Saturday 18 February 2023

72 Passengers in Nepal fatally crashed

 


Erica Armstrong,  Airline and Business Aviation Captain & Pilot Trainer wrote in a LinkedIn article about the ATR Crash in January:

"It was painful to read the preliminary report about the ATR accident in Nepal, but now it makes sense. When I saw the video, the aircraft did not have flaps down, which was not correct for their position to land. Sooo, here's the problem (Two Captains: PF= pilot flying, PM= pilot monitoring):

At 10:56:27, the PF disengaged the Autopilot System (AP) at an altitude of 721 feet Above Ground Level (AGL).

The PF then called for “FLAPS 30” at 10:56:32, and the PM replied, “Flaps 30 and descending.”

The flight data recorder (FDR) data did not record any flap surface movement at that time. Instead, the propeller rotation speed (Np) of both engines decreased simultaneously to less than 25% and the torque (Tq) started decreasing to 0%, which is consistent with both propellers going into the feathered condition.

Nothing more needs to be said after that. 

It appears that the PM moved the condition levers instead of the flap levers and killed both engines. At that altitude, there is no time to fix that problem. You push the power levers up and there is nothing there. I've flown several different turboprops but not the ATR. There must be a detent on the condition levers? In something like the King Air, you really have to mean it to move both levers at the same time from auto to feather. Are any ATR pilots here with some insight as to how this could be mistaken? What can the industry do to never repeat?"

72 Passengers in Nepal: 

Preliminary Report of the Fatal ATR Crash in January

https://www.tourism.gov.np/files/publication_files/343.pdf

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