An Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR (P4-KCJ) from Alverca Airport to a currently unknown destination as KC1388 declared a “Mayday” with loss of instruments. The pilots briefly considered a ditching but were able to regain control of the aircraft and the aircraft headed to Beja Airport for a safe landing on runway 19R. During the emergency situation, F-16 fighter jets scrambled to assist the aircraft.
According to flightradar24-data, the Embraer involved spent the last 6 weeks on the ground in Alverca, presumably for maintenance work.
https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air- ... struments/
Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
Moderator: Latest news team
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
The flight was first announced taking off from Lisbon Airport, that information was wrong. Correct airport: Alverca. Reason: maintenance for six weeks and took off for a test flight.
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
Lisbon Approach ATC:
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/lppt/ ... -1330Z.mp3
If you have little time now, check the above half hour as from 10 minutes 55 seconds: it's the frightening call with the crew asking ATC for vectors to ditch the aircraft.
If you have more time, check as from 02 minutes 40 seconds = their first mayday call.
http://archive-server.liveatc.net/lppt/ ... -1330Z.mp3
If you have little time now, check the above half hour as from 10 minutes 55 seconds: it's the frightening call with the crew asking ATC for vectors to ditch the aircraft.
If you have more time, check as from 02 minutes 40 seconds = their first mayday call.
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
Exclusive footage taken on board one of the F-16 fighter jets that scrambled to assist the aircraft: https://www.aviation24.be/airlines/air- ... struments/
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
Some inside information, reproduced as received:
The plane left a C inspection.
Alverca barely took off as they tried to get back to one side, the plane returned to the opposite side. They did not realize what was happening with the ailerons. They tried to turn on the auto-pilot and every time they switched off the plane they plunged to the left and put a total of 3 tonneaus in one of them, they left 4000 feet to 90º nose down with the GPWS touching. They only fly with rudder, engines and elevator. (They learned to fly the crooked plane for 2 hours.) Cte was so cheated that he had to be the co-pilot to land on the third attempt in which he cleared 3 runway lights. The crew consisted of 3 pilots and 3 engineers in which one of them is believed to be director of the company and had to be assisted due to heart problems.
They are of the opinion that the plane no longer leaves from there with the load G that took.
The plane left a C inspection.
Alverca barely took off as they tried to get back to one side, the plane returned to the opposite side. They did not realize what was happening with the ailerons. They tried to turn on the auto-pilot and every time they switched off the plane they plunged to the left and put a total of 3 tonneaus in one of them, they left 4000 feet to 90º nose down with the GPWS touching. They only fly with rudder, engines and elevator. (They learned to fly the crooked plane for 2 hours.) Cte was so cheated that he had to be the co-pilot to land on the third attempt in which he cleared 3 runway lights. The crew consisted of 3 pilots and 3 engineers in which one of them is believed to be director of the company and had to be assisted due to heart problems.
They are of the opinion that the plane no longer leaves from there with the load G that took.
André
ex Sabena #26567
ex Sabena #26567
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
David Howard commented on the article:
Swapped aileron controls (so when a right input, the a/c would turn left and vice-versa). Only elevators, rudder and thrust available to control the aircraft. No issues when the autopilot was connected, but as soon as they would disconnect it, the controls were lost. Adding to these awkward conditions, the wheather here in Lisbon area have been awfull the whole day with pouring rain, heavy clouds and low ceiling, so they had no visual geographic references, plus they were unfamiliar with the terrain and there’s where the F-16s came in, to guide the E190 to a safer place. After “learning” to control the plane, they needed an airport with better weather/visual conditions and Beja was the best, which is also in a sparsely populated area so in case of a crash, the possibility of having victims on the ground was much lower.
On the first landing attempt, the aircraft wasn’t well aligned to the runway so a go around was performed. On the second attempt they were a bit too high and went around again, before finally successfully landing on the third attempt. Of the 6 pob, two were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and a third person, someone from the administration of Air Astana was reporting some heart issued ans was also taken to the hospital, which all three left by the beginning of the evening.”
Swapped aileron controls (so when a right input, the a/c would turn left and vice-versa). Only elevators, rudder and thrust available to control the aircraft. No issues when the autopilot was connected, but as soon as they would disconnect it, the controls were lost. Adding to these awkward conditions, the wheather here in Lisbon area have been awfull the whole day with pouring rain, heavy clouds and low ceiling, so they had no visual geographic references, plus they were unfamiliar with the terrain and there’s where the F-16s came in, to guide the E190 to a safer place. After “learning” to control the plane, they needed an airport with better weather/visual conditions and Beja was the best, which is also in a sparsely populated area so in case of a crash, the possibility of having victims on the ground was much lower.
On the first landing attempt, the aircraft wasn’t well aligned to the runway so a go around was performed. On the second attempt they were a bit too high and went around again, before finally successfully landing on the third attempt. Of the 6 pob, two were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries and a third person, someone from the administration of Air Astana was reporting some heart issued ans was also taken to the hospital, which all three left by the beginning of the evening.”
Re: Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190LR from Alverca Airport declared a “mayday” with loss of instruments
Preliminary report of the GPIAAF (Gabinete de Prevenção e Investigação de Acidentes com Aeronaves e Acidentes Ferroviários) – Portuguese Aviation Authorities (Lisbon, 13 November 2018)
An Embraer 190-100LR, with Aruba registration P4-KCJ, operated by Air Astana, took-off at 13:31, 11 NOV 2018, from Alverca do Ribatejo airbase, where it was under a scheduled maintenance performed at OGMA, Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal, S.A. facilities.
The flight KC1388 had as final destination the operator base at Almaty, Kazakhstan, with a refueling stop-over at Minsk, Belarus.
On board there were three crew members (a captain and two co-pilots), and three technicians from the operator.
Immediately after take-off, with adverse meteorological conditions, the crew felt that the aircraft was not responding adequately to the commands, developing oscillatory wing movements.
The crew, using all the aircraft control resources for its 3 axis, immediately tried to counter the movements, however without understanding the cause for the flight instability and without being able to engage the autopilot.
Realising that they were without effective control of the aircraft, only being able – with considerable effort – to minimize the oscillatory movements, with high structural loads involved during some recovery manoeuvres and using crossed commands.
The crew immediately declared emergency while trying to diagnose the cause for the abnormal roll of the aircraft, continuing to struggle to gain its control, having no malfunction indication from the aircraft systems, just the continuous alerts for abnormal
flight attitudes.
The situation did not improve, and the performed trajectories caused the aircraft and the persons on board to sustain intense G-forces, and causing the aircraft complete loss of control for some moments at multiple instances.
Considering the situation criticality, the crew requested several times for headings in order to be able to reach the sea for ditching, not being able, however, to keep the intended headings.
The crew then started a team work basis, discussing options with the third crewmember (co-pilot in the jump-seat) and trying to communicate with the technicians on board, to explore hypothesis and define an action plan.
Despite no warnings for system failures, the crew decided to activate the flight controls direct mode (elevators, rudder and spoilers), where the flight control module (FCM) is removed from the flight surfaces command chain, which are then controlled in a direct relationship with the pilots’ inputs on the yoke.
The situation improved considerably, however, without restoring normal operation and keeping the difficulties to control the aircraft roll-axis.
The crew realised that the ailerons were behaving erratically and therefore any command for the aircraft roll was kept to its minimum.
Having gained some control of the situation, the crew flew East, searching for better weather conditions and started to follow the flight plan defined by the air traffic control for an emergency landing in a suitable airport, with good weather and physical conditions to deal with the sustaining aircraft control difficulties.
At this moment, when the pilots were able to keep altitude and heading, and had sufficient visual references, the aircraft was joined by a pair of F-16 fighters from the Portuguese Air Force, which assisted in guiding to Beja airport, which had been selected in the meantime as the best emergency landing option.
After two non-stabilised approaches, the aircraft managed to land safely on runway 19L at the third approach. The intended runway was 19R, but due to drift, they finally managed to land on the left runway.
All on board were physically and emotionally shaken, one of the passengers sustaining a leg injury.
Still pending confirmation from the undertaking of additional testing, the evidence that was possible to collect at the time of drafting this Note suggests the existence of failures in the aircraft roll controls configuration, consistent with possible disturbance during maintenance actions.
NOTE: The times mentioned are all UTC.
About the investigation
GPIAAF was notified shortly after the beginning of the occurrence and an investigation team travelled to the emergency landing airport for evidence gathering.
GPIAAF started a safety investigation process to identify the serious incident causes in accordance with Portuguese Decree-Law no. 318/99, EU Regulation no. 996/2010 and Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
Amongst other issues, the safety investigation will look into the functioning of the aircraft, the crew procedures, the maintenance performed to the aircraft, the human and organizational factors involved.
The safety investigation carried out by GPIAAF has the sole purpose of identifying causal and contributing factors involved in accidents or incidents, in order as to recommend, if relevant, any action that it considers necessary to be taken to enhance aviation safety. The investigation is independent and separate from any judicial or administrative proceedings to apportion blame or liability.
Within the scope defined by the international legislation, the investigation may have the participation of representatives from EASA, from the national civil aviation authorities of the Member States concerned, and from the State of Registry, the State of the Operator, the State of Design and the State of Manufacture.
After concluding the investigation and consultation to the relevant parties, GPIAAF will publish the final report. According to national and European legislation, if the final report cannot be made public within 12 months, an interim statement will be released at least at each anniversary of the accident, detailing the progress of the investigation and any safety issues raised. Any urgent safety issues detected in an investigation are immediately transmitted to relevant parties to allow them to act accordingly.
An Embraer 190-100LR, with Aruba registration P4-KCJ, operated by Air Astana, took-off at 13:31, 11 NOV 2018, from Alverca do Ribatejo airbase, where it was under a scheduled maintenance performed at OGMA, Indústria Aeronáutica de Portugal, S.A. facilities.
The flight KC1388 had as final destination the operator base at Almaty, Kazakhstan, with a refueling stop-over at Minsk, Belarus.
On board there were three crew members (a captain and two co-pilots), and three technicians from the operator.
Immediately after take-off, with adverse meteorological conditions, the crew felt that the aircraft was not responding adequately to the commands, developing oscillatory wing movements.
The crew, using all the aircraft control resources for its 3 axis, immediately tried to counter the movements, however without understanding the cause for the flight instability and without being able to engage the autopilot.
Realising that they were without effective control of the aircraft, only being able – with considerable effort – to minimize the oscillatory movements, with high structural loads involved during some recovery manoeuvres and using crossed commands.
The crew immediately declared emergency while trying to diagnose the cause for the abnormal roll of the aircraft, continuing to struggle to gain its control, having no malfunction indication from the aircraft systems, just the continuous alerts for abnormal
flight attitudes.
The situation did not improve, and the performed trajectories caused the aircraft and the persons on board to sustain intense G-forces, and causing the aircraft complete loss of control for some moments at multiple instances.
Considering the situation criticality, the crew requested several times for headings in order to be able to reach the sea for ditching, not being able, however, to keep the intended headings.
The crew then started a team work basis, discussing options with the third crewmember (co-pilot in the jump-seat) and trying to communicate with the technicians on board, to explore hypothesis and define an action plan.
Despite no warnings for system failures, the crew decided to activate the flight controls direct mode (elevators, rudder and spoilers), where the flight control module (FCM) is removed from the flight surfaces command chain, which are then controlled in a direct relationship with the pilots’ inputs on the yoke.
The situation improved considerably, however, without restoring normal operation and keeping the difficulties to control the aircraft roll-axis.
The crew realised that the ailerons were behaving erratically and therefore any command for the aircraft roll was kept to its minimum.
Having gained some control of the situation, the crew flew East, searching for better weather conditions and started to follow the flight plan defined by the air traffic control for an emergency landing in a suitable airport, with good weather and physical conditions to deal with the sustaining aircraft control difficulties.
At this moment, when the pilots were able to keep altitude and heading, and had sufficient visual references, the aircraft was joined by a pair of F-16 fighters from the Portuguese Air Force, which assisted in guiding to Beja airport, which had been selected in the meantime as the best emergency landing option.
After two non-stabilised approaches, the aircraft managed to land safely on runway 19L at the third approach. The intended runway was 19R, but due to drift, they finally managed to land on the left runway.
All on board were physically and emotionally shaken, one of the passengers sustaining a leg injury.
Still pending confirmation from the undertaking of additional testing, the evidence that was possible to collect at the time of drafting this Note suggests the existence of failures in the aircraft roll controls configuration, consistent with possible disturbance during maintenance actions.
NOTE: The times mentioned are all UTC.
About the investigation
GPIAAF was notified shortly after the beginning of the occurrence and an investigation team travelled to the emergency landing airport for evidence gathering.
GPIAAF started a safety investigation process to identify the serious incident causes in accordance with Portuguese Decree-Law no. 318/99, EU Regulation no. 996/2010 and Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
Amongst other issues, the safety investigation will look into the functioning of the aircraft, the crew procedures, the maintenance performed to the aircraft, the human and organizational factors involved.
The safety investigation carried out by GPIAAF has the sole purpose of identifying causal and contributing factors involved in accidents or incidents, in order as to recommend, if relevant, any action that it considers necessary to be taken to enhance aviation safety. The investigation is independent and separate from any judicial or administrative proceedings to apportion blame or liability.
Within the scope defined by the international legislation, the investigation may have the participation of representatives from EASA, from the national civil aviation authorities of the Member States concerned, and from the State of Registry, the State of the Operator, the State of Design and the State of Manufacture.
After concluding the investigation and consultation to the relevant parties, GPIAAF will publish the final report. According to national and European legislation, if the final report cannot be made public within 12 months, an interim statement will be released at least at each anniversary of the accident, detailing the progress of the investigation and any safety issues raised. Any urgent safety issues detected in an investigation are immediately transmitted to relevant parties to allow them to act accordingly.