Incident Overview
Date: Sunday 29 March 1953
Aircraft Type: Vickers 616 Viking 1B
Owner/operator: Central African Airways
Registration Number: VP-YEY
Location: Mkwaya –
ÿ Tanzania
Phase of Flight: En route
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 13 / Occupants: 13
Component Affected: Lower starboard boomLower starboard boom
Category: Accident
A Viking aircraft, identified as ‘Shangani’, experienced a catastrophic disintegration during flight due to a sudden gust of wind. Corrosion nodes introduced by grease used for press fit bolts to the booms resulted in a fracture of the lower starboard boom outboard of Station 141, leading to the complete disintegration of the aircraft.A Viking aircraft, identified as ‘Shangani’, experienced a catastrophic disintegration during flight due to a sudden gust of wind. Corrosion nodes introduced by grease used for press fit bolts to the booms resulted in a fracture of the lower starboard boom outboard of Station 141, leading to the complete disintegration of the aircraft.
Description
The Viking, named “Shangani”, disintegrated in flight after encountering a sudden gust of wind. It appeared that the type of grease used when fitting press fit bolts to the booms had caused corrosion nodes, thus weakening the lower starboard boom at the outboard bolt hole. The gust of wind caused a fracture of this boom outboard of Station 141, followed by the complete disintegration of the aircraft.
Primary Cause
Grease corrosion nodes weakened the lower starboard boom at the outboard bolt hole.Grease corrosion nodes weakened the lower starboard boom at the outboard bolt hole.Share on:
