ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 321799
| Date: | Wednesday 23 January 2008 |
| Time: | 19:07 |
| Type: |  CASA C-295M |
| Owner/operator: | Polish Air Force |
| Registration: | 019 |
| MSN: | S-043 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2007 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 300 hours |
| Engine model: | Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 20 / Occupants: 20 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 1,3 km SE of Miroslawiec Air Base -
 Poland
|
| Phase: | Approach |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | Poznán-Krzesiny Air Base (EPKS) |
| Miroslawiec Air Base (EPMI) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The Polish CASA C-295M transport aircraft departed Warsaw (WAW) at 16:51 on a flight to Kraków (KRK), through Powidz AB, Poznán-Krzesiny AB, Miroslawiec AB, and Swidwin AB. The plane was carrying 36 attendees, returning from the 50th Annual Aviation Safety Conference held in Warsaw.
Nine attendees deplaned at Powidz and eleven at Poznán-Krzesiny AB. It took off from Krzesiny at 18:24. Weather at Miroslawiec was poor with a ceiling at 300 feet and a visibility 2 sm in mist. The crew were cleared for a PAR approach to runway 12/30. The approach was unstabilized.
On finals, the left bank reached 76 deg and pitch reached -21 degrees. The aircraft hit the ground 1300 m from runway 30 threshold and 320 meters left of extended runway centerline. The aircraft impacted terrain in left sideslip, on heading 220 deg (runway heading was 304 deg), disintegrated and partially burnt. Rate of descent at the moment of ground impact reached approx 6000 feet/min and the ground speed was 148 knots. The aircraft's landing gear was extended and flaps were at 15 degrees setting, at impact.
PRIMARY CAUSE: Inadvertent loss of spatial and situational awareness by the aircraft crew during final stages of PAR approach, which, within 12 seconds period before crash, resulted in the aircrafts bank increasing unmonitored and accompanying altitude loss, while the flight crew apparently was trying to establish visual contact with runway and approach lights.
Among the secondary causes the Board listed:
* Improper flight crew selection for the flight:
- The PIC did not have any previous experience on this version of CASA C-295 aircraft, which was additionally equipped with 2 IRS/GPS LN-100G units instead of 2 TOPSTAR 100-2 GPS receivers, and, ironically, with EGPWS Mk. V - unfortunately lack of cryptographic modules in GPS receivers, which made IRS/GPS LN-100G system almost useless (IRS alone with no GPS enhancement) caused flight crew to use handheld GPS receivers (Garmin GPSMAP 196),
- The SIC was not rated in CASA C-295 aircraft for night/IMC operations,
* Poor flight crew coordination and cooperation (poor MCC & CRM):
- improper altimeter setting procedures,
- probably both pilots were looking for visual cues and nobody was observing flight instruments in the very last seconds before they crash),
* Poor weather conditions in vicinity of Miroslawiec AB; ceiling 300 feet, visibility 2 sm, in mist. Icing was excluded as a factor.
* Spatial disorientation of the flight crew,
* EGPWS Audio warning was inhibited (the flight crew missed EGPWS test before departure from Warsaw, even though it was a checklist item, and never corrected the problem - the PIC was not familiar with the system - he has never flown before CASA C-295M equipped with EGPWS) - in result no audio warning of excessive bank angle, high terrain closure rate and high sink rate was available to the flight crew, as well as no automatic height above ground callouts were given,
* The flight crew failed to monitor radio-altimeter indication during both approaches,
* Both pilots concentrated their attention outside of the cockpit during final seconds before crash and did not scan flight instruments.
* The military PAR controller did a poor job during the approach, he let for the non-stabilized approach, he was not compensating properly for left crosswind of 20 kts and allowed the aircraft to stay high above glide slope during both PAR approaches, he also was not fully aware of altimeter setting (QNH or QFE) and altitude reports by flight crew improper values QNH/QFE were used by the flight crew during first approach, additionally PIC has set his altimeter to QFE, while SIC to QNH. During the approach the controllers instructions were hesitant and inconsistent, probably making the flight crew to believe their approach was going well.
* The military PAR controller was giving improper suggestions to the flight crew - he was questioning them during final stage of approach whether they see approach or runway lights or not, instead of continuous talking them down to the runway threshold,
* Altimeter indications were improperly interpreted by the flight crew,
* Improperly performed search for visual contact by the flight crew during final stage of approach,
* Improper, lacking weather situation analysis performed by the PIC before the flight,
* The flight crew did not properly set DH/MDA (they did the same error on previous two legs before crash).
Contributing factors were:
* The SIC was not rated in CASA C-295 aircraft for night/IMC operations (the SIC total flight time was 800 hours including 100 hours in CASA C-295M),
* The PIC has no previous experience on the accident version of CASA C-295 aircraft, (although he logged 800+ hours in another version of CASA C-295M aircraft used by Polish AF and his total flight time was 2500 hours),
* Because of lack of GPS enhancement to IRS, the flight crew used Garmin GPSMAP 196 handheld GPS receiver,
* The PIC had no previous experience in PAR approaches in IMC, close to minimums, which in Miroslawiec AB were reported to be aprox. ceiling 270 feet and visibility of 3300 feet,
* The mil
Sources:
BBC
Polish Air Force
Location
Revision history:
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