mayday we're landing <unintelliglble, possibly "on the street down here>" then after tower trying to re-contact them "we're on the ground, just landed" and "we're evacuating the aircraft".Soon after "Friendly 246 we're across the Wendy's and Aldi's...all pilots and passengers alive and well...five passengers, 1100# fuel, no fire, no problem...two crew".

[BFSGrad]

Miracle landing in today’s weather (you hear that, Sully?). Light snow and 1 1/4 mi visibility. Aircraft departed from runway 30. Two pilots aboard today. Is Southern Airways Express always a two pilot operation?

[wideman]

Weather actually may have been helpful, the snow likely keeping some traffic off the Loudon County Parkway, where they landed. Never gained enough altitude for visibility to be an issue, based on this map:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1929x863/x_9ca86aa129708ef2eddf431534e5bdd5b67e74e7.png

[Flch250]

The blades are interesting to me🤔. Leading edge appears clean.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1588x989/img_0082_8422e819287d405a2f5eae07bf35e922609f6826.jpeg

[GarageYears]

This happened about 5 miles from my house here in Northern VA:
Seems the crew did a good job and aircraft appears undamaged.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/19/us/small-commuter-airliner-traveling-from-dulles-lands-on-road/index.html

https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/240119143138-va-plane-emergency-landing-011924-still.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_833,w_1480,c_fill

[spinex]

Reported elsewhere that there is damage to the prop and undercarriage. All 3 blades visibly bent in the photo published in ASN.

[EXDAC]

The ADS-B vertical speed profile is interesting. I'd say the pilot did a very nice job to get it down in one piece. Makes me wonder if the pilot got his 208 time flying jumpers.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/751x661/n1983x_60931242f275324fc9b75f5cad3a2611a6ebe53e.png

[Mike Flynn]

https://twitter.com/rawsalerts/status/1748420457135493450?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembe d%7Ctwterm%5E1748456442128945376%7Ctwgr%5E088e4d8043f27e53fb 32a76365ac4aaef6075df0%7Ctwcon%5Es3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fviewfromthewing.com%2Fbreathtaking-audio-of-air-traffic-control-as-washington-dulles-flight-lands-on-highway%2FExcellent result and good radio call.👍

Numerous emergency personnel and other agencies are currently at the scene of an aircraft accident involving Southern Airways Express Flight 246, a Cessna 208B with the registration N1983. The incident occurred after the aircraft made a forced emergency landing on the Loudoun County Parkway shortly after taking off from Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The Cessna Caravan reached a maximum altitude of 850 feet before executing the emergency landing. According to FlightAware, the plane was en route from Dulles to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Officials have reported that there are no injuries.

[visibility3miles]

More pictures here:
https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2024/01/small-plane-makes-emergency-landing-on-loudoun-co-parkway-near-dulles-airport/

[JanetFlight]

Wow...absolutely amazing the perfect outcome with no injuries at all, almost intact ship, besides that horrible nasty weather...even it seems no vehicles hit at all.
Such an amazing job and calm comms...those pilots (at least one was a girl by the comms) deserve a box full of fresh beer very week till the end of times!!!
PS: And those power lines so near could had done a lot of "bad things"...

[BFSGrad]

Appears aircraft has been removed from the roadway. Earlier live video feed showed a local tow and recovery company (Willow Spring) fumbling around with two flatbed trucks in a push-me-pull-you flustercluck. Eventually that transitioned to aircraft just being towed somewhere behind a heavy-duty wrecker.

One local interview had eyewitness saying aircraft slid into guardrail, including prop strike on guardrail.

[PuraVidaTransport]

Amazing outcome. Just saw the news interview a guy who saw it land smoothly 30 feet in front of his car then go UNDER some signal lights!

One local interview had eyewitness saying aircraft slid into guardrail, including prop strike on guardrail.

Having run my car into a few guardrails in ice/snow, I find zero fault in them hitting a guardrail at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsyzmra7OvI

[FUMR]

And, since no one else has mentioned it, bravo for using "mayday mayday".

[bestofpdx]

Excellent airmanship.
To begin speculation on a cause, search online with the term "diesel exhaust fluid contamination of aviation fuel."

[island_airphoto]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/passenger-flight-leaves-dulles-airport-and-lands-on-virginia-highway_n_65aad1ffe4b076abd7ab917f

https://wtop.com/loudoun-county/2024/01/small-plane-makes-emergency-landing-on-loudoun-co-parkway-near-dulles-airport/


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1880x1251/ap24019739172257_1880x1251_848265334984d72c83bb9cf3752f97aa3 3c02cad.jpgI used to fly one of those, can't say I ever landed one on the road. Given the nature of IAD/DCA area traffic, I am amazed that anyone made room for them, I would expect a middle finger and "get your plane out of my way"!
Seriously happy no one got hurt here. The airline itself does not have the best rep :(

[BFSGrad]

Given the nature of IAD/DCA area traffic, I am amazed that anyone made room for them, I would expect a middle finger and "get your plane out of my way"!It was a DC snow day; i.e., schools closed and liberal work absence, so traffic on area roads was light. Additionally, that stretch of road has a couple of traffic signals upstream of the landing zone so the timing may have just worked out right.

[Compton3fox]

https://youtu.be/HGjUQt0vhSI?si=Ne7yLVageHe_crLJ

[1southernman]

My experience on CE208 was late 80's flying Part 91 pax/135 freight(B models) and also a few jumpers...We were taught that most PT6 fails were roll backs to idle due to fadec fault (maybe called something else back then)...It had a back up mechanical thrust lever that sat in a detent on the quad...IIRC the drill was pull back to idle and carefully use the backup with no limit prots...Actually did it in training...If not damaged the PT6 core will run with the prop feathered or stopped...Also proper use of the induction thingy was a big deal in the right conditions...Fun flying in that was like a big 182...Could fly appr. at 70 or 170 and pick your turnoff...Just going to idle would tighten the harnesses...With reverse it was even more impressive...If this was a rollback issue at their alt/speed, prolly no time to try the backup...Feather and do what they did....B

[island_airphoto]

And, since no one else has mentioned it, bravo for using "mayday mayday".
I taught that to all my students, maybe a carryover from maritime radio ops where that was a standard call, I never saw a reason to hem and haw like "We may have a minor problem here, maybe send a shuttle bus out to the highway to get the passengers, might be a bit of bother". Mayday gets you priority with no ambiguity.

[1southernman]

My experience on CE208 was late 80's flying Part 91 pax/135 freight(B models) and also a few jumpers...We were taught that most PT6 fails were roll backs to idle due to fadec fault (maybe called something else back then)...It had a back up mechanical thrust lever that sat in a detent on the quad...IIRC the drill was pull back to idle and carefully use the backup with no limit prots...Actually did it in training...If not damaged the PT6 core will run with the prop feathered or stopped...Also proper use of the induction thingy was a big deal in the right conditions...Fun flying in that was like a big 182...Could fly appr. at 70 or 170 and pick your turnoff...Just going to idle would tighten the harnesses...With reverse it was even more impressive...If this was a rollback issue at their alt/speed, prolly no time to try the backup...Feather and do what they did....B

I recall doing a demo flite with NTSB in a CE208 reference a skydiving crash in Ga. that occurred in 85...Loaded with jumpers it stalled after TO at low alt....Eng. fail due to possible fuel contamination...At a safe alt. I was asked to set up a TO climb profile...Not loaded just two NTSB and me...First demo I pulled back to idle to sim eng. fail and not feather...Good push required to keep flying...Second demo was same except feather...Big difference and was able set up a decent glide...Another thing I recall is the 208 is a big icemaker...It requires close attention especially in trying to climb out of icing...B

[BFSGrad]

The operator, Southern Airways Express, reported the following. Flight 246 from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Dulles, Virgina to Lancaster Airport (LNS), Lancaster, Pennsylvania, departed from runway 30. During the initial climb after takeoff, about 600 ft above ground level, the flight crew noticed that the standby power light in the cockpit illuminated. Shortly thereafter, there was a sudden, shattering noise and vibrations coming from the engine area.

The pilot, who was at the controls, instructed the copilot to declare an emergency and initiate procedures to return to IAD. During the turnback, it became evident that the engine was unresponsive and the airplane was rapidly losing altitude. The pilot made the decision to land the airplane on highway 606, near the perimeter of IAD. During the landing, the airplane touched down on the paved surface of the road and collided with a steel guardrail before coming to a stop. The flight crew secured the airplane and the crew and passengers were met by first responders.

NTSB Preliminary Incident Report - N1983X (https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/193691/pdf)

[B-757]

..Excellent job by the pilots !!..Now we will just have to wait for the final report from the NTSB, to find out what actually happened..
(..Or maybe not..I am sure somebody here will tell us first..!! ;);) )

Fly safe,
B-757