Convair Cv-440-38 Aircraft Accident - March 12, 2012

Aircraft Accident

Introduction

On March 12, 2012 a Convair CV-440-38 belonging to fresh Air Inc crashed into a lagoon a mile east upon departure killing the two pilots aboard and destroying the plane on impact (ntsb.gov, 2012). The crash was blamed partly on a federal regulations oversight on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations by the airline and mostly on the flight crew’s response to an in-flight fire. The fist officer declared an emergency upon departure while the second officer requested that they turn left and head back to Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport , SJU. The flight was cleared to land on runway 28, but it crashed into a lagoon as it was being aligned with the runway. The following is essay looks into the causes and consequences of the accident. The secondary and primary causes of the accident will provide insight into recommendations for flight safety improvement.

Chain of events leading up to the Accident

The airplane was loaded with cargo, about 12,100 lbs which was within the allowed maximum limit of 40,900lbs. The first officer met the captain at SJU an hour before takeoff. They spent about 15-20 minutes before the flight conducting a round up. Nothing unusual was reported by ground personnel and the plane was cleared for flight. A second engine run up was conducted before the flight was cleared to taxi in runway 10 and depart. Two minutes later, the flight officer contacted the departure controller at SJU and declared an emergency. The captain requested a left turn back and asked the controller if the could see any smoke coming from any of the engines. The controller did not verify the smoke but he cleared a landing on runway 10 (United States, 2014).

According to radar data, the airplane continued to climb at between 140 and 160 knots airspeed. The captain asked the controller once more whether he could see any smoke coming from the plane’s engines before stating that they needed to land on runway 28. The controller had just informed him that runway 28 was available and cleared them to land on it when the airplane began to descend to 500ft msl. This was the last transmission made between the pilots and the departure controller. The airplane then began to bank to the right at 140 knots airspeed and continued to do so until radar contact was lost at an airspeed of around 88 knots and an altitude of 110 ft msl. . The airplane crashed about six minutes after it departed from SJU. One of the witnesses reported hearing a strange noise described as an ‘intermittent surge’ from one of the airplanes engines as it departed.

Cause of the Accident

Examination of the engines prior to the accident revealed no mechanical failures that would have prevented them from operating normally. No fire damage or thermal distress