Onur A306 at Jeddah on May 1st 2012, landed without nose gear

Last Update: June 18, 2024 / 18:56:05 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 1, 2012

Classification
Accident

Airline
Onur Air

Departure
Madinah, Saudi Arabia

Destination
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Aircraft Registration
TC-OAG

Aircraft Type
Airbus A300

ICAO Type Designator
A306

TC-OAG sitting on its noseAn Onur Air Airbus A300-600 on behalf of Saudi Arabian Airlines, registration TC-OAG performing positioning flight SV-2865 from Madinah to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) with 10 crew, aborted the approach to Jeddah's runway 16L after the nose gear indicated unsafe. The aircraft subsequently needed to land on runway 16L without nose gear at about 12:55L (09:55Z), came to a stop short of the runway end and was evacuated via slides. No injuries occurred.

On Jun 18th 2024 The Aviation Herald was able to obtain the final report concluding the probable causes of the accident were:

Cause Related Findings

- The NLG up-lock contained a spring, Part Number GA71102 that was broken as a result of fatigue initiated at the third coil of the spring.

- The spring had been broken for a prolonged period of time, as noted by the spring linear wear marks on the outside area of the spring coils.

- Damage observed on the NLG up-lock resulted from hard contact with the broken spring during normal NLG operation.

- The fracture process of the spring was initiated at the third coil level. At least 6000 cycles of fatigue (number of striations) have been estimated by fatigue striation measurements. The crack on the spring started on the internal surface of the spring which was not shot peened.

- The normal and free fall extensions of the NLG failed due to a mechanical blockage created by the broken spring jammed against the cam.

Other Findings

- The aircraft was properly certificated and had been maintained in accordance with approved procedures.

- The landing gear free fall cable system was out of tolerance by one (1) turn. This condition did not have an effect on the free fall operation of the landing gear system.

- The meteorological conditions did not contribute to this accident.

- The flight crew was certified and qualified on this type of aircraft.

- The flight crew performed their duties in accordance with the approved procedures.

- All communications with the Jeddah controllers and FRS were satisfactory.

- The FRS response was efficient and appropriate.

- Not all KAIA Airport Operations vehicles were equipped with rotary beacons.

- The Security surrounding the aircraft was inappropriate.

- The angle of the slides situated at the number 3 and 4 doors was beyond 60 degrees with the ground, with only the tip of the slide being self-supporting on the ground.

- The certification of the slides was not specific regarding the useable/recommended slope of the slide in relation to the ground.

- The certification of the slides did not specify what length of the slide should be self-supported on the ground in order to decelerate the fall/sl iding of a person.

- At the time of the accident, the Aircraft Inspection Program did not contain a scheduled maintenance action to inspect the springs for condition of the NLG up-lock.

- Effective 20 July, 2012, Airbus released a Mandatory Service Bulletin Number A300-32-6111 for the inspection of up-lock springs.

- Effective 30 July 2013, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Airworthiness Directive Number (No.) 20130150 due to the reporting of NLG and Main Landing door and up-lock spring ruptures on some models of A300, A310 or A-300-600.