Description

On Monday 3 March 1997 at 1014 hours, privately owned and operated Cessna 185 became airborne after a take off roll which had begun at a mid-point runway position on runway 16 at Wellington International Aerodrome, behind a Boeing 727 which had just departed from the full length of the same runway and climbed directly ahead. The take off clearance given followed the pilot’s request to ATC for a waiver of the recommended wake turbulence separation which applied which ATC had granted as they were entitled to. When the Cessna encountered wake turbulence from the previous departing aircraft, the pilot lost control of the aircraft at a height from which recovery was not possible and the aircraft descended to the ground. Neither of the two occupants was injured but the aircraft was substantially damaged.

The Investigation

The New Zealand TAIC carried out the Accident Investigation. Their Final Report was published on 11 June 1997 and found that “the Cessna pilot should have allowed more time or distance between his aircraft and the departing Boeing 727. It was concluded that the pilot had then misjudged the likely region of wake turbulence in relation to his take-off path. It was also found that the error resulted not from a lack appropriate flight experience or a lack of awareness of wake turbulence and the adverse effects it can have on an aircraft encountering it but from a lapse in concentration. It was suggested in the Investigation Report that this lapse was probably partly due to the routine nature of the flight and partly because of the pilots preoccupation with some personal business problems which he had been dealing with prior to the accident flight and which remained unresolved.