ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 45939
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| Date: | Monday 23 July 2001 |
| Time: | 13:02 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28R-200 Cherokee |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | G-BAAZ |
| MSN: | 28R-7135146 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-360-C1C |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | English Channel, Approx 1 mile NE from Lihou Island, Guernsey -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Exeter Airport (EXT/EGTE) |
| Guernsey Airport (GCI/EGJB) | |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (destroyed) when ditched and sank into the English Channel, approximately 1 mile North East from Lihou Island, Guernsey, Channel Islands. Cause of ditching was due to engine failure; all three persons on board (pilot and two passengers) vacated the aircraft safely, and were rescued.
G-BAAZ had not had a straightforward journey; setting off from Liverpool on July 21, 2001, it diverted into Exeter due to adverse weather conditions. Setting off from Exeter the next day (July 22) it returned to Exeter due to "rough running" of the engine. The flight from Exeter on July 23 was the third attempt to reach Guernsey.
According to the following extract from the official AAIB investigation into the accident:
"About 12 miles from Guernsey, just after the pilot had started to descend, the engine began to run very roughly, with extreme speed fluctuations and a loss of power. The pilot attempted to restore engine power using the mixture control, power lever, switching on the fuel pump and changing the fuel tank selected, none of which was consistently effective.
During the descent, the pilot informed Air Traffic Control of his situation and instructed the passengers to put on their life jackets, which they did when the aircraft was estimated to be at about 500 ft; he did not put his own life jacket on as he was concentrating on flying the aircraft.
As the aircraft approached the water, the door was unlatched and the landing gear override up lever pulled up to prevent the automatic deployment of the landing gear. This latter task was then taken over by the front passenger to enable the pilot to handle the aircraft more easily. The aircraft was ditched, wheels up, flapless and with the stall warning sounding, onto a mild swell and remained level and upright when it came to rest.
The deceleration at touchdown caused both front seat occupants, who were wearing lap and diagonal harnesses, to strike their faces on objects ahead of them; the pilot struck his eyebrow on the coaming and the passenger, who was leaning forward to hold the landing gear lever, struck her chin on the control column. All three occupants left the cabin and stood on the wing whilst the pilot extracted and inflated the 4 man dinghy. The two passengers entered the dinghy whilst the pilot retrieved further articles from the aircraft before joining them. Shortly after this the aircraft tipped on its nose and sank slowly.
Two flares were fired and after 25 minutes a fishing boat and rescue craft launched as a result of emergency actions initiated by ATC arrived at the scene. The aircraft has not been recovered and, therefore, an examination to try to establish the cause of the loss of engine power has not been possible."
Registration G-BAAZ was formally cancelled by the CAA on 10 August 2001 as aircraft "destroyed"
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ecb9ed915d137400012b/dft_avsafety_pdf_500790.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/rk=BAAZ
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 28-Oct-2008 00:45 | ASN archive | Added |
| 08-Dec-2012 03:55 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Nature, Source, Narrative] |
| 23-Nov-2014 17:47 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code, Narrative] |
| 14-Feb-2015 04:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Date, Time, Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Damage, Narrative] |
| 17-Jul-2016 19:43 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Source] |
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