Runway excursion Accident ATR 42-310 F-GHJE, Tuesday 24 October 1995

You can contribute by submitting additional or updated information.

Date:	Tuesday 24 October 1995
Time:	17:15
Type:	ATR 42-310
Owner/operator:	Eagle Aviation, lsf Brit Air
Registration:	F-GHJE
MSN:	070
Year of manufacture:	1987
Total airframe hrs:	12524 hours
Cycles:	12729 flights
Engine model:	P&W Canada PW127
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 54
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Substantial, repaired
Category:	Accident
Location:	Nairboi-Wilson Airport - Kenya
Phase:	Landing
Nature:	Passenger - Scheduled
Departure airport:	Mombasa Airport
Destination airport:	Nairboi-Wilson Airport
Investigating agency:	MoT Kenya
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The aircraft was flying from Mombasa to Nairobi with 50 passengers and 4 crew members on board. The crew performed a visual approach. As the nose wheel touched the runway surface and reverse thrust was selected, the crew felt that the aircraft trajectory was deviating to the right. At a distance of approximately 550 meters from threshold 07, the aircraft veered off the runway to the right side with a constant trajectory and stopped 200 meters from the end of the runway at 90 meters laterally. The nose landing gear collapsed during the runway excursion. The emergency evacuation was through the front exits. Eight passengers were slightly injured or shocked. The right main landing gear and the nose landing gear were damaged.

The probable cause of this accident is the landing performed with a NP selected at 77% on both propellers instead 100% as required by the 'before landing' checklist. With NP selected at 77%, a temporary mismatch in blade angle due to the tolerance condition of the PCU, can quickly lead to a propeller thrust asymmetry of about 1400 daN and to the veering to the right of the aircraft. The use of the nose wheel steering instead of the rudder and the poor cockpit crew co-operation during the final approach were factors contributing to the accident.

Accident investigation: