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Scramble 468
This has been the first inflight fatality ever on a Southwest
Airlines aircraft.
In a second media briefing in the late evening of 17 April the
NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) reported one
fan blade, #13 of 24, was broken right at the base and had
separated, the preliminary examination revealed there is
evidence of metal fatigue right where the blade separated.
There had been no engine fire, there is no evidence of an
engine fire, however, it is known there was an engine fire
warning, it is possible and even likely the fire detection wire
activated when the fan blade separated. The crew did an
excellent job and elected to land with the flaps at 5 degrees
over controllability concerns. A piece of the engine cowling
was found on the ground about sixty miles north-west of
Philadelphia, near Bernville (PA).
According to passenger accounts, a 43-year old female pas-
senger sitting on seat 14A – next to the damaged window –
was nearly sucked out by the airstream of the decompression,
but fellow passengers having a presence of mind could hold
her back. From her waist above she was hanging outside. This
female passenger later succumbed to her injuries in hospital.
There have been seven other passengers sustaining minor
injuries.
Interestingly enough there are pictures where passengers
have ‘donned’ their oxygen masks covering their mouth, and
not their nose, as should be the case! This only goes to show
how little attention is being paid to the cabin crew’s safety
demo before each flight...
17apr18 VH-HUE UH-1H 4807 w/o
Former 65-09763 of the United States Army, and now civilian
as VH-HUE operating for O’Driscoll Aviation, had been fight-
ing the Menai bushfires near Snowy Hydro Project, Cabra-
murra, in the Kosciuszko National Park (NSW). It crashed
under unknown circumstances and was destroyed by fire.
The pilot was airlifted to Canberra Hospital in a stable condi-
tion with head and spinal injuries.
19apr18 N414EE Ce414A 414A0283 w/o
The Cessna Chancellor of Machin Bidule sustained substan-
tial damage as the result of a fire within a hangar, housing
three aircraft, at Nevada County Airport, Grass Valley (CA).
One individual was fatally injured and one received minor
injuries.
20apr18 PK-WSX Bell 429 57186 w/o
The Bell 429 of White Sky Aviation crashed at Morowali,
Kendari, Sulawesi, Indonesia as it tried to return to the
helipad for unknown reasons. There were no fatalities or
serious injuries to those onboard. One person on the ground
died after being struck by rotor debris. The chopper was
operating under contract of IMIP - PT Indonesia Morowali
Industrial Park.
20apr18 N807WA MD-83 53093 dam
A World Atlantic Airlines McDonnell Douglas, operat-
ing on behalf of DirectAir and performing flight RPN807
from Chicago O’Hare (IL) to Alexandria (LA), landed safely
on runway 14. During the roll out, about 6,000ft down the
runway, the right hand main gear collapsed, disabling the
aircraft on the runway. There were no injuries, the aircraft
sustained substantial damage. The airport reported the air-
craft was operating on behalf of the Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE).
23apr18 SF260 w/o
After a lengthy period of crashes at the beginning of April,
it was quiet on this subject. Unfortunately this quiet period
came to an end with a crash of an SF260 of the Al Quwwat
al-Jawwiya al-Jamahiriyah At’Tunisia (Tunisia Air Force). The
aircraft crashed during a training mission at night, near Sfax-
Thyna air base. Sadly both pilots were killed.
23apr18 76-0160 C-12C BD-17 dam
The pilot of the USA embassy Huron performed an emergency
landing at La Florida Airport, Tumaco, Nariño Department,
Colombia. Upon landing it suffered a landing gear collapse,
causing substantial damage to the Beechcraft. No one was
injured in the incident.
This Beech was last noted November 2016 operating for the
USE Budapest unit. If the serial turns out to be correct that it
has changed to a quite exotic location!
24apr18 90-0760/LF F-16CM 1C-368 w/o
A Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon of the USAF’s 310th
FS Top Hats crashed at Lake Havasu City Municipal Airport
(AZ). The Viper diverted to the airport during a routine train-
ing mission for as of yet unknown reasons. During landing on
runway 14 the fighter suffered a runway excursion and the
pilot ejected safely. It departed the runway and ended up on
desert ground, with the cockpit section torn off and substan-
tial damage to the rest of the fuselage. Having ejected safely
the pilot was in good condition and transported to Havasu
Regional Medical Center.
24apr18 N9746C CeT303 T30300210 dam
The Aberdeen Flying Service Crusader experienced inflight
icing conditions and had to make a forced landing into a
farm field in Oglala Lakota County north of Batesland (SD). It
sustained substantial damage and two of the four occupants
onboard were seriously injured while the other two received
minor injuries.
25apr18 N12377 AT-6D 88-17307 w/o
A private North American Texan crashed shortly after take-
off from NAS Kingsville (TX), under unknown circumstances.
The two occupants died. A witness told that it looked like
the pilot had lost control and rolled backward toward the
hangars and reported hearing the sound of the pilot hitting
the throttle right before an explosion.
26apr18 N127LN AS350B2 4149 w/o
The ambulance Ecureuil of Ascension Health (and owned
by Air Methods) dropped off a patient in Madison and was
heading back to the Northwoods when it crashed in wood-
land at Hazelhurst (WI), twelve miles south of its destination.
Sadly all three occupants died in the crash.
26apr18 N2YK Yak-52 9311703 w/o
Following a loss of engine power the Classic Aircraft Aviation
Museum Yakovlev 52 force landed into terrain in Washington
County, west-southwest of Portland-Hillsboro Airport (OR).
The airplane sustained substantial damage and the two occu-
pants onboard received serious injuries.
26apr18 N87266 Ce402B 402B1097 dam
Following a loss of engine power the AC Research Cessna 402B
force landed on an airport access road, north-east of Tanner-
Hiller Airport, New Braintree (MA). The airplane sustained
substantial damage and there were no reported injuries.
27apr18 RF-93310/06 yl L-39C dam
A Russian Air Force L-39C Albatros, flown by the Kras-
nodar Higher Aviation School, came down near the village
of Kosinov, Maykop district, Adygeya Republic. The pilot
escaped safely but was slightly injured and hospitalized. The
commander of Maykop said the aircraft is most probably
repairable. He also said that the cadet-pilot showed courage
and great skills in which his life and the aircraft were saved.
27apr18 XC-LIM RC690C 11606 dam
A Rockwell 690C Turbo Commander Jetprop of Estado de
Guerrero sustained a landing gear collapse upon landing at
Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International Airport, Guerrero, Mexico.
There were no personal injuries to the two pilots onboard.
Credits: ASN, Aviation Herald, JACDEC, SN, B3A, FoxNews,
Washington Times, SBS.com.au, Twitter
