Landing (descent or approach)

The accident flight was the final one of a series of sales demonstration flights. The demonstration pilot occupied the right seat and a potential customer was handling the aircraft from the left seat. The handling pilot was qualified and current on helicopters but had only 100 hours of fixed wing flying experience and had not flown a fixed wing aircraft as-pilot-in-command for some eight years; he controlled the aircraft throughout the flight, under the instruction of the demonstration pilot. After some general handling, including turns and a demonstration of the final approach configuration, F-GLBD returned to the local circuit. The first approach to runway 20 was slightly steep and the landing was firm but satisfactory. During the ground roll the demonstration pilot reconfigured the aircraft and the handling pilot applied power and made a take-off for another circuit. The second approach which was for a final landing was initially stable and on the glideslope. However, on short finals the aircraft went below the glideslope and the nose attitude was too high. There was a crosswind from the right and F-GLBD was on the left of the extended centerline. The demonstration pilot put his left hand on the power lever below that of the handling pilot and, as he did so, told the handling pilot to increase power. When no power was apparent the demonstration pilot repeated his instruction and also applied pressure to the power lever. As the aircraft approached the flare the handling pilot released the power lever and put both hands on the control wheel; the power lever moved quickly to the fully open position under the hand pressure of the demonstration pilot. The aircraft rolled rapidly to approximately 20° to 30° angle of bank to the left and the demonstration pilot took control with both hands on the control wheel. However, the left wing tip and the outboard trailing edge of the left flap struck the ground; the wing tip impact mark was off the runway to the left and the flap impact mark was just on the runway. The left main wheel then made contact with the runway, closely followed by the right main wheel. As the aircraft left the runway at an angle of approximately 230° to the left, the demonstration pilot closed the power lever, the aircraft continued across the grass for a distance of approximately 350 metres. It passed through and destroyed part of the PAPI installation, crossed runway 30 and came to a stop. At the time of the accident, it was dark and the weather was good; the surface wind was 230°/5 knots. All six occupants escaped uninjured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The pilot supervised the loading of the airplane. According to info from a person that helped load the plane, the bill of loading, and actual weights and measurements of the cargo after the accident, the plane was loaded to a gross weight of 11,979 lbs with the cg 2.7 inches behind the aft limit. At the destination, the flight was vectored for an ILS runway 10 approach. About 3 miles from the runway, the pilot was told to make a missed approach due to inadequate separation from traffic. The pilot acknowledged, but soon thereafter, radar contact with the plane was lost. Witnesses saw the plane descend from a low cloud layer before it crashed. One witness said its wings were moving from side to side and the plane was falling faster than it was moving forward. There was evidence the plane had impacted in a flat attitude with little forward movement. Four cargo straps were found loose with no sign of tensile overload; 3 others and a restraining board were found loose as if they had not been used. No preimpact mechanical problem was found. The wind was from 090° at 21 gusting 32 kts. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

The approach and landing to Yerevan-Zvartnots Airport was completed in poor weather conditions. Upon landing, the aircraft was not properly aligned with the centerline and landed too far to the right of the runway. Out of control, it veered off runway and eventually collided with a concrete wall. All 154 occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft departed São Paulo-Congonhas Airport for a local training flight, carrying two pilots under supervision and two instructors. Weather conditions were marginal with ceiling down to 300 metres, horizontal visibility 3 km with rain. After touchdown on wet runway 17R, the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, went down an embankment and came to rest. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was destroyed.

On approach to Aguadilla-Rafael Hernández, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with heavy rain falls and thunderstorm activity. On final, the aircraft was struck by lightning. The crew was able to continue the descent but the aircraft landed hard, bounced and came to a halt on the main runway. All four occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Completing a flight from Istanbul to Southampton, the aircraft flew a procedural ILS and landed on runway 20. The crew report that they encountered wind shear on the final approach and they increased power to compensate for a loss of 10 knot of airspeed. The aircraft landed some 500 feet into the runway and, after touchdown, maximum braking appeared to be ineffective. The crew suspected aquaplaning and activated reversed thrust but they report that correct deployment was not indicated on the flight deck and so they assumed that it was not operating. Despite weaving along the remaining 1,500 feet of runway they were unable to prevent the aircraft from over running the end. The aircraft came to rest some 75 metres into the grass area beyond. Debris, consisting of earth and stones was ingested by the engines and the right wing tank was punctured. An inspection of the runway 10 minutes previously showed that, although the runway was wet, there was no standing water. A runway friction test was carried out at 1646 hrs and this gave the friction on the first, second and third runway segments as 0.67 Mu, 0.66 Mu and 0.57 Mu respectively.

During a 2 hour and 40 minute training mission, the pilot maintained a low power setting with the fuel mix at full rich. After the mission, the pilot climbed the airplane to 9,000 feet agl to clear obstacles between his location and his destination. During the descent, the pilot said he reduced power more rapidly than usual and descended faster than normal at about 180 kias. About 800 to 1,000 feet agl, in the traffic pattern, the pilot applied power. Both engines lost total power. He set up an 85 kias glide; competed emergency procedures; and retracted the landing gear. The engines did not restart. He did not feather the propellers. He extended the landing gear prior to touchdown. The pilot said he did not flare the airplane during landing which resulted in the airplane colliding with the ground. The engine manual and the poh recommend adjusting the fuel mixture for cruise. An engine manual note states long descents at low power should be avoided because the engines may cool excessively and may not accelerate satisfactorily when power is reapplied. The poh recommends feathering propellers and gliding at 120 kias for dual engine failure. Soot was noted on all spark plugs during engine exam. Both engines started and ran normally from idle to full acceleration during the exam.

After liftoff from Manaus-Eduardo Gomes Airport runway 28, while in initial climb, the right main gear struck an element of the approach light system. An alarm sounded in the cockpit, informing the crew about landing gear problems. As the crew was unable to raise the landing gear, the captain informed ATC about the situation and was cleared to return for an emergency landing. Upon touchdown on runway 28, the right main gear collapsed. The aircraft slid for few dozen metres then veered off runway and came to rest in a ravine. All five occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The descent to Kano-Mallam Aminu Kano Airport was completed by night and marginal weather conditions due to a sand storm. On short final, the aircraft was too low, struck the ground and crashed near military barracks located 3,2 km short of runway 06 threshold. All four occupants were rescued while the aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire. At the time of the accident, the runway 06 ILS and DME systems were inoperative.

At a distance of 40 km from the airport, at an altitude of 7,800 feet, the crew was cleared to make a visual approach and to descent to 7,000 feet. Three minutes later, the aircraft went out of control and crashed on a mountain slope (1'600 metres high) located 27 km south from runway 36. The aircraft was totally destroyed and all 141 occupants were killed. It was reported that the captain attempted to level off the plane by raising its nose. The autothrottle responded by advancing the throttles. The n°2 power lever however remained at idle. The crew apparently did not notice this. With the right engine at idle, the autothrottle further advanced the left engine power lever in order to obtain the correct airspeed. The asymmetrical power condition was not corrected and the airplane rolled to the right and crashed.