Incident Overview

Date: Wednesday 9 March 2016
Aircraft Type: Antonov An-26B
Owner/operator: True Aviation
Registration Number: S2-AGZ
Location: 3 km W off Cox’s Bazar Airport (CXB) – ÿ Bangladesh
Phase of Flight: Approach
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 4
Component Affected: EngineEngine
Investigating Agency: AAIG-BDAAIG-BD
Category: Accident
An Antonov 26 cargo plane crashed in shallow waters near Cox’s Bazar Airport, Bangladesh, resulting in the deaths of three Ukrainian crew members and a critically injured pilot. The aircraft, operating a scheduled cargo flight, experienced a rapid loss of power due to a sudden engine failure during takeoff. The pilot initiated a return to Cox’s Bazar Airport after reporting the failure, attempting to land on runway 17, but was unable to line up with the runway. The aircraft then deviated to a right-hand downwind approach, climbing to approximately 400-500 feet, and ultimately circled back to the airport. The incident occurred due to a combination of factors, including a failure to initiate a rejected takeoff, adherence to company procedures, a suboptimal takeoff speed, and a potential stall during the turn. The aircraft’s flight path was influenced by poor visibility and a reduced speed, contributing to the incident.An Antonov 26 cargo plane crashed in shallow waters near Cox’s Bazar Airport, Bangladesh, resulting in the deaths of three Ukrainian crew members and a critically injured pilot. The aircraft, operating a scheduled cargo flight, experienced a rapid loss of power due to a sudden engine failure during takeoff. The pilot initiated a return to Cox’s Bazar Airport after reporting the failure, attempting to land on runway 17, but was unable to line up with the runway. The aircraft then deviated to a right-hand downwind approach, climbing to approximately 400-500 feet, and ultimately circled back to the airport. The incident occurred due to a combination of factors, including a failure to initiate a rejected takeoff, adherence to company procedures, a suboptimal takeoff speed, and a potential stall during the turn. The aircraft’s flight path was influenced by poor visibility and a reduced speed, contributing to the incident.

Description

An Antonov 26 cargo plane, operated by True Aviation, crashed in shallow waters of the Bay of Bengal shortly after takeoff from Cox’s Bazar Airport (CXB), Bangladesh. Three Ukrainian crew members died in the crash and another was critically injured. The aircraft operated a scheduled cargo flight from Cox’s Bazar to Jessore in Bangladesh. The on board cargo consisted of 802 boxes of shrimp weighing 4800 kg. The flight crew requested startup clearance at 02:58 UTC. The aircraft was then cleared to taxi to runway 35 via taxiway S. Takeoff clearance was given 03:05 UTC. During takeoff a drop in oil pressure in the torque meter system of engine no.1 caused the engine to lose power the cruise mode. The captain decided to continue takeoff. Immediately after becoming airborne the pilot reported an engine failure and requested for immediate return back to Cox’s Bazar Airport. He was advised by ATC to report left hand down wind. Within 60 seconds after takeoff the no. 1 lost power completely. The captain initially tried to maneuver the aircraft to land on runway 17 (departure runway, opposite direction), but was unable to line up with the runway. The crew decided to continue on a right hand downwind at around 1000 feet with a IAS of 300km/h in clean configuration. The aircraft turned to final and fully configured for landing and stable at around 3.5 NM from the runway. But at 1.2 NM for reasons unknown the captain decided to go around and climbed to 400-500 feet. ATC advised the captain to report left hand down wind. But there was no response from the crew. The aircraft had impacted the shallow waters on the coast, 3 km West of the airport. Causes: a) Failure to initiate a rejected take off during take off roll following the indication of engine failure; b) Failure to adhere to the company SOP following the detection of the engine failure during take off; c) Considering the poor visibility at Cox’s Bazar Airport, diverting to the alternate airfield Chittagong Airport located only 50 nm away that has the provision for full ILS approach facility. This could have helped the crew in carrying out a proper one engine out precision approach landing; d) The aircraft flew at a speed much lower than the clean configuration speed. The aircraft flew at 225 km/h in clean configuration whereas the minimum clean configuration speed is 290 km/hr. e) As per the FDR data the aircraft stalled while making a turn towards the side of the failed engine at a very low altitude;

Primary Cause

Failure to initiate a rejected takeoff during takeoff roll following the indication of engine failure.Failure to initiate a rejected takeoff during takeoff roll following the indication of engine failure.

Share on:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *