SF34, en-route, northern North Sea UK, 2014

SF34, en-route, northern North Sea UK, 2014

Summary

On 3 October 2014, the crew of a Saab 340 in the cruise at FL150 in day IMC did not recognise that severe icing conditions had been encountered early enough to make a fully-controlled exit from them and although recovery from the subsequent stall was successful, it was achieved in a non-standard manner. The Investigation concluded that although both mountain wave effects and severe icing had contributed to the incident, the latter had been the main cause. Both crew understanding of airframe icing risk and supporting Operator and Manufacturer documentation on the subject were considered deficient.

Description

On 3 October 2014, the crew of a Saab 340B (G-LGNM) on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Aberdeen to Sumburgh in day Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) were unable to achieve the normal rate of climb or accelerate once at cruising altitude. During an attempted descent, airframe vibration occurred and activation of the stall warning system followed following which a recovery to a safe airspeed was made after which the remainder of the flight to destination proceeded was without further event.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB. The FDR and CVR were both recovered and successfully downloaded with the former providing data essential to establishing the circumstances which had prevailed.

It was found that the 51 year-old Captain had 9168 hours total flying experience including 6283 hours on type accumulated over 10 years. He was also Line Training Captain for the Operator. The Co-Pilot had 2340 hours total flying experience including 928 hours on type accumulated over 2 years.

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