2009 Accident review - Air Show South Africa

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and Paolo Castellani, 52, was critically injured.Two causal hypotheses are still being examinedby experts: the first was a loss of enginepower at the time of the turn, the second, consideredmost probable, was that the pilotmade a handling error.n SEPTEMBER 7: Experimental Six Chuter SR7(Hooper, Utah, USA)It was about mid-afternoon when an experimentalSix Chuter SR7 unregistered poweredparachute, was substantially damaged when itimpacted the spectator enclosure while manoeuvringnear Hooper, Utah. The pilot and hispassenger sustained minor injuries but twospectators sustained serious injuries and fourpeople sustained minor injuries.The pilot and passenger were conducting aflight over the Hooper Tomato Day’s annualevent to throw candy to a crowd of spectators.The pilot reported that while flying on a westerlyheading, he passed over a set of powerlines and the passenger “started dumpingcandy.”The pilot stated that he then “lost lift” and“could not recover.” Subsequently, the aircraftimpacted the spectator enclosure, and rolledover.One of the first things drilled into display pilotsabout operations near any assembly ofpeople is not to operate the aircraft in such away as to potentially jeopardise the safety ofanyone on the ground. Unfortunately the operatorapparently did not heed that missiveand sport aviation received a ‘black eye’ whenthe ‘candy drop’ resulted in the aircraft goingdown into and injuring the spectators.n SEPTEMBER 22: Ilyushin 76-MD “Simorgh”AWACS and Northrop F-5E Tiger (Tehran, Iran)Above a big military parade, as the Iranianpresident declared Iran’s armed forces would“chop off the hands” of any power daring toattack his country, two air force aircraft collidedin mid-air.One was Iran’s only airborne warning andcontrol system (AWACS) for coordinating longdistanceaerial operations, and the other an escortingNorthrop F-5E Tiger.The parade, which included a march-past, aline of Shehab-3 missiles and an air force flypast,was planned to give Ahmadinejad a dazzlingsend-off for New York and add steel to hisUN Assembly speech.Dubbed “Simorgh” (a flying creature of Iranianfable which performs wonders in midflight),the AWACS’ appearance, escorted byfighter jets, was to have been the climax forthe Iranian Air force’s fly-past over the parade.Instead, it collided with one of the escortingaircraft, a F-5E, and both crashed to the groundin flames.All seven crewmembers of the IL-75 werekilled but the two pilots of the F-5E survivedthe ejection.Eye witnesses reported that the flamingplanes impacted on the mausoleum burial siteof the Islamic revolution’s founder, RuhollahKhomeini, a national shrine. According toWestern observers, no distress signals camefrom either cockpit indicating that the collisionwas sudden and fast.n OCTOBER 7: Mikoyan MiG-23 (Tripoli, Libya)A Libyan Air Force MiG-23 ‘Flogger’ crashedinto a house during the third Libyan AviationExhibition LAVEX, an international air show, atMa’atiqa International Airport, killing the pilotand the co-pilot, both colonels in the LibyanAir Force. One of the casualties was believedto be the commanding officer of 1023Squadron.Three people on the ground, including twowomen, were reportedly injured when theMiG-23 crashed into an eastern suburb ofTripoli, about two kilometres from observationplatforms at the Libyan Aviation Conference &Exhibition, destroying most of the houses theaircraft hit.n NOVEMBER 14: English Electric P1B Lightning(Western Cape, South Africa)Around midday at the South African AirAt CemAir we offer high quality utilityturboprop aircraft to a variety ofoperators throughout Africa and theMiddle East, both as a leasing companyand as an operator. Focusing onreliability, safety and quality, we offerpremium airline operators andhumanitarian organizations the ability togo further and faster into almost anypart of the continent.Based at Lanseria Airport, South Africa,we are ideally positioned to providesupport to our clients. With extensiveexperience with the variety ofchallenges the continent offers we areable to understand your requirementsand meet them in this rapidly changingenvironment.We give our customers the peace ofmind of knowing that their aircraft willarrive on time, every time.www.cemair.co.zaTel: +27 11 659 2171Fax: +27 11 659 2174Hangar 31, Gate 5, Lanseria AirportP O Box 1312, Lanseria, 174856 WORLD AIRNEWS, FEBRUARY 2010.
EXCELLENCE IN PILOT TRAINING60 + Training AircraftThe ill-fated English Electric Lightning seen flying its demonstration shortly before the pilot reportedhydraulic failure. The fire in the tail pipe (arrowed) which grew rapidly is thought to have caused the totalfailure of the aircraft’s hydraulic systems causing the pilot to lose control. He was unable to eject becauseof an ejection seat failure (see also Page 71).The school with the rightenvironment, experience andexpertise to provide quality training.Our goal is to deliver to the industrya solidly trained pilot with a trueoperational capability.Force’s Flight Test Centre, the bi-annual 'TFDCFly-In” was in full swing and the spectators inthe process of being enthralled by the brutepower of the Cold War era English ElectricLightning being flown by Thunder City displayand former SAAF fixed wing test pilot, DaveStock.Coming out of a manoeuvre in a steep turnat show centre, the pilot terminated his displaywith a call to air traffic control that he had indicationsof Hydraulic 1 failure and stated thathe would move to the Overberg Weapons TestRange to burn off fuel before returning forlanding.Very shortly after the first radio call, afterhaving extended the undercarriage as per theemergency procedures, he calmly announcedthe failure of Hydraulic 2 system and realisingthat ejection was now the only option, he announcedhis intentions to eject.Not long after that announcement and afterthree ejection attempts, he called: “ejectionseat failure”.Nearly simultaneously, the aircraft pitchednose down and entered a steep spiral descent,impacting on the weapons range several secondslater.Very sadly, realising his impending fate, heonce again calmly requested the air traffic controllerto inform those close to him, that “heloved them”.The primary cause of the accident was mostprobably flight control failure as a result ofhydraulic failure induced fire (see first reportby the CAA’s Accident/Incident InvestigationDivision on Page 71). Reviewing images takenby spectators, it appeared that a fire hadstarted in the jetpipe, most probably causedby the ignition of the hydraulic fluid that hadpooled up in the aft section of the fuselage andin all likelihood, burnt through the elevatorcontrol which was subsequently manifested bythe loss of pitch control.It would appear that this was a very similarcase to that of the SAAF’s Silver Falcon lossduring an air show at Stellenbosch in April1988 when the pilot ejected from theAermacchi MB-3326M due to a tailpipe firewhich burnt so intensely, fuelled by leakeddiesel “smoke oil”, that the elevator controlrods burnt through, making ejection the onlypossible option.In this case poor maintenance of a recentrepair scheme on the “smoke system” was thedirect contributory cause.CONCLUSIONAs an international air show community, weseem to have reached a plateau in our abilityto reduce accidents and incidents at air shows.The question is: Can we afford then to justcontinue and accept an average of 19 accidents/incidentsper annum?Further, can we afford to just accept whatthe dice have dealt, with the associated loss oflife?Are we doing enough worldwide to reducethe number of air show accidents/incidents? QWORLD AIRNEWS, FEBRUARY 2010. 57MCC SimulatorState-of-the-ArtHelicopter Simulator300 + Full Time Students accommodated on CampusOur full-time pool of 70+ civilian, airline andmilitary flying instructors includes 2 GradeI/DE’s, 37 Grade II and 7 Rotor Wing Instructorswith 200 000+hrs (TT) and 95 000 hrs flightinstruction. 7 full-time Ground Instructors.The Aviation Industry’s Pilot TrainingInstitution of ChoicePILOT TRAININGFixed Wing and Helicopter PPL, CPL,ATPL, Full Ground School andScheduled Instructor Training Courses.Private Bag X43,Port Alfred, 6170, South AfricaTel: + 27 (0) 46 604 3600Fax: + 27 (0) 46 624 2432E-mail: training@43airschool.comwww.43airschool.comThe force you can trustPart of National Airways Corporation (NAC)An Imperial Company
Page 3 and 4: ing at the co-pilot to pull the thr
Page 5: possible cause of the crash.The Rus

2009 Accident review - Air Show South Africa

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