VARAs broken ATR

[markis10]

There have been a few reports of an ATR grounded at Albury with significant damage, it would appear to be correct.

Investigation: AO-2014-032 - Flight control event involving an ATR72, VH-FVR, 47 km WSW Sydney Airport, NSW on 20 February 2014

 

[bass_ke]

An interesting read. Thanks for posting these kinds of articles!

 

[markis10]

If it was not for the bird strike, I wonder what would have been the fate of the plane. Something is seriously wrong when a pilot can pickup damage an engineer cannot.

 

[Awesom Andy]

If it was not for the bird strike, I wonder what would have been the fate of the plane. Something is seriously wrong when a pilot can pickup damage an engineer cannot.

One thing I noticed in the report is that, the duty engineers started work at 6am, and finished at 10pm. The engineer who is supposed to be off for the day was called in, worked till 11pm, and then started work at 6am the next day. I don't think the unions will let that go lightly, and, to be honest, I would be with them on this one.

 

[eastwest101]

What I don't understand is - if the damage depicted in the photo on the Plane Talking site is with "fairings off" so could have been missed by a cursory inspection and is the damage sustained in the moderate to severe turbulence (3.4g on the airframe) on approach to SYD, with the aircraft feeling very "heavy" and the link between the pilot and co-pilot control yokes being broken, so that each pilot has control of their half of the horizontal stabilizer, then that must have felt very strange for all the subsequent flights before the Albury bird strike, re-inspection and then grounding of the aircraft? Or is it not a simple mechanical link but a "soft link" that "re-sets itself" via fly by wire sensors and then hydraulics in the tailplane?

Seems a bit strange to have a shortage of qualified engineers when Qantas are tossing them out the door over the last few years.

 

[QF WP]

Sounds like all those inputs by both PIC and FO on the CBR/SYD flight were the issue - reminds me of an ACI episode.

 

[mannej]

Where is our mate Steve and his opinion on this?

 

[under the radar]

Where is our mate Steve and his opinion on this?

"no comment" or "lalalalalala" (with fingers in both ears)

 

[markis10]

News are on to it, no 717 photo though

ATSB report shows Virgin Australia plane flew 13 times before structural damage was noticed | News.com.au

 

[pauly7]

Why isn't this front page news?
Oh wait.... No kangaroo on the tail.

 

[anat0l]

Why isn't this front page news?
Oh wait.... No kangaroo on the tail.

It's a regional service, and no one died. Not even a single passenger who flew on those routes / aircraft found who said, "I was horrified to know that I was on a plane that could have easily crashed!" Or similar tripe.

 

[RooFlyer]

One thing I noticed in the report is that, the duty engineers started work at 6am, and finished at 10pm. The engineer who is supposed to be off for the day was called in, worked till 11pm, and then started work at 6am the next day. I don't think the unions will let that go lightly, and, to be honest, I would be with them on this one.

Another snippet is that the ambulance for the injured cabin crew member arrived at the aircraft 10 minutes after it 'parked', which in turn was after a 'slight delay' in taxiing after landing.

Given that the pilot probably requested the ambulance maybe 5 minutes before landing, this seems quite a delay in having the ambulance arrive and attend to the injured crew member. Sure, not a life threatening injury (although far from trivial) and there may have been other incidents at the time, but I hope that delay isn't accepted as 'OK' .

 

[Awesom Andy]

Another snippet is that the ambulance for the injured cabin crew member arrived at the aircraft 10 minutes after it 'parked', which in turn was after a 'slight delay' in taxiing after landing.

Given that the pilot probably requested the ambulance maybe 5 minutes before landing, this seems quite a delay in having the ambulance arrive and attend to the injured crew member. Sure, not a life threatening injury (although far from trivial) and there may have been other incidents at the time, but I hope that delay isn't accepted as 'OK' .

That's a good point. Assuming no other incidents at that time, the ambulance probably should've gotten next to the assigned bay and be on stand-by for the plane's imminent arrival. Well, would be great if things would work out that way...

 

[Ansett]

Virgin Flys with Crack in Tail

First look at cracks on tail of Virgin plane which flew 13 times | Mail Online

I always thought pilots and ground staff did a walk around surely this should have been noticed before 13 flights

 

[Boris spatsky]

<redacted>

 

[pauly7]

It's a regional service, and no one died. Not even a single passenger who flew on those routes / aircraft found who said, "I was horrified to know that I was on a plane that could have easily crashed!" Or similar tripe.

Has made it's way into no news and radio now but certainly not at the level it would have if it was QantasLink.

 

[whatmeworry]

Those cracks are big!

 

[anat0l]

I guess to be fair, this should be treated as more or less an isolated incident.

It would take a formal investigation along with some other reports to actually see if this incident is indicative of systemic failure / negligence, or a culture of covering up.

Why does it appear that regional airlines / arms of airlines seem to be in the drink more when it comes to maintenance and standards?

 

[admin]

Re-opening this thread as new information is now available.

 

[Mattg]

The ATSB yesterday released its final report into this incident.

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2014/aair/ao-2014-032/

The report identifies a few different issues, including the failure of engineers in Sydney to initially detect "significant damage" to the aircraft's stabiliser and design issues with the ATR72.

Some more analysis here:

ATSB releases final report into Virgin Australia ATR 2014 incident

The ATSB has recommended EASA and ATR improve the ATR's system design tolerance to inadvertent dual control inputs in response to a Virgin incident in 2014.

australianaviation.com.au

ATSB seeks improvements to design of ATR control systems

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has recommended that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and ATR improve design tolerances for inadvertent dual-control inputs by pilots following its investigation into an accident involving a Virgin Australia ATR 72-600.

www.flightglobal.com