Loss of control Accident Boeing 707-368C A20-103,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 325673
 

Date:Tuesday 29 October 1991
Time:11:47
Type:Silhouette image of generic B703 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Boeing 707-368C
Owner/operator:Royal Australian Air Force - RAAF
Registration: A20-103
MSN: 21103/905
Year of manufacture:1975
Engine model:Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B
Fatalities:Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5
Aircraft damage: Destroyed, written off
Category:Accident
Location:43 km S off East Sale, VIC, Australia -   Pacific Ocean
Phase: En route
Nature:Military
Departure airport:Richmond RAAF Base, NSW (XRH/YSRI)
Destination airport:Avalon Airport, VIC (AVV/YMAV)
Narrative:
The RAAF Boeing 707 stalled and crashed into the sea. The crash was attributed to a simulation of asymmetric flight resulting in a sudden and violent departure from controlled flight.

The Board of Inquiry concluded that the instructor devised a demonstration of asymmetric flight that was 'inherently dangerous and that was certain to lead to a sudden departure from controlled flight' and that he did not appreciate this. The Board noted there were deficiencies in the acquisition and documentation of 707 operational knowledge within the RAAF combined with the absence of effective mechanisms to prevent the erosion of operational knowledge at a time when large numbers of pilots were resigning from the air force. There was no official 707 QFI conversion course and associated syllabus and no adequate QFI instructors' manual. There were deficiencies in the documented procedures and limitations pertaining to asymmetric flight in the 707 and a lack of fidelity in the RAAF 707 simulator in the flight regime in which the accident occurred, which, assuming such a requirement existed, required actual practise in flight. 'The captain acted with the best of intentions but without sufficient professional knowledge or understanding of the consequences of the situation in which he placed the aircraft,' the Board said.

Sources:

Scramble 150

Location

Images:


photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Boscombe Down; July 1990

Revision history:

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