Incident Overview

Date: Thursday 31 December 1970
Aircraft Type: Fokker F-27 Friendship 200
Owner/operator: Pakistan International Airlines – PIA
Registration Number: AP-AUV
Location: near Shamshernagar Airport (ZHM) – ÿ Bangladesh
Phase of Flight: Approach
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 35
Component Affected: Aircraft propellersAircraft propellers
Category: Accident
An uneventful scheduled flight to Shamshernagar Airport (ZHM) was disrupted by a captain’s decision to utilize GFP on both propellers at a height of several hundred feet and a speed of approximately 125 knots. This resulted in a high rate of descent, leading to pilot loss of control, a crash-landing short of the runway, and significant fuel spillage. The fuselage rotated to the right, with the right wing tip breaking off at a height of approximately 10 feet, causing substantial damage and fire. Seven passengers perished, while the remaining and crew members escaped with minor injuries, requiring approximately four hours for fire brigade to reach the site.An uneventful scheduled flight to Shamshernagar Airport (ZHM) was disrupted by a captain’s decision to utilize GFP on both propellers at a height of several hundred feet and a speed of approximately 125 knots. This resulted in a high rate of descent, leading to pilot loss of control, a crash-landing short of the runway, and significant fuel spillage. The fuselage rotated to the right, with the right wing tip breaking off at a height of approximately 10 feet, causing substantial damage and fire. Seven passengers perished, while the remaining and crew members escaped with minor injuries, requiring approximately four hours for fire brigade to reach the site.

Description

After an uneventful scheduled flight, the captain concluded that the aircraft was too high on approach to Shamshernagar Airport (ZHM). Instead of going around he selected GFP on both propellers at a height of a few hundred feet and a speed of about 125 knots. Consequently the aircraft developed a high rate of descent and at about 20 feet height the pilot lost control, after which the aircraft crash-landed short of the runway. The right hand wing tip broke off at about 10 feet from the tip, allowing a large amount of fuel to be spilled. The fuselage turned over to the right ending up more or less upside down. A fire developed, with heavy smoke, in which 7 of the 31 passengers died. The others and the 4 crew escaped with only minor injuries. It took about 4 hours for the fire brigade to reach the site.

Source of Information

http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=725http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=725

Primary Cause

Captain’s decision to utilize GFP on propellers at a high altitude and speed, leading to a rapid descent and loss of control.Captain’s decision to utilize GFP on propellers at a high altitude and speed, leading to a rapid descent and loss of control.

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