Spicejet B738 at Surat Gujarat on Nov 6th 2014, rejected takeoff after buffalo strike

Last Update: May 24, 2017 / 14:40:59 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Nov 6, 2014

Classification
Accident

Cause
Rejected takeoff

Airline
Spicejet

Flight number
SG-622

Departure
Surat, India

Destination
Delhi, India

Aircraft Registration
VT-SGK

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

A Spicejet Boeing 737-800, registration VT-SGK performing flight SG-622 from Surat to Delhi (India) with 151 passengers and 6 crew, was accelerating for takeoff from Surat Gujarat's runway 04 in darkness at 19:06L (13:36Z) when three stray buffalos entered the runway. One of the buffalos was hit by the aircraft's left hand engine (CFM56), the crew rejected takeoff at about 80 knots after the collision and brought the aircraft to a safe stop about abeam the airport terminal, half way down the runway. The passengers disembarked onto the runway via stairs and were taken to the terminal. No injuries occured to humans, the buffalo was killed, the aircraft sustained substantial damage to left hand engine and left hand fuselage including damage to a static port and punctures to the fuselage skin.

A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration VT-SPK positioned to Surat and reached Delhi with a delay of 4.5 hours.

The airline confirmed their aircraft collided with a buffalo that had entered the aerodrome through a hole in the airport fence. The buffalo was invisible against the dark background. The airline suspended operations to Surat Gujarat as result of the accident.

India's Ministry of Civil Aviation have ordered an investigation into the occurrence and a review of all airports in India to ensure that such an occurrence does not re-occur. The Airport Authority of India have received order to dispatch review teams to all airports within a month to check the safety of aerodromes and take remedial action to any such safety concern within three months.

On May 24th 2017 India's DGCA released their final report concluding the probable causes of the accident were:

The accident was caused as the aircraft during its initial take-off roll hit an animal (buffalo) standing on the runway, resulting in damage to its engine.

The animal entered the operational area and the runway because of several breaches in the boundary wall.

The DGCA reported that the aircraft backtracked runway 04 for departure, turned around to line up for departure and was departing runway 04 about one meter to the left of the runway center line in darkness when about 350 meters into the takeoff roll the left hand engine collided with a buffalo prompting the crew to immediately reject takeoff, present speed 78 KIAS. The aircraft slowed safely, in the absence of abnormal parameters the crew requested to return to the apron. A visual inspection at the apron revealed substantial damage to the engine cowl and holes at the side of the engine. The passengers were disembarked.

The DGCA reported: "Fire Station in the mean time called up ATC to confirm whether there is any problem with Spicejet aircraft and asked for permission to enter runway. ATC instructed fire personnel not to enter runway. It was also informed that all operations are normal and it was an animal hit. CNS operational jeep requested ATC to cross runway for which the ATC granted the permission. CNS Jeep reported to ATC Tower that there are two Buffalos on runway one is dead and other is roaming on the runway. The runway was immediately closed for operations. After removal of the dead buffalo and inspection of runway it was declared operational."

With respect to ATC procedures the DGCA analysed:

As per the records available with Surat Aerodrome the procedures laid down in the AAI Ops Circular 05 of 2011 and Operational Manual of Surat were not being carried out in timely manner. As per the conversation between tower and fire staff on walkie – talkie just before the departure at 1310 they had withdrawn two bird chasers posted near Glide path and in between taxiway A & B. There was no inspection carried out as per departure procedure before the aircraft was cleared for take-off. Only inspection which was carried out was at watch opening time at 0530 hrs UTC.

It is therefore inferred that Non-adherence to the standard procedures is a contributory factor to the accident.

With respect to the Aerodrome the DGCA analysed that the airport had been properly inspected and licensed in 2011, no breaches of the perimeter had existed at that time. An inspection for renewal of the license was carried out in 2013 and the license was renewed. After the accident a number of breaches of the aerodrome perimeter were found. The DGCA wrote:

There were several breaches found during the aerodrome inspection postaccident which further reveals that the laid down procedures were not followed. Hence Non-adherence to the above mentioned standard procedures is a contributory factor to the accident.

With respect to whether the buffalos were already on the runway when the aircraft comenced takeoff or entered the runway while the aircraft was already accelerating the DGCA analysed:

It is amply clear that the aircraft hit a buffalo during take-off roll at around 78 knots. This is also clear that the animals entered and were entering the airport through the breaches in the boundary wall or because of absence of secured boundary wall. The relevant question remains or comes to mind is that, “Was the buffalo already on the runway or it came on the runway after the aircraft started take off roll”.

Whatever photographs were made available to the Committee indicate that the location of the aircraft where it had hit the animal lied on the inner side of the engine i.e. towards the fuselage roughly between 7 & 8 O’ clock position. Further the photographs also indicate that this was the only impact damage and had transmitted longitudinally (to the aircraft axis).

The photographs of the aircraft vis a vis the animal hit by the aircraft and the damage to the engine and its location indicates that the animal was on the runway at the time of initiation of take-off roll. The CVR and ATC transcripts indicate that the take-off roll was probably initiated in continuation to the lining up on the runway.

Light is absorbed in the pigments of the retinal neural receptors of the eye i.e. rods and cones. If the ambient light is below cone threshold light intensity, a blind spot 5 to 10 degrees wide develops in the center of the visual field and an object viewed directly at night may not be detected because of this night blind spot. Since rods are much more sensitive to light than cones, objects can be detected by an eccentrically fixation, i.e. looking at the objects under an angle of 17-20 degrees to one side, above or below. This might have resulted in nonspotting of the animal during take-off roll.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Nov 6, 2014

Classification
Accident

Cause
Rejected takeoff

Airline
Spicejet

Flight number
SG-622

Departure
Surat, India

Destination
Delhi, India

Aircraft Registration
VT-SGK

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

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