Positioning

The twin engine aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances near Lake Larouche. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

While in cruising level over Germany on a positioning flight from Rotterdam to Thessaloniki, the right engine failed and its propeller feathered automatically. The crew informed ATC and started a descent in an order to divert to the nearest airport. While descending, the power was restored on the right engine but it failed again. Once the altitude of 6,000 feet was reached on descent, the left engine failed as well. The crew reduced his altitude and completed a belly landing in an open field located near Niedernberg. Both pilots escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Approximately 10 minutes after takeoff, the pilot stated he was returning to land due to a problem. On final the aircraft rolled inverted and descended nose down into a residence. Engine examination revealed a failed supercharger intermediate drive shaft gear resulting in loss of supercharger on the right engine. The aircraft was approximately 300 lbs over max gross weight. The landing gear was down and the flaps were extended approx 20°. The left throttle was found in the full forward (high power) position. The right prop control was in full decrease rpm, high pitch and the right engine magneto switches were off. Witnesses had observed the aircraft descend to below traffic pattern altitude. At approx 200 feet agl a loud engine noise was heard and the slow flying aircraft pitched up, rolled right and descended vertically about 1/2 mile from the airport. The pilot had not declared an emergency or defined his problem. The pilot's last recorded flight in the Beech 65 was in February 1988. There was no record of a check-out or flight training in the aircraft. Both occupants were killed.

A BAe-748 cargo plane was destroyed when it crashed while on approach to Ottawa International Airport, ON (YOW), Canada. Both pilots were killed. The airplane had arrived at Montreal-Dorval International Airport, QC (YUL) following a cargo flight from Dayton, OH, USA. All the cargo was unloaded in Montreal and the aircraft departed at 09:58 for Ottawa on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan. The en route phase of the flight were uneventful. At about 10:19, while the aircraft was in level cruise flight at 3000 feet at approximately 200 knots indicated airspeed (KIAS), the flight data recorder (FDR) recorded a full-up deflection of the left aileron and a full-down deflection of the right aileron, and the aircraft began a roll to the left at a high rate. The right aileron remained at the fully-deflected position for a period of three seconds, and then, over the next seven seconds, the deflection gradually decreased by about five degrees. During the same 10-second period, the left aileron remained nearly fully deflected for the first eight seconds, then the deflection decreased by about five degrees during the next two seconds. By this time, the aircraft had rolled through approximately 460 degrees, and the aircraft nose had dropped 20 to 30 degrees below the horizon. At this point, the ailerons suddenly returned to about the neutral position and remained there for the last three seconds of the flight. The aircraft bank angle remained at approximately 90 degrees of left bank with a maximum vertical g of 4.7 recorded. The aircraft struck the ground at an airspeed of approximately 290 KIAS after a heading change of about 75 degrees left of the cruise heading. At impact, the aircraft bank angle was nearly 90 degrees left and the pitch angle was 41 degrees down. The time from the initial aileron deflection to ground impact was approximately 18 seconds.

The engine n°2 was inoperative due to technical problems and the crew decided to takeoff on a positioning flight to Quito with only three engines. Shortly after takeoff from Lago Agrio Airport, while in initial climb, the engine n°1 caught fire and exploded. The crew lost control of the aircraft that banked left and crashed, bursting into flames. All seven occupants were killed.

The crew was completing a positioning flight from Rotterdam to Eindhoven. On approach to Eindhoven Airport, the visibility was poor due to fog when the aircraft struck tree tops 5,6 km short of runway. On impact, the elevators were torn off. The aircraft then struck other trees and crashed on a embankment located near Best, bursting into flames. Both pilots were killed.

The pilot and his two passengers had just arrived at the Jackson-Hole Airport (JAX) approximately 30 minutes prior to the accident. The pilot dropped off his passengers and stepped into operations for a short break. He then returned to the aircraft by himself for a return flight to California. It was a very dark night with a 2,000 feet overcast and no visible horizon. The pilot had departed Redding, CA at 1357 hours and had been on continuous flight duty from that time until the time of the accident. A witness stated the pilot seemed to be tired and hungry. The aircraft was observed making a normal night takeoff. Witnesses stated that as the aircraft turned from crosswind to downwind it appeared that the pilot had trouble controlling the aircraft. After the aircraft made a few extreme up and down maneuvers, it appeared to proceed to the east. The next time the aircraft was observed, it was again climbing and descending rapidly and subsequently impacted the ground in a vertical dive. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The crew was positioning the aircraft in preparation for a revenue flight and executing a non-directional beacon (NDB) approach to runway 05. The captain reported that the copilot was flying the aircraft. However, the captain stated that he took control of the aircraft during the approach and made some control corrections before returning control of the aircraft to the copilot. Radar data indicated that aircraft control was erratic throughout the approach and that the airspeed and descent rates were high (3,000 fpm sink rate) shortly before the accident. The aircraft struck a fence short of the runway and impacted the ground. The captain said he realized the aircraft was drifting left of course but did not correct it. He said he told the copilot to add power twice during the approach. The copilot's training history indicated difficulty in control, scan of instruments, and with instrument procedures. Company management described the captain as passive and the copilot as aggressive. Supervision of training and operations by management and surveillance of the company by the FAA was considered inadequate by NTSB.

This was the first flight after a maintenance inspection. The flaps were left full down after a post-inspection by company mechanics, before the flight. Witnesses stated the flaps were down when the aircraft taxied to takeoff on runway 19L. Witnesses stated the aircraft climbed steeply after it lifted off with a pitch attitude up to 60°. According to witnesses, the aircraft climbed to 200 to 500 feet agl, before it stalled and descended nose down in a left turn. The aircraft crashed about 300 ft left of and 2000 ft down the rwy. Examination of the aircraft revealed the flaps were full down. The scroll type checklist was positioned at the beginning of the takeoff check. The flight manual recommends a 10 degree flap setting for takeoff and prohibits flap full down takeoff. Review of previous DHC-6 accidents involving flap full down resulted in a steep takeoff climb and excessive pitch attitude followed by a stall. The position of the control lock suggests it may have been in the locked position during the takeoff. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The DHC-6 Twin Otter, C-GKBM, was under contract to the U.S. Forest Service. It was to be repositioned to John Day, OR to pick up passengers. At 11:35 PDT, the pilot checked in with John Day Dispatch and transmitted his expected time of arrival would be 12:15 PDT. About 11:40 the aircraft contacted three trees with the right wing at the 5,000-foot level of Battle Creek Mountain. This impact separated the wing into three sections before the aircraft "exited" over the mountain edge. The final impact site was on this ridgeline with the aircraft coming to final rest in a steep canyon to the east. There was a high mountain further east on the flight path that also needed to be crossed before a descent to John Day, Oregon could be commenced. The pilot's medical records indicated the he had been having medical problems, some of which he did not want brought to the attention of the Medical Doctor (MD) designated by the FAA to do flight physicals. In addition, he did not tell his supervisor that he was having medical problems. It was noted that he had complaints of chronic muscular neck pains, back problems, falling asleep, allergy problems, numbness in the top of his feet, feeling tired and run down, and pain in his legs. The flight track showed a gradual descent of about 400 feet per minute. He was off course to the right for about five minutes before impacting with trees. This flight tract strongly supported a very high probability of sleep-induced unconsciousness.