SF34, Stornoway UK, 2015

SF34, Stornoway UK, 2015

Summary

On 2 January 2015, the commander of a Saab 340 suddenly lost directional control during a within-limits crosswind take off and the aircraft left the runway onto grass at approximately 80 knots. No call to reject the take off was made and no action was taken to shut down the engines until the aircraft had come to a stop in the soft ground with a collapsed nose gear and substantial damage to the propellers and lower forward fuselage. The Investigation concluded that the most likely explanation for the excursion was the absence of any rudder input as the aircraft accelerated.

Description

On 2 January 2015, a Saab 340B (G-LGNL) being operated on a domestic scheduled passenger flight from Stornoway to Glasgow left the runway at speed during a daylight take off in normal visibility and continued for 250 metres eventually coming to a stop on the grass some 35 metres from the edge of the runway. After a delay in the subsequent passenger-initiated emergency evacuation because the propellers were still turning, passengers evacuated via the right hand over wing exit. One of the 29 passengers was found to have sustained a serious injury. Extensive damage was sustained to the nose landing gear, both power plants and the underside of the aircraft.

The aircraft track during the excursion and its final stopping position (reproduced from the Official Report)

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the UK AAIB assisted by data recovered from the 2 hour CVR and the FDR.

It was noted that the 46 year old Captain, who had been PF for the accident flight, had accumulated almost all of his 3880 hours recorded flying experience on the accident aircraft type.

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