Skyward F50 at Nairobi on Jan 4th 2015, could not extend left main gear as result of bird strike
Last Update: June 20, 2017 / 13:06:06 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 4, 2015
Classification
Accident
Airline
Skyward International Aviation
Departure
Wajir, Kenya
Destination
Nairobi Wilson, Kenya
Aircraft Registration
5Y-SIB
Aircraft Type
Fokker 50
ICAO Type Designator
F50
The airport was closed for about 5 hours while the aircraft was being removed from the runway.
The airline reported that the nose and right main gear extended normally, but the crew had to realize that nothing could lower the left main gear.
A post removal inspection revealed evidence of a bird strike which blocked the left hand main gear door.
Kenyan media report that two birds struck the aircraft upon departure from Wajir, one of them lodged into the left main gear structure preventing the gear strut from extending again.
On Jun 20th 2017 Kenya's AAID released their final report (DOC format instead of PDF) concluding the probable causes of the accident were:
The cause of the accident was the failure of the left Main Landing Gear,MLG to extend during landing due to a bird strike which disabled proper functioning of the mechanical system that controls the opening and closing the door to the left MLG.
The AAID reported that the aircraft sustained a bird strike after departure from Wajir's runway 15. The crew verified that all systems indicated normal and decided to continue the flight. On approach to Nairobi Wilson the crew received an unsafe indication for the left main gear prompting the crew to enter a hold for about an hour in an attempt to solve the issue, however, without success. The crew declared Mayday, decided to divert to Nairobi's International Airport and performed a successful gear up landing on runway 06. There were no injuries, the aircraft received substantial damage however.
The AAID reported the crew consisted of a captain (54, ATPL, 17,000 hours total, 1,200 hours on type) and a first officer (29, ATPL, 4,143 hours total, 200 hours on type).
The AAID analysed:
During take-off the crew experienced a bird strike which they did not envisage would cause danger to their flight until when on final downwind at Wilson airport. This happened because immediately after the strike they checked all the flight control systems and noticed no malfunction. They therefore elected to continue with the flight and did not inform the air traffic control unit at Wajir or at destination. After detecting unsafe signal on the left MLG on arrival at Wilson airport circuit the flight crew made several attempts to extend the left MLG without any success. After extensive consultation with air traffic control unit and the company, the flight crew elected to carry out a gear-up landing at HKJK instead of HKNW. A successful gear-up landing was eventually executed at HKJK and there was no injuries to persons onboard however the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
The AAID analysed that both FDR and CVR were non-functional during the accident flight, during read out no data could be downloaded from either recorder that were consistent with the accident flight.
The AAID analysed that Wajir Airport has a wildlife control programme, which extends 8km around the aerodrome only instead of 13km as required by regulations. The programme did not adopt best practises for bird and wildlife control. In addition, ATC procedures at Wajir only required to report the presence of birds, however, no procedures to avoid or reduce the danger of bird strikes.
The AAID reported that a slaughter house in the vicinity of Wajir aerodrome attracts large flocks of birds.
Metars:
HKJK 041200Z 02008KT 330V090 9999 FEW030 30/08 Q1017 NOSIG=
HKJK 041100Z 04010KT 9999 FEW028 29/08 Q1018 NOSIG=
HKJK 041000Z 02009KT 350V050 9999 FEW027 28/09 Q1019 NOSIG=
HKJK 040900Z 02009KT 9999 FEW027 27/09 Q1020 NOSIG=
HKJK 040830Z 04009KT 360V100 9999 FEW026 27/09 Q1020=
HKJK 040800Z 04006KT 340V090 9999 FEW026 26/10 Q1021 NOSIG=
HKJK 040700Z VRB05KT CAVOK 24/10 Q1022 NOSIG=
HKJK 040600Z VRB02KT CAVOK 22/11 Q1022 NOSIG=
HKJK 040500Z 30004KT 8888 FEW020 18/11 Q1022 NOSIG=
HKJK 040400Z 30004KT CAVOK 15/10 Q1022 NOSIG=
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jan 4, 2015
Classification
Accident
Airline
Skyward International Aviation
Departure
Wajir, Kenya
Destination
Nairobi Wilson, Kenya
Aircraft Registration
5Y-SIB
Aircraft Type
Fokker 50
ICAO Type Designator
F50
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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