SA Express DH8D at Cape Town and Bloemfontein on Jul 18th 2014, engine cowling separated

Last Update: January 10, 2018 / 16:15:52 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 18, 2014

Classification
Report

Airline
SA Express

Flight number
SA-1081

Aircraft Registration
ZS-NMO

ICAO Type Designator
DH8D

A SA Express de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration ZS-NMO performing flight SA-1081 from Cape Town to Bloemfontein (South Africa) with 19 passengers and 4 crew, was climbing through FL160 out of Cape Town when a passenger made cabin crew aware that the inboard cowling of the right hand engine (PW150A) was missing. The flight crew verified the cowling was missing probably having separated during the departure roll or during initial climb, consulted with company maintenance and continued the flight to Bloemfontein for a safe landing. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained damage to the engine cowl and leading edge de-icing boots outboard of the #2 engine.

South Africa's CAA released their final report concluding the probable causes of the incident were:

The right hand engine left hand side cowling access cowling was not properly closed and latched when the engine oil uplifts were carried out during the “night stop” inspection. The Pre-flight inspection was also not properly conducted by the line maintenance and the flight deck crew prior to departure.

Probable Cause/s

Right hand engine inboard cowling was not properly latched and locked during pre-flight inspection resulting in the separated from the aircraft during take-off.

The CAA reported a night stop inspection had been carried out during the previous night in Cape Town. Following the flight the CAA summarized:

The cowling was located at approximately 660 metres from threshold of Runway 01 at FACT by the (ARFF) Cape Town Fire Department. The cowling was inspected and it was established that the two lower latches were unlatched and the two side latches were in the closed and latched position.

The certified maintenance technician indicated that the assistant had conducted the engine oil uplifts on the engines. The certified technician stated that he was unsure whether he had conducted spot checks on the specific engine oil upliftment at the time before the incident occurred.

The assistant stated that it was raining when the incident aircraft landed at Cape Town International Airport during the night on 17 July 2014. He then performed a walk-around inspection of the aircraft and also uplifted the engine oil levels on the engines during the “night stop “inspection.

The CAA analysed:

The crew could not ensure that the engine cowling were properly latched as the aircraft is a high wing aircraft with engines attached to the wing .At the time of the pre-flight inspection it was raining.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 18, 2014

Classification
Report

Airline
SA Express

Flight number
SA-1081

Aircraft Registration
ZS-NMO

ICAO Type Designator
DH8D

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