AT45, en-route, north of Aurillac France, 2018

AT45, en-route, north of Aurillac France, 2018

Summary

On 25 March 2018, an ATR 42-500 main landing gear bay door weighing 15 kg detached shortly after a night descent had begun but this was unknown until the flight arrived at Aurillac. The Investigation found that the root cause of the detachment was a loose securing nut which had triggered a sequence of secondary failures within a single flight which culminated in the release of the door. It was concluded that the event highlighted specific and systemic weakness in relevant airworthiness documentation and practice in relation to the lost door and the use of fasteners on this aircraft type generally.

Description

On 25 March 2018, an ATR 42-500 (F-GPYF) being operated by Air France subsidiary HOP! on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Paris Orly to Aurillac as A5-235 in night VMC had just commenced descent to destination from FL190 when those on board heard a thud and felt a jolt for which the flight crew could not find any explanation. After landing, ground staff reported that the left hand main landing gear door was missing and it was subsequently found at a location on the ground corresponding to the position where the unexplained noise/movement had occurred in flight. Related mainly superficial damage to the aircraft was then identified. None of the 51 passengers were injured.

Investigation

An Investigation into the Accident was carried out by the French Civil Aviation Accident Investigation Agency, the BEA. The FDR and CVR were both downloaded and their relevant data were synchronised. These data provided very useful information on both the prelude to the door detachment and the location of the wreckage of the door on the ground to be determined.

The Captain had a total of 7,294 hours flying experience which included just over 6,700 on type whilst the PF First Officer had a total of 414 hours flying experience of which 132 hours were on type. 

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