ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 226333
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| Date: | Tuesday 28 May 2019 |
| Time: | 11:30 |
| Type: |  Cessna 152 |
| Owner/operator: | Basair Aviation College |
| Registration: | VH-JIW |
| MSN: | 15281439 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | 34 km ESE of Archerfield (Southern Training Area), QLD -
 Australia
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Brisbane-Archerfield Airport, QLD (ACF/YBAF) |
| Brisbane-Archerfield Airport, QLD (ACF/YBAF) | |
| Investigating agency: | ATSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities |
On 28 May 2019, at about 1110 Eastern Standard Time, a Cessna 152 aircraft, registered VH-JIW and operated by Basair Aviation College, departed Archerfield Airport, Queensland, for a training flight. On board was a student pilot on their first flight, and a flight instructor.
During the flight, the instructor demonstrated a number of manoeuvres from the ‘effects of control’ flight-training syllabus. As part of this, the instructor placed the aircraft out of trim with the pitch trim wheel, while the student was maintaining straight and level flight.
With the aircraft in a nose-up trim, the student then practiced re-trimming the aircraft for level flight while maintaining attitude using nose-down pressure on the control wheel. As the aircraft was approaching overhead Lagoon Island at about 2,000 ft above ground level, with the student flying, the instructor moved the pitch trim to about two-thirds travel nose down. The student maintained attitude with nose-up pressure on the control wheel. The instructor’s feet were lightly on the rudder pedals, left hand on their leg, and right hand resting on the glareshield (next to the control wheel).
The student maintained straight and level flight for a short period. When the procedure was to return the elevator trim to neutral, the student became confused about the correct procedure and let go of the control wheel. The aircraft rapidly pitched nose-down, rolled left, and entered into a dive. During these events, the flight instructor’s headset dislodged from their head.
The flight instructor took control of the aircraft and subsequently arrested the descent at about 400 ft, about 25 seconds after the descent commenced. The available radar data showed that from when the dive commenced, to when the instructor regained control, the aircraft had an average rate of descent of over 3,000 ft/minute, with the rate being higher in the initial part of the descent.
During the occurrence sequence, the instructor pulled the throttle back quite rapidly and, at some stage during the initial stages of the sequence, the throttle was bent. The throttle then became stiff, however was still able to be moved. The instructor recalled applying right rudder during the recovery but did not fully recollect if that was to recover from a left spiral dive or spin. The instructor stated they did not re-trim the elevator system to a neutral position until after recovery from the dive.
When they had recovered from the dive, the aircraft was on a reciprocal heading. The instructor carried out a flight control function check and confirmed the aircraft was controllable. The instructor then terminated the lesson and advised air traffic control that their aircraft had descended 1,500 ft ‘quite suddenly’ and they were returning to Archerfield Airport. The aircraft landed without further incident at about 11:39.
During the occurrence, the instructor sustained several minor injuries, including an injury to their left shin after it contacted the underside of the instrument panel, a head injury from impact with the cabin roof, and bruising to the right hip. The student pilot was uninjured. The aircraft sustained damage to the right horizontal stabiliser.
Contributing factors
- In the course of the student pilot’s first training flight, during a lesson in the effects of control, the student released control wheel backpressure suddenly.
- The instructor’s use of a large amount of nose-down elevator trim for the lesson increased the effect when the student released backpressure on the elevator, leading to a sudden nosedown pitch change and subsequent entry into a dive.
- The instructor was not prepared for the sudden nose-down pitch change, leading to a delay in the recovery from the dive.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2019/aair/ao-2019-028/
https://www.regosearch.com/aircraft/au/JIW
Images:
Damage to the Horizontal stabiliser on VH-JIW parked outside BASAIR.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 19-Jun-2019 12:45 | Pineapple | Added |
| 20-Jul-2019 07:13 | CM | Updated [Operator, Total occupants, Location, Narrative] |
| 29-Jul-2019 11:28 | CM | Updated [Photo] |
| 15-Oct-2020 19:09 | harro | Updated [Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Narrative, Accident report] |
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