Takeoff (climb)

The aircraft crashed during takeoff from Blue Grass Airport, Lexington, Kentucky. The flight crew was instructed to take off from runway 22 but instead lined up the airplane on runway 26 and began the takeoff roll. The airplane ran off the end of the runway and impacted the airport perimeter fence, trees, and terrain. The captain, flight attendant, and 47 passengers were killed, and the first officer received serious injuries. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and post crash fire. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 and was en route to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

Shortly after takeoff from Caño Negro Airport, while climbing, the single engine aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed. Both occupants were killed.

On July 29, 2006, about 1345 central daylight time, a de Havilland DHC-6-100, N203E, registered to Adventure Aviation, LLC, and operated by Skydive Quantum Leap as a local parachute operations flight, crashed into trees and terrain after takeoff from Sullivan Regional Airport (UUV), near Sullivan, Missouri. The pilot and five parachutists were killed, and two parachutists were seriously injured. The flight was operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. According to photographic evidence provided by a witness, the pilot taxied the airplane onto runway 24 from the intersecting taxiway, which is about 1,700 feet from the runway’s west end, and began a takeoff roll to the west from that location, rather than using the runway’s entire 4,500-foot length. Photographic evidence depicting the airport windsock shows that the airplane departed into a moderate headwind. Witnesses at the airport reported seeing the airplane take off and climb to about treetop height. Several witnesses reported hearing a “poof” or “bang” noise and seeing flames and smoke coming from the right engine. One witness reported that, after the noise and the emergence of flames, the right propeller was “just barely turning.” Photographic evidence shows that, at one point after the flames occurred, the airplane was about one wingspan (about 65 feet) above the runway. One witness estimated that the airplane climbed to about 150 feet. Witnesses reported that the airplane lost some altitude, regained it, and then continued to fly low above the treetops before turning to the right and disappearing from their view behind the tree line. Another witness in the backyard of a residence northwest of the airport reported that she saw the airplane flying straight and level but very low over the trees before it dived nose first to the ground. She and her father called 911, and she said that local emergency medical service personnel arrived within minutes. The airplane impacted trees and terrain and came to rest vertically, nose down against a tree behind a residence about 1/2 mile northwest of the end of runway 24.

Less than one minute after takeoff from Khabarovsk-Maly airport, while climbing to a height of 21 metres at a speed of 155 k /h, the right door opened and detached. It struck the right propeller, causing the right engine to fail. The crew lost control of the aircraft that stalled and crashed in a garden located less than one km from the airport, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed by a post crash fire and all three occupants were seriously injured, among them Alexander Perkash, Director of the company.

The captain stated that the accident flight was a return flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, after delivering U.S. Mail. The airplane was empty of cargo at the time of the accident. The first officer was flying the airplane. The takeoff roll and rotation at 84 knots was uneventful until about 100 feet above the ground when the gear was called out to be retracted. At that time, the left engine's rpm dropped from 2,700 to 1,000. He communicated to the first officer that he would be assuming control of the airplane. He then proceeded with verifying that the left engine had failed. Once confirmed, he proceeded with the failed engine check list and feathering the propeller. They advised air traffic control (ATC) of the situation and informed them that they were returning to land. The airplane would not maintain altitude and the airspeed dropped to about 75 knots. The captain stated that he knew the airplane would not make it back to the airport. Instructions were given to the two passengers to don their life vests and prepared for a ditching. The captain elected to perform a controlled flight into the water. All onboard managed to exit the airplane through the cockpit overhead escape hatch onto the life raft as the airplane remained afloat. About ten minutes later the airplane sank nose first straight down. The airplane came to rest at the bottom of the ocean, in about 100 feet of water. The airplane was not recovered. Underwater photos provided by the operator showed the nose and cockpit area caved in, the left engine's propeller was in the feathered position, and the right engine's propeller was in a low pitch position.

The single engine aircraft was ready at 1850LT for a private flight to Vilshofen, Bavaria, carrying four passengers and one pilot. During the takeoff roll on runway 34 at Marina di Campo Airport, the tower controller informed the pilot that smoke was coming out from the airplane, but the pilot did not reply to this message and continued the takeoff procedure. After liftoff in VFR conditions, the aircraft initiated a turn to the right then a second turn to the left when it descended and crashed in a vineyard located about one km north of the runway end. Two passengers were seriously injured while three other occupants were killed. Few hours later, one of the survivors died from his injuries while the last survivor passed away the following day. The aircraft was destroyed.

On 10 July 2006, F-27 Fokker registration No AP-BAL, belonging to Pakistan International Airline was scheduled to fly from Multan to Lahore. The aircraft had 45 souls on board including four crew members. The Captain of the aircraft was Captain Hamid Qureshi. The aircraft took off for Lahore at 1205 hours Pakistan Standard Time (PST) from Multan Runway 36. Soon after takeoff, the aircraft was observed by the ATC and other eyewitnesses to be maintaining very low altitude and drifting right in a bank. ATC Control tower tried to establish contact with aircraft, but no contact was established. Subsequently a call from the local resident was received stating that an aircraft had crashed at about 2 km, NE of the Runway. All souls on board the aircraft sustained fatal injuries and the aircraft was completely burned.

During the takeoff roll from Simferopol-Gvardeyskoye AFB, the captain started the rotation and the nose gear lifted up. At the same time, the left engine exploded. The captain decided to abandon the takeoff procedure and started an emergency braking procedure. Few seconds were necessary for the nose to land back on runway then the aircraft was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, lost its undercarriage and came to rest, bursting into flames. All 28 occupants were rescued, among them 3 were slightly injured. The aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire. Among those on board was the Admiral Vladimir Masorin of the Russian Navy who was flying back to Moscow following a general inspection of the military installations in Simferopol.

The aircraft, owned by the German operator Himmelsschreiber Azur GmbH, was planned to make a sightseeing tour over Hamburg. This was a present from a father for his son aged 12. Less than 2 minutes after takeoff from the Hamburg-Norderelbe Seaplane Base, in the city center, the engine lost power and caught fire. The pilot elected to make an emergency landing when the aircraft lost height, collided with a wagon and crashed on a railway road located in a marshalling yard about 2 km south from the departure point, bursting into flames. The aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire. Four passengers were killed while the pilot and a fifth passenger were seriously injured. The pilot died the following day.

Witnesses stated that they observed the twin-engine airplane roll into a steep right bank and enter a spin at a low altitude (less than 700 feet) during the initial climb. The airplane then descended and impacted terrain about 1.5 miles from the end of the departure runway. Some witnesses reported hearing an unusual engine noise just before the airplane began to roll and spin. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed. Examination of the right engine revealed that the ring gear support of the engine/propeller gearbox had fractured in flight due to high cycle fatigue originating from the corner radii of the high-speed pinion cutout. The reason for the fatigue could not be determined. The ring gear support disengaged from the ring gear due to this failure, resulting in a disconnection in power being transferred from the engine power section to the propeller. In addition to the ability for a pilot to manually feather the propellers, and an automatic feathering feature, the engine (Honeywell TPE-331) design also includes a “Negative Torque Sensing” (NTS) system that would automatically respond to a typical failed engine condition involving a propeller that is driving the coupled engine. Feathering the propeller reduces drag and asymmetric yawing due to the failed engine. All Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification evaluations for one-engine inoperative handling qualities for the airplane type were conducted with the NTS system operational. According to the airplane manufacturer, the NTS system was designed to automatically reduce the drag on the affected engine to provide a margin of safety until the pilot is able to shut down the engine with the condition lever. However, if a drive train disconnect occurs at the ring gear support, the NTS system is inoperable, and the propeller can come out of feather on its own, if the disconnect is followed by a pilot action to retard the power lever on the affected engine. In this scenario, once the fuel flow setting is reduced below the point required to run the power section at 100% (takeoff) rpm, the propeller governor would sense an “underspeed” condition and would attempt to increase engine rpm by unloading the propeller, subsequently driving the propeller out of feather toward the low pitch stop. This flat pitch condition would cause an increase in aerodynamic drag on one side of the airplane, and unanticipated airplane control difficulty could result due to the asymmetry.