Colgan Beech fatal (8/03) final report

[Mungusaurus]

Lesson Time

Okay boys n gals, the trim check as described would have given no indication to the crew. To have discovered this problem one crewmember would have had to stand outside the aircraft while the other actuated the trim and informed the watching crewmember in which direction they were moving it. The watching crewmember would then verify the direction of travel.NOT IN THE MANUAL This was not a case of elevator trim mis rigging but from the sound of it the cables to the actuator being installed backwards, you can do this and from the outside the rigging would look correct.
Had they done the normal fist flight of the day checks all would have indicated normal from the cockpit. This does not excuse the fact they did not do it but it is a moot point. Lets wait for the official report before we rush to any judgements. And to one and all please be careful, thanx, Mung.

 

[climbhappy]

question

there is a position in the maint dept at 121 carriers called the RII.
The Required Item Inspector. essentially the quality assurance guy and the 121 version of an IA. he is someone that scrutinizes the work of hourly A&Ps. Did this guy pencil whip the work?

 

[chperplt]

Did this guy pencil whip the work?

It's funny you should ask that... I don't know the RII events in the accident, but do you remember when LVBs left engine wouldn't shut down in Boston? The condition lever was pulled to cutoff and nothing.. the firewall fuel valve was pulled and nothing...

Those poor Augusta old folks had to exit over the right wing while they ran the left side out of fuel.

Interestingly enough, the aircraft had just come out of HYA maintenance. The cable from the condition lever to the fuel control unit was installed backwards and without a safety pin. A couple pulls and the cable fell off. The even funnier thing was that the rag that was in the fuel tank and prevented the firewall valve from closing had been there a while.. It would have sucked to have a real fire and not be able to get the full off.

Hey Sammy... You on these boards? Any comments? How's Florida treating you?

 

[Publishers]

chperplt

I was not condeming the crew and I have more Part 121 experience than I ever needed.

What I was pointing out was that it never hurts to be inquisitive as to what and where the aircraft your flying came from.

After the incident in CLT, if I am a 1900 driver and the aircraft has come out of this type of maintenance and I know it, I might have spent more time looking at or attempting to check it.

Obviously the maintenance supervisor or QC did not confirm the work was done correctly.

My remark about the preflight was only that they thought this was no big deal. We have an obligation to our families to check this to the best of our abilities every time we fly aircraft. Most of the time, the mechanic that does work is not on the aircraft he worked on, you are. Even back when I owned my first airplane with some partners, I noticed they always wanted me to do the first flight after we had anything done to the airplane.

Now I will admit to some blast offs without much preflight, especially on the second and third trips of the day, but, you can rest assured, even back with that Piper Arrow, that first flight from maintenance was thoroughly looked and run before I went to take off.

 

[chperplt]

Publishers


Thanks for your clarification. Your points are quite valid.

 

[WhiteCloud]

Heard a BIG rumor in Manassas that Colgan is now considering the retirement of the entire 1900 fleet by year's end and going all Saabs thanks in part to this and the Fuel truck incident in BDL.

How is that supposed to solve their problems? A mechanic can screw up the rigging on a Saab too and it just presents a larger target to the fuel truck drivers.

 

[Hawker rider]

This tragic accident is not because of a bad airplane, or a bad crew...

This is just one mechanic making a mistake and nobody catching it. Everybody is always under a lot of pressure, and last time I checked we were also all humans, and that means we make mistakes.

Fact is that the procedures were not followed or neglected by the maintenance base, THAT was the only way this might have been detected before flight.



P.s> is there no way the crew would have been able to know that there was work done on the elevator? What about a discrepancy log? I know you don't get to seea sign off, but surely for this to be a grounding issue it had to have been written up in the discrepancy log and couldn't be deferred with MEL, therefore grounding the airplane.

 

[Crizz]

What grave flight control characteristics would this 1900 have exhibited that would cause it to go down as a result of reversed trim? Couldnt they have recognized the fact that their trim wheel was working in reverse soon after takeoff and a climb trim attempt?

What am I missing?

 

[chperplt]

Couldnt they have recognized the fact that their trim wheel was working in reverse soon after takeoff and a climb trim attempt?

I don't know... I wasn't there so I can't answer that question. I would like to think that a malfunction like that would be recognizable and controllable.

We don't know what else they were dealing with and won't for another month until the full report is made public.

What am I missing?

An awful lot of information and maybe an awful lot of experience. A trim problem in a high performance airplane is a lot different from a trim problem in what you're CFIing in.

 

[Crizz]

Fair enough guys... admittedly I am inexperienced and was hoping to gain some insight from those with more experience. I hope my comments didnt come off in a negative way - they certainly werent meant to be.

 

[Jetmech41]

Bump

Bump