ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 66038
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| Date: | Sunday 28 June 2009 |
| Time: | 13:55 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-32RT-300T Turbo Lance II |
| Owner/operator: | Lance Aviation Ltd. (reg. owners) |
| Registration: | G-LUNA |
| MSN: | 32R-7987108 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1979 |
| Engine model: | Lycoming TIo-540-S1AD |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | English Channel, 4 miles SW of Dungeness, Kent -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Lydd Airport, Ashford, Kent (LYX/EGMD) |
| Investigating agency: | AAIB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Written off (destroyed) 28-06-2009 when ditched and sank into the English Channel, 4 miles SW of Dungeness, Kent. The pilot - the sole person on board - was rescued. According to a press release from the RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat:
"The pilot of the plane ditched his small aircraft into the sea approximately four miles south west of Dungeness Point. The pilot was subsequently spotted by a passing commercial vessel, which helped rescue the pilot from the English Channel. The RNLI's Dungeness Mersey class all-weather lifeboat then manoeuvred alongside the vessel and recovered the pilot safely on board, where his medical condition was assessed and it was decided he should be airlifted to hospital.
Deputy Second Coxswain of Dungeness all-weather lifeboat, who was in charge of the lifeboat at the time of rescue, said: 'Although the pilot was not badly hurt he was experiencing symptoms of shock and it was decided that he should be taken immediately to the nearest hospital. A rescue helicopter airlifted the pilot from the RNLI lifeboat and took him to hospital in Ashford, Kent. The pilot was really lucky that he was rescued so quickly from the English Channel. If this incident had happened at night, there might have been a very different ending to this rescue.'
According to the following excerpt from the excerpt from the official AAIB report into the accident:
"The pilot reported that the aircraft was refuelled to full tanks before departure from Lydd Airport in Kent. Having levelled at 2,000 feet, and seven miles from Lydd, he switched the fuel pump on and changed the fuel selector from the left to right tank. Ten to fifteen seconds later, the manifold pressure dropped and the rpm decayed.
The pilot immediately selected the mixture to fully rich, and re-selected the left tank. The engine continued to run, but at low power and with sounds of misfiring. The pilot selected the alternate air source but the engine did not recover, and then stopped. He then made a MAYDAY call and selected 7700 on his transponder, whilst making several unsuccessful attempts to re-start the engine.
The pilot flew towards a ship, opened the cabin door, selected the landing gear manual override, and prepared to ditch. The ditching was carried out with full flap and with the aircraft fully stalled, onto the top of the five metre swell (the wind was approximately 210 degrees at 9 knots and the ditching was carried out on a heading of 240 degrees).
The aircraft touched down tail first, and bounced, approximately 4 miles south-west of Dungeness, Kent. On the subsequent impact, the fuselage briefly submerged before it floated. The pilot, uninjured, put on his life jacket and exited the aircraft onto the wing. He waved to the ship but it continued its passage; its crew had seen the ditching and contacted another ship behind them by radio with instructions to rescue the pilot.
After approximately two minutes, the aircraft pitched 45 degrees nose down, and sank. The pilot was rescued by the second ship, transferred to a lifeboat, and then airlifted to hospital by helicopter; he had been in the water for 20 minutes and was treated for mild hypothermia. The aircraft was not recovered, and no technical investigation into the engine failure was possible."
Nature of damage sustained to airframe: Not known as the "Aircraft sank after ditching". Aircraft there presumably deemed to have been destroyed, as the registration G-LUNA was cancelled by the CAA on 16-02-2010
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
1. AAIB: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422ef90ed915d13740002a9/Piper_PA-32RT-300T_Turbo_Cherokee_Lance_II__G-LUNA_09-09.pdf
2. CAA: https://siteapps.caa.co.uk/g-info/
3. https://www.dungenesslifeboat.org.uk/2009-news-releases/28-june-2009
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 29-Jun-2009 03:16 | RobertMB | Added |
| 30-Jun-2009 01:15 | JINX | Updated |
| 30-Jun-2009 12:23 | RobertMB | Updated |
| 15-Oct-2012 13:20 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Departure airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 15-Oct-2012 13:21 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Embed code] |
| 07-Nov-2016 18:26 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative] |
| 07-Nov-2016 18:31 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Narrative] |
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