Finland’s accident investigation board has finally released their report regarding the aircraft accident at Helsinki–Vantaa airport (EFHK) on 31 Jan 2005. This was the case of Swedish company Nord-Flyg AB’s freight Cessna 208B crashing immediately after takeoff.
The direct cause of the crash is priceless - here are some quotes from the report:
The chain of events can be regarded as having begun when the aeroplane stood overnight on the tarmac, exposed to the weather. Snowfall accumulated on the upper surfaces of the fuselage, wings and stabilizers during the night forming a thick coat of ice and snow as it partly melted during the day and refroze when the ambient temperature dropped towards the evening.
The pilot noticed the impurities when he performed a walkaround check. However, he did not order a de-icing. Instead, he tried to remove the ice with a brush. It is only possible to remove dry and loose snow by brushing. In this case the frozen water that had trickled down remained stuck to surfaces.
The pilot executed a takeoff with an aircraft whose aerodynamic properties were fundamentally degraded due to impurities. During the initial climb, immediately after flap retraction, airflow separated from the surface of the wing and the pilot did not manage to regain control of the aircraft. The pilot did not recognize the stall for what is was and did not act in the required manner to recover or, then again, it could be that he had not received sufficient training for these kinds of situations.
No, this is not the Darwin Awards - the single pilot survived.
External links:
- “Investigation report B 2/2005 L - Aircraft accident at Helsinki–Vantaa airport on 31 January,
2005” - Nord-Flyg AB
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