Nextjet SF34 at Hemavan on Nov 24th 2011, rejected takeoff, runway excursion
Last Update: October 18, 2012 / 19:15:48 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 24, 2011
Classification
Incident
Cause
Runway excursion
Airline
Nextjet
Aircraft Type
SAAB 340
ICAO Type Designator
SF34
The incident was probably caused by a perceptual illusion for the pilots on account of large flakes of blowing snow, which led to the aircraft's drift not being noticed in time. The illuminated landing lights have served to reinforce the illusion.
The SHK reported the crew intended to take off from runway 15 with engine anti icing system turned on utilizing the maximum distance available. Visibility had been assessed to be between 1000 and 1500 meters (3300-5000 feet), there was light snow fall with the snow flakes immediately melting upon contacting the wings. Taxi and landing lights were illuminated, the windscreen wipers were off. After the aircraft had lined up, the crew applied brakes and spooled the engines up to takeoff power, the aircraft however began to slide early during engine acceleration. The commander (43, ATPL, 3,600 hours total, 2,700 hours on type, pilot monitoring) therefore released the brakes and used the nose steering wheel to steer the aircraft. The engines reached takeoff power, the commander handed controls to the first officer (27, CPL, 1,713 hours total, 1,167 hours on type, pilot flying) at about 70 knots. At that time a heavy snow shower hit the aerodrome arriving from northwest causing the visibility to drop sharply and the wind to increase in strength. The crew recognized the aircraft was drifting left, the commander called "right! right!", however, shortly after at about 800 meters down the runway at a speed of just over 90 knots the aircraft's left main wheels and the nose wheels ran off the left edge of the runway. The commander rejected takeoff taking control applying reverse thrust, brakes and speed brakes, the aircraft went parallel to the runway, the flight attendant recognized the takeoff was rejected and instructed passengers to "heads down", the aircraft returned onto the runway about 1150 meters down the runway, but shortly after veered sharply to the left, went off the runway with all gear and stopped about 15 meters to the left of the left runway edge and about 200 meters short of the runway end with the aircraft fuselage parallel to the runway. The engines were shut down, the commander instructed the passengers to remain seated and advised tower they had gone off the runway and ran the checklists.
No injuries occurred, the aircraft sustained damage to the left propeller blade tips, to the cables of the nose gear and to the landing lights.
The first officer remarked the right hand rudder pedal appeared stuck, the crew therefore tested the rudder pedals without any anomaly detected. The crew subsequently walked back on the runway and found the aircraft had crossed the threshold of runway 15 about one meter to the left of the runway center line.
Personnel at the ramp was watching the aircraft take off, when the aircraft about crossed the runway threshold one observer felt a gust of wind.
Weather services indicated at the time of the incident winds were coming from westnorthwest at about 10-15 knots gusting to 25-30 knots. The aerodrome's weather station recorded average winds (no instantaneous wind recordings available) at 290 degrees at 14 knots for runway 15 and 310 degrees at 7 knots for runway 33. The ten-minute maximum wind was 24 knots for runway 15 and 11 knots for runway 33. At the time of the incident visibility was recorded at 800 meters, 8 minutes after the incident wind had dropped below 10 knots and visibility increased to more than 10km.
The airport offers a runway of 1444 meters length and 30 meters width, for takeoffs the stopways of 150 meters at each runway end can be used providing a takeoff distance available of 1744 meters. The runway center line marking was not visible due to a light cover of dry snow.
The SHK analyed: "The heavy snow shower and wind from right to left and large snowflakes have probably created a perceptual illusion for the pilots. This has resulted in the aircraft drifting off from the runway centre line and gradually approaching the left runway edge. The illusion was presumably reinforced by the aircraft's illuminated landing lights."
The SHK further analysed that at the time the first officer attempted to apply right rudder and felt it was stuck the aircraft had already exited the left edge of the runway and had gone over a snow bank beyond the runway edge which created an additional yawing effect to the left despite full right rudder deflection. The SHK can not rule out that the gust reduced the rudder's efficiency and even created a tail wind component beyond the aircraft's limitations.
The SHK analysed after the captain rejected takeoff, with both engines selected into reverse, and managed to steer the aircraft back onto the runway the nose wheel ploughed through the snow bank again, threw slush into the right hand engine's air intake causing the engine to fail resulting in the sharp veering to the left.
No safetly recommendations were released as result of the investigation.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Nov 24, 2011
Classification
Incident
Cause
Runway excursion
Airline
Nextjet
Aircraft Type
SAAB 340
ICAO Type Designator
SF34
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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