Incident Overview

Date: Friday 14 August 1959
Aircraft Type: Vickers 815 Viscount
Owner/operator: Pakistan International Airlines – PIA
Registration Number: AP-AJE
Location: Karachi International Airport (KHI) – ÿ Pakistan
Phase of Flight: Approach
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Component Affected: Aircraft structure (wing)Aircraft structure (wing)
Category: Accident
A Viscount aircraft, carrying a training flight to Karachi, experienced a serious accident during training. The aircraft was not properly lined up with the runway, leading to a go-around. During the second attempt, it flew very low over the runway, with engines number 3 and 4 inoperative, resulting in a violent yaw and a sharp drop. The aircraft crashed in flames. The Viscount, ‘City of Dacca,’ was recently delivered.A Viscount aircraft, carrying a training flight to Karachi, experienced a serious accident during training. The aircraft was not properly lined up with the runway, leading to a go-around. During the second attempt, it flew very low over the runway, with engines number 3 and 4 inoperative, resulting in a violent yaw and a sharp drop. The aircraft crashed in flames. The Viscount, ‘City of Dacca,’ was recently delivered.

Description

The PIA Viscount took off from Karachi at 14:30 GMT for a training flight. The aircraft returned to Karachi at 16:39 and took off again at 16:48 for further training. At 17:07 the crew were cleared to land. The aircraft (probably carrying out an ILS approach) was not properly lined up with the runway, so a go around was carried out. On the second time, the Viscount was seen flying very low over the runway with the engines no. 3 and 4 inoperative. During the overshoot, the Viscount yawed almost 90deg to starboard, causing the right wing to strike a blast pen wall. The aircraft then crashed in flames. The Viscount named “City of Dacca” had been delivered just 5 months prior to the accident. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The trainee captain attempted a manoeuvre in disregard of the presribed limitations of such a manoeuvre. A two-engine overshoot was attempted at a very low height and below the prescribed minimum speed, when the aircraft was committed to a landing. This resulted in a violent yaw and sharp drop which could not be controlled. The training captain was conversant with the minimum requirements of a two-engine overshoot of the Viscount 815 aircraft but appears to have overestimated his performance.”

Primary Cause

The trainee captain attempted a manoeuvre in disregard of the prescribed limitations of such a manoeuvre, resulting in a violent yaw and sharp drop.The trainee captain attempted a manoeuvre in disregard of the prescribed limitations of such a manoeuvre, resulting in a violent yaw and sharp drop.

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