ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-320 G-DRFC Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands (JER)
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Status:Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Date:Saturday 16 June 2012
Time:08:23
Type:Silhouette image of generic AT43 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
ATR 42-320
Operator:Blue Islands
Registration: G-DRFC
MSN: 007
First flight: 1986-01-30 (26 years 5 months)
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW121
Crew:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 40
Total:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 43
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands (JER) (   United Kingdom)
Phase: Landing (LDG)
Nature:Domestic Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands (GCI/EGJB), United Kingdom
Destination airport:Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands (JER/EGJJ), United Kingdom
Flightnumber: 308
Narrative:
An ATR-42-320 passenger plane operated by Blue Islands suffered substantial damage in a landing accident at Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands, U.K. Four passengers suffered minor injuries.
Flight SI-308 took off from Guernsey, Channel Islands at 07:05, with the captain acting as pilot flying. He was conducting line training of the co-pilot, a first officer who had recently joined the company.
The short flight to Jersey was without incident and the weather for landing was reported as good, with the wind from 210° at 16 kt, few clouds at 2,000 ft and visibility in excess of 10 km. The commander elected to carry out a visual approach to runway 27 at Jersey, using a planned approach speed of 107 kt and flap 30 selected for landing.
During the approach, the gear was selected down and the flight crew confirmed the three green 'gear safe' indication lights were illuminated, indicating that the gear was locked in the down position. The commander reported that both the approach and touchdown seemed normal, with the crosswind from the left resulting in the left main gear touching first.
Just after touchdown both pilots heard a noise and the aircraft appeared to settle slightly differently from usual. The captain considered that a tyre had burst. The cabin crewmember also heard a noise after touchdown which she too thought was from a tyre bursting. The commander selected ground idle and partial reverse pitch and, as the aircraft decelerated through 70 kt, the co-pilot took over control of the ailerons, as per standard procedures, to allow the commander to take control of the steering tiller. Despite applying corrective inputs the aircraft continued rolling to the left.
The aircraft continued to quickly roll to the left until the left wingtip and propeller contacted the runway. The aircraft remained on the runway, rapidly coming to a halt to the left of the centreline, approximately abeam Holding Point D. Both propellers continued to rotate and the commander selected the condition levers to the fuel shutoff position and pulled the fire handles to shut both engines down.

It was determined that the left side brace upper arm had suffered a fatigue failure. The failure rendered the side brace ineffective and the unrestrained main trunnion continued to translate outboard, leading to the collapse of the gear. The aluminium brace was found to contain a small metallurgical feature at the crack origin which was consistent with titanium rich particles (TiB2) particles which are introduced as a grain refiner during casting of the billet prior to forging. The size of the feature was within the defined specifications for AL7010-T74. Analysis of the area surrounding the crack origin revealed an area of static loading before propagating a crack in fatigue, indicating that there may have been a single overload event at some point in the history of the side brace upper arm.

Probable Cause:

PROBABLE CAUSE: The investigation report did not contain a probable cause paragraph as recommended in ICAO Annex 13.

Accident investigation:

cover
Investigating agency: AAIB (U.K.)
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 1 year and 4 months
Accident number: AAIB Bulletin: 10/2013
Download report: Final report

Classification:
Landing gear collapse
Runway mishap

Photos

photo of ATR-42-320-G-DRFC
accident date: 16-06-2012
type: ATR 42-320
registration: G-DRFC
photo of ATR-42-320-G-DRFC
accident date: 16-06-2012
type: ATR 42-320
registration: G-DRFC
 

Video, social media

Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Guernsey Airport, Channel Islands to Jersey-States Airport, Channel Islands as the crow flies is 39 km (24 miles).

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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