Short 330

The Short was departing Paris-Roissy-CDG Airport on a cargo service to Luton with two pilots on board. The crew were cleared to depart cargo stand N51 and proceed to runway 27 at 02:38. Around the same time Air Liberté Flight 8807 (an MD-83, F-GHED) also taxied to runway 27 for a flight to Madrid. At 02:44 the Charles de Gaulle ground controller asked Streamline 200 if they wished to enter runway 27 at an intermediate taxiway; the crew asked for and were granted to enter Taxiway 16. At 02:50:49 the tower controller cleared the MD-83 for takeoff: "Liberté 8807, autorisé au décollage 27, 230°, 10 à 15 kts.". The controller then immediately told the Shorts to line up and wait: "Stream Line two hundred line up runway 27 and wait, number two". As the MD-83 was travelling down the runway, the Shorts started to taxi onto the runway. At a speed of about 155 knots the left wing of MD-83 slashed through the cockpit of the Shorts plane; the MD-83 abandoned takeoff.

While approaching Booué Airport, the crew encountered poor weather conditions. As a landing was impossible in such conditions, the crew decided to return to Libreville but en route, ATC confirmed that weather was poor and the crew decided to divert to La Lopé Airport. After landing on a wet runway surface (La Lopé runway is 800 metres long), the aircraft encountered difficulties to stop within the remaining distance and overran. While contacting soft ground, the nose gear collapsed then the aircraft rolled for about 50 metres before coming to rest in a rocky area. All 16 occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft departed Exeter at 2237 hrs where the weather was fair with scattered cloud at 1500 feet. After climbing uneventfully through cloud to FL 90 the aircraft cruisedin clear, smooth air. In the cruise the co-pilot noticed that his vertical speed indicator was displaying a slight rate of climb although the aircraft was in level flight but this and a spurious hydraulic warning were the only anomalies. As the aircraft approached East Midlands airport the runway visual range there was below the approach minima and several aircraft were holding awaiting an improvement in the visibility. G-ZAPC descended to 2,500 ft and held in clear air over the Lichfield NDB for about 45 minutes until the fuel state dictated a diversion to Liverpool. On diversion the aircraft was initially cleared direct to the Whitegate NDB and then Wallasey VOR at FL 40. At this level the crew could see ground features in good visibility until they entered cloudas they descended through 3,500 feet whilst being radar vectored for an approach to Liverpool Airport. The cloud was stratiform in character and did not appear to contain precipitation or significant turbulence. At Liverpool airport the cloud base was 6/8at 1,100 feet, the visibility 12 km, the air temperature +1°Cand the surface wind was 060°/8 kt. There is an ILS localiser on Runway 09 but no glidepath transmitter so a LOC DME approach is normally flown. Although the DME antenna is mid-way along the runway, the DMErange is set to read zero at the runway displaced threshold. The pilot flies the localiser in azimuth and adjusts his height according to his pressure altimeter; the 3° glidepath commences at 1,610 feet QNH from 5 nm DME with check heights at 4, 3, 2 and 1 nm DME. On the north side of the runway 329 metres from the threshold there are 4 PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator)lights which are set to a glidepath of 3°. During the approach to Runway 09 at Liverpool all the anti-icing services were switched on and operating except for the wing de-icing boots which, having seen no ice on the wings,the commander decided not to employ, and the ice detector which he considered unreliable. The approach proceeded normally andthe aircraft descended out of cloud at about 1,100 feet having been in cloud for about 10 minutes. When the commander viewed the PAPIs at 1 DME"all four lights had a pink tinge". Thinking he might be slightly low relative to the approach glidepath, he asked the co-pilot to specify the correct height at 1 DME which was 410feet. At the time the commander's pressure altimeter, which was set to the QNH of 1019 mb, indicated that the aircraft was slightly high and so he made a small correction to the flight path which resulted in three red PAPI lights and one white light. The commander also decided to touch down slightly beyond the runway identifier numbers which are a few metres beyond the 'piano keys' that identify the threshold. The aircraft was cleared to land with a wind of "Easterly at 10 kt" and on short finals the commander asked for full flap. He then allowed the speed to bleed back from the approach speed of between 110 and 120 KIAS towards the threshold speed of 90 KIAS without moving the throttles from their approach power setting. According to both crew members and the passenger who was seated in the 'jump seat', the aircraft crossed over the end of runway at between 88 and 90 KIAS. Some 20 to 30 feet above the runway the commander noticed that the flight controls felt 'sloppy' as if the aircraft's speed was unusually low but there was no hint of a stall warning or stick shaker activation. At much the same time all three persons on board felt the aircraft sink rapidly; the commander pulled back on the control column but he was unable to arrest the high rate of descent and the aircraft struck the runway very hard. The right wing dropped as the right main gear collapsed and the aircraft veered to the right off the runway onto the grass. The ground was frozen hard and the aircraft came to a halt without incurring further significant damage. The crew informed ATC that they were unhurt before securing the aircraft whilst ATC activated the airport's emergency services. On leaving the aircraft the commander inspected the wings for ice accretion. He noticed a thin layer of clear,watery ice along the leading edges across the pneumatic de-icing boots from top to bottom. The ice layer could be wiped off with one finger and was no more than one eight of an inch thick. Throughout the flight there had been no visible signs of ice accretion on the wings or the windscreen wiper. Consequently, the commander had not increased the threshold speed to compensate for ice accretion.

The two pilots were transporting Hydro-Québec employees in the aircraft to allow them to check electrical facilities in several villages along the Hudson Bay coast. The aircraft departed
Kuujjuarapik, Quebec, at about 1444 eastern standard time (EST) on a flight to Umiujaq, Quebec, a distance of 86 nautical miles (nm) to the north. The pilot-in-command was flying the aircraft. After the take-off from Kuujjuarapik, the crew contacted the Kuujjuarapik Flight Service Station (FSS) to file a flight notification and request weather information. The crew received three weather reports for Umiujaq from that FSS. The flight was conducted at an altitude of 5,000 feet on an outbound track of 045 degrees from the Kuujjuarapik non-directional beacon (NDB). Thirty miles from Umiujaq, the crew commenced the descent. Seven miles from the village, the aircraft was at an altitude of 700 feet and the crew could see the ground. The crew used a global positioning system (GPS) waypoint to supplement visual navigation (before reaching a downwind position), and continued their step-down procedure to about 200 feet above ground level (agl) on a heading of 25 degrees magnetic (°M). At that altitude, the visibility was reported by the crew to be over one and one-half miles and the crew could recognize references on the ground and position the aircraft for landing. When turning onto the final approach to runway 21, the pilot-in-command initiated a turn with at least 35 degrees of bank angle, and the aircraft stalled. The pilot-in-command initiated a stall recovery and called for full power. The aircraft did not gain sufficient altitude to overfly the rising terrain, and it crashed. The two crew members and two of the passengers sustained minor injuries. They were given first aid treatment at the accident site by other passengers.

During the takeoff roll at Tortola-Terrance B. Lettsome Airport, the pilot-in-command considered the aircraft behaviour as unsatisfactory and decided to abort. Despite an emergency braking procedure, the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance, overran and came to rest in the sea. All 30 occupants evacuated safely and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The Sherpa departed Fort Rucker-Cairns AAF on a training flight, carrying three crew members who were supposed to test the aircraft in special configuration. Two hours and 45 minutes into the flight, while cruising at an altitude of 5,336 feet in good weather conditions, the aircraft became unstable and rolled to the right to an angle of 12° then to the left to an angle of 35°. It entered an uncontrolled descent before crashing in an open field located 4 miles north of Colquitt, bursting into flames. All three occupants were killed. It was determined that control was lost while the aircraft' speed was 89 knots. Originally, the crew was supposed to simulate an engine failure at the altitude of 10,000 feet but apparently encountered problems as the aircraft' speed was dropping by the order of one knot per second before it became unstable. At the time of the accident, the total weight of the aircraft and its CofG were within limits.

The crew started the approach to Samos Airport runway 09 in poor weather conditions. While flying under VFR mode in IMC conditions, the aircraft struck the slope of Mt Kerkis (1,430 meters high) located 25 km northwest of the airport. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 34 occupants were killed. At the time of the accident, the visibility was poor and the mountain was shrouded in clouds.

After being parked at Southend Airport for a long time without any maintenance and due to hydraulic problems, it was decided to ferry the aircraft from Southend to Biggin Hill. While taxiing, the nosewheel steering system failed and the crew lost control of the aircraft that veered to the left and collided with a parked British Air Ferries Vickers 806 Viscount registered G-APIM. Both pilots escaped uninjured and both aircraft were damaged beyond repair.