Venezuelan ATR-43 Crash
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Maybe...
this is a related incident?:
ATR 72 in-flight upset traced to rudder maintenance fault
I heard the (supposed) CVR-recording of Conviasa (It was leaked to the internet, but don't ask me, I don't have a link now) and there was apparently a increasing difficulty to move the controls. Does anybody knows more eventually? I'm not really sure the venezuelan authorities are doing things at a adequate speed, that's why I write here again 
ATR 72 in-flight upset traced to rudder maintenance fault
Investigators are warning ATR operators that a crucial rudder component could be installed incorrectly in the turboprop, after the crew of an Air Contractors aircraft experienced serious control problems after take-off from Edinburgh a month ago
I doubt very much that this was the same problem, otherwise the aircraft could not have flown from Isla Margarita to Puerto Ordaz without any obvious control problems.
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...ml#post5934058
More likely, the problem was just one more case of the reversal of flight control forces on ATR's operating in heavy icing conditions, like the most recent crash of the Cuban airline Aerocaribbean, which occurred about six weeks after this last accident in Venezuela. Follow this link:
ASN Aircraft accident ATR-72-212 CU-T1549 Guasimal, Sancti Spiritus Province
It's not rocket science.
By the way, before you ask the question, heavy icing is not unusual in the tropics at turbo-prop cruise altitudes, around 20K'.
http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/4...ml#post5934058
More likely, the problem was just one more case of the reversal of flight control forces on ATR's operating in heavy icing conditions, like the most recent crash of the Cuban airline Aerocaribbean, which occurred about six weeks after this last accident in Venezuela. Follow this link:
ASN Aircraft accident ATR-72-212 CU-T1549 Guasimal, Sancti Spiritus Province
It's not rocket science.
By the way, before you ask the question, heavy icing is not unusual in the tropics at turbo-prop cruise altitudes, around 20K'.
Last edited by twochai; 16th Apr 2011 at 00:48.
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Thanks no-hoper, then it was clearly not related. Hopefully the investigation make progress.
Twochai: the distance Porlamar-Puerto Ordaz is 321km/172nm, they had the problem at least 20 minutes before impact and were apparently flying FL150 before the problems appeared and asked to descend to FL110 (not sure of this). Does this speak for icing? At least in the CVR there is not a single mention about ice/icing conditions. They perceived it as a technical fault.
Twochai: the distance Porlamar-Puerto Ordaz is 321km/172nm, they had the problem at least 20 minutes before impact and were apparently flying FL150 before the problems appeared and asked to descend to FL110 (not sure of this). Does this speak for icing? At least in the CVR there is not a single mention about ice/icing conditions. They perceived it as a technical fault.
Last edited by Mauersegler; 16th Apr 2011 at 10:13.
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Could be unrelated, but many years ago, I flew a particular ATR42 which had a strange "feel" when checking the rudder travel. I could not really pinpoint what it was, but it just felt maybe like a squeeky door, without the sound.
I notified the maintenance but they found nothing wrong after regular "tested on ground".
After a few more days, my doubts grew stronger and insisted to have a check again through the whole cable/quadrants, that something felt wrong, and a bit catching on the rudder travel (no TLU on the ATR42).
The maintenance found the rudder cable run on the wrong side of an aluminum bar (part of reinforcement for the toilet panel ceiling, close to pressure bulhead). The cable had started to "saw" through the aluminum bar, when discovered, it was more that half way eaten up, about 12-15mm. It took probably hundreds of hours, if not thousands, for a smooth steel cable to cut through an aluminum bar, and for many hours, the rudder movement would have felt the same as usual.
After talking to a maintenance rep in ATR (manufacturer) a while later, they told me it was not the first time this mistake had been done.
I can only imagine that the cable would end up being stuck once the aluminum bar starts to flex and bend, anyways, just an option, many more possibilities.
I have flown thousands of hours on ATRs on different continents, and would rule out icing if the anti/de-ice system was working properly and procedures followed. At these latitudes, anything below 15000' you don't get icing. Hard to imagine even heavy icing not melting past 12000' on descent.
Flex
I notified the maintenance but they found nothing wrong after regular "tested on ground".
After a few more days, my doubts grew stronger and insisted to have a check again through the whole cable/quadrants, that something felt wrong, and a bit catching on the rudder travel (no TLU on the ATR42).
The maintenance found the rudder cable run on the wrong side of an aluminum bar (part of reinforcement for the toilet panel ceiling, close to pressure bulhead). The cable had started to "saw" through the aluminum bar, when discovered, it was more that half way eaten up, about 12-15mm. It took probably hundreds of hours, if not thousands, for a smooth steel cable to cut through an aluminum bar, and for many hours, the rudder movement would have felt the same as usual.
After talking to a maintenance rep in ATR (manufacturer) a while later, they told me it was not the first time this mistake had been done.
I can only imagine that the cable would end up being stuck once the aluminum bar starts to flex and bend, anyways, just an option, many more possibilities.
I have flown thousands of hours on ATRs on different continents, and would rule out icing if the anti/de-ice system was working properly and procedures followed. At these latitudes, anything below 15000' you don't get icing. Hard to imagine even heavy icing not melting past 12000' on descent.
Flex
Last edited by FLEXPWR; 9th Apr 2012 at 01:25. Reason: typos
