Incident Overview

Date: Friday 17 March 2000
Aircraft Type: Embraer EMB-110P1A Bandeirante
Owner/operator: Skypower Express Airways
Registration Number: 5N-AXM
Location: 1,2 km from Kaduna Airport (KAD) – ÿ Nigeria
Phase of Flight: Approach
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 6
Component Affected: Aircraft control system (particularly the starboard engine power setting and throttle control) and the single-engine operation.Aircraft control system (particularly the starboard engine power setting and throttle control) and the single-engine operation.
Investigating Agency: AIPBAIPB
Category: Accident
On the day of the accident, an Embraer Bandeirante aircraft was involved in a charter operation for the Central Bank of Nigeria, commencing with a flight from Lagos (LOS) to Abuja (ABV) at 06:30 UTC. The Commander initially flew the aircraft, and the first officer took over control after a momentary problem with the starboard engine setting. The crew experienced issues with cruise power setting on the starboard engine, leading to torque and a subsequent engagement with the tower. The Commander initiated a single-engine approach, and the pilots subsequently reduced speed and engaged the port engine to regain control. A stall warning occurred, prompting the commander to take over control, resulting in a belly landing at a new VOR/DME site. The probable cause was attributed to a crew error during the one-engine approach.On the day of the accident, an Embraer Bandeirante aircraft was involved in a charter operation for the Central Bank of Nigeria, commencing with a flight from Lagos (LOS) to Abuja (ABV) at 06:30 UTC. The Commander initially flew the aircraft, and the first officer took over control after a momentary problem with the starboard engine setting. The crew experienced issues with cruise power setting on the starboard engine, leading to torque and a subsequent engagement with the tower. The Commander initiated a single-engine approach, and the pilots subsequently reduced speed and engaged the port engine to regain control. A stall warning occurred, prompting the commander to take over control, resulting in a belly landing at a new VOR/DME site. The probable cause was attributed to a crew error during the one-engine approach.

Description

On the day of the accident, the Embraer Bandeirante aircraft was engaged in a charter operation for the Central Bank of Nigeria. The first segment of the flight from Lagos (LOS) to Abuja (ABV) was flown by the Commander. The aircraft departed Lagos about 06:30 hours UTC and initially at cruise, the crew had a momentary problem setting power on the starboard engine after which the flight continued normally to Abuja. The aircraft which departed Abuja for Jos (JOS) at 09:00 hours UTC first officer at the controls. At FL 90 and about 30NM from Abuja, the crew again had problems with the cruise power setting on the starboard engine. The torque remained at 1400. The crew retarded the right power lever to the minimum with the aim of achieving a cruise setting of 1300 but the gear warning came on. The Commander at this stage took over the controls from the first officer. At 09:23 hours UTC, the aircraft contacted Kaduna Tower that it would be diverting to Kaduna (KAD) giving its flight level as 90 at a distance of 61 miles and estimating TMA at 24 miles, ‘KC’ at 41 miles, 6 souls on board and 5 hours endurance at departure. The tower then gave the aircraft an inbound clearance to ‘KC’ locator maintaining FL 90 and to expect no delay for a locator approach runway 05. Weather report at 09:00 hours UTC was also passed to the aircraft as wind 090/05 knots, QNH 1014 and temperature 30øC. At 09:28 hours UTC the airplane at about 42 miles, speed between 150-160 kts, requested descent and was cleared to 4,500ft, QNH 1014. At about 09:35 hours UTC, the pilots contacted tower that they would make a single engine approach because they were having problems controlling power on the starboard engine and it would be shut down. The commander then reviewed the single engine approach with the first officer estimating 4,500 ft at 8NM. Approaching 4,500 ft at 11 NM, the crew initiated right engine shut down after which the speed was decayed from 150 to 140 kts. At 09:46 hours UTC, the pilot reported 6nm final and field in sight while the tower requested him to report 4 miles final. The controller reported having the aircraft in sight and subsequently cleared it to land on runway 05 giving wind as north easterly 06 knots. Descending at 500ft/min, the commander requested for 25% of flap when the first officer selected full flap. When the aircraft was at 2,700 ft high, the speed had already decayed to between 100 – 110 kts. The crew applied full power on the port engine to arrest the speed decay but to no avail. The pilot was trying to correct the descent rate, speed decay and the asymmetry when the stall warning came on. The aircraft belly landed and struck the new VOR/DME site being constructed about 1175 m from the threshold of runway 05. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The probable cause of this accident was the poor handling by the crew of the one-engine inoperative approach.”

Primary Cause

Crew error during the single-engine approach, specifically regarding handling and control of the aircraft’s power setting.Crew error during the single-engine approach, specifically regarding handling and control of the aircraft’s power setting.

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