Darwin SB20 at Paris on Jan 28th 2014, nose wheels separated on landing

Last Update: May 3, 2017 / 14:38:58 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 28, 2014

Classification
Accident

Airline
Darwin Airlines

Flight number
F7-250

Departure
Leipzig, Germany

Destination
Paris Charles de Gaulle, France

Aircraft Registration
HB-IZG

Aircraft Type
SAAB 2000

ICAO Type Designator
SB20

Airport
Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris

Airport ICAO Code
LFPG

A Darwin Airlines Saab 2000 on behalf of Etihad Regional, registration HB-IZG performing flight F7-250 from Leipzig (Germany) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) with 16 passengers and 3 crew, landed in Paris at about 07:40L (06:40Z) without indications of problems, however, after touchdown both nose wheels separated from the nose gear strut causing the strut to collapse and the nose of the aircraft to contact the runway. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway, there were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The flight was the inaugural flight for Etihad Regional.

The airline reported both nose wheels separated from the nose gear. All occupants of the aircraft left the aircraft safely and were bussed to the terminal.

On Feb 4th 2014 the French BEA reported in their weekly bulletin that the aircraft touched down hard, bounced and touched down a second time causing the the nose gear axle to fracture.

On May 3rd 2017 the BEA released their final report (English version promised soon) concluding the probable causes of the accident were:

During the flare the captain detected the landing would be hard and in an emergency action quickly pulled the nose up without announcing his intention to the first officer, pilot flying.

This lack of coordination created double controls resulting in successive counteracting pilot actions pulling and pushing the controls during following bounce recovery.

The BEA reported that the first officer (CPL, 630 hours total, 80 hours on type) was pilot flying, the captain (ATPL, 6,640 hours total, 2,260 hours on type) was pilot monitoring, the captain had done 50 landings at Charles de Gaulle Airport prior to the accident flight, the first officer was doing his first landing at Charles de Gaulle, the airline considered the first officer as "inexperienced".

The first officer briefed the approach, the aircraft was vectored onto the ILS for runway 27R. Descending through 2300 feet AGL the aircraft was fully configured for landing (flaps 20 degrees, gear down), descending through 1000 feet AGL the aircraft was fully stable. At 400 feet AGL the first officer disconnected the autopilot, at decision height of 200 feet AGL the crew decided to continue the approach.

At 50 feet AGL the first officer began to gradually reduce engine power, pulled the nose up increasing the pitch from 0 to 3 degrees nose up, continuing to pull the yoke further back until it reached the full stop (pitch 5 degrees nose up). The main wheels hit the ground hard at 120 KIAS, the flaps automatically retract from 20 to 15 degrees. The aircraft bounced twice with the yoke alternating between pushes and pulls.

The BEA reported that analysis of the flight data recorder does not permit to determine who did what. However, the interviews with the flight crew suggest, that the commander applied a sudden and substantial nose up input during round out which the first officer was surprised with and counteracted. The aircraft bounced with the captain still applying nose up input and first officer counteracting with a nose down input, while in the bounce the first officer stopped his input which resulted in the yoke hitting the aft full stop due to the captain's nose up input no longer being counteracted. The aircraft bounced again, the commander added engine power which was immediately counteracted by the first officer, the nose gear hit the runway at a high rate of descent, the nose wheel axle fractured. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway and was disabled.

The first officer radioed tower "emergency on the ground", the controller requested them to vacate the runway, the first officer reported that they were unable to vacate the runway, the controller repeated his request to vacate the runway, only then the first officer declared Mayday. The controller now pushed the emergency button alerting emergency services, about one minute after the first radio transmission "emergency on the ground".

The BEA analysed that the nose gear axle fractured due to overload in severe impact with the runway at a rate of 11.5 feet/second (690fpm). During the first two ground contacts only both main gear were in touch with the runway, during the third touchdown only the nose gear was in contact with the runway.

The BEA analysed that the company did not establish a procedure for bounce recovery. The aircraft manufacturer recommended to maintain a normal landing attitude and add power as needed, a shallow bounce should not need power. On hard bounces initiate a go around, a second touch down might occur during go around.

Metars:
LFPG 280800Z 19013KT 9999 -RA BKN010 04/02 Q0994 NOSIG
LFPG 280730Z 19014KT 9999 BKN010 04/02 Q0994 NOSIG
LFPG 280700Z 18015KT 9999 BKN010 04/02 Q0994 NOSIG
LFPG 280630Z 20014KT 9999 BKN010 04/02 Q0994 NOSIG
LFPG 280600Z 20015KT 9999 BKN010 04/02 Q0995 NOSIG
LFPG 280530Z 19014KT 9999 BKN010 03/01 Q0995 NOSIG
LFPG 280500Z 19014KT 9999 BKN009 03/01 Q0995 NOSIG
LFPG 280430Z 19013KT 9999 BKN009 03/01 Q0995 NOSIG
LFPG 280400Z 19015KT 9999 BKN009 03/01 Q0995 NOSIG
LFPG 280330Z 19013KT 9999 BKN010 BKN050 03/01 Q0996 NOSIG
LFPG 280300Z 19013KT 9999 SCT009 SCT042 03/01 Q0996 NOSIG
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
HB-IZG
Country of Registration
Switzerland
Date of Registration
Dfhfhpjdcbcgfckb Subscribe to unlock
Certification Basis
PAqkf Subscribe to unlock
Airworthyness Category
Bjih ncpfhecqhjb Subscribe to unlock
Legal Basis
Nn m Subscribe to unlock
TCDS Ident. No.
Pdnhqlqigi Subscribe to unlock
Manufacturer
SAAB AIRCRAFT AB
Aircraft Model / Type
SAAB 2000
ICAO Aircraft Type
SB20
Year of Manufacture
Akbg Subscribe to unlock
Serial Number
Cddmeqej Subscribe to unlock
Aircraft Address / Mode S Code (HEX)
JqAjml Subscribe to unlock
Max. Operational Passenger Seating Capacity (MOPSC), indicative
Qf Subscribe to unlock
Minimum Crew
M Subscribe to unlock
Maximum Take off Mass (MTOM) [kg]
AddAl Subscribe to unlock
Engine Count
A Subscribe to unlock
Engine
Ahmedemhh dplbdggi qhgnmA hbgcg Subscribe to unlock
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 28, 2014

Classification
Accident

Airline
Darwin Airlines

Flight number
F7-250

Departure
Leipzig, Germany

Destination
Paris Charles de Gaulle, France

Aircraft Registration
HB-IZG

Aircraft Type
SAAB 2000

ICAO Type Designator
SB20

Airport
Charles de Gaulle International Airport, Paris

Airport ICAO Code
LFPG

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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