Pilots of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max which crashed shortly after departing Jakarta last October had been unaware of the control problems experienced by the crew of the same aircraft on the inbound service, investigators have disclosed. This inbound service – from Denpasar – had taken place after the aircraft underwent replacement of an angle-of-attack sensor. Its crew had known about the rectification, and Indonesian investigation authority KNKT says this awareness of the aircraft's condition "may have helped" when the pilots encountered control problems after take-off from Denpasar. As it lifted off, the stick-shaker activated owing to misalignment of the replacement angle-of-attack sensor and the aircraft automatically started repeatedly trimming nose-down. KNKT says the crew carried out non-normal checklists, including those for unreliable airspeed and runaway stabiliser, and activated the stabiliser trim cut-out to regain control of the jet. Despite a continuing stick-shaker activation, and the indications of a runaway stabiliser, the captain chose to continue the flight to Jakarta – a decision which the inquiry says was "highly unusual". After the aircraft arrived and parked in Jakarta, it adds, the captain made entries into the maintenance log referring to three particular problems experienced during the flight, but "did not mention" the activation of the stick-shaker, as he believed this was a symptom of the other issues. Nor did the captain report the runaway stabiliser or the activation of the stabiliser trim cut-out. The crew had returned the cut-out switches to their normal position after landing. Finding the cut-out switches engaged, says the inquiry, would have provided "additional information" to the maintenance engineers. It says the captain's lack of understanding of the relationship between the system failures and their effects meant his maintenance log report was "incomplete", and points out that full reporting is "critical" for engineers to maintain aircraft airworthiness. Failure to record information may have been crucial, because one of the next crew's responsibilities is to examine the maintenance log and inquire about the technical status of the aircraft before flight. KNTK says an "absence" of discussion by the next crew regarding the problems that had affected the inbound flight suggests the pilots might not have been aware of the issues, and the possibility of recurrence. This lack of awareness – particularly of the stick-shaker activation and the uncommanded nose-down trim – would have lessened the ability of the crew to predict, and prepare to mitigate, similar problems. When the aircraft took off again from Jakarta, the stick-shaker and MCAS activated repeatedly, similarly to the way they had behaved on the inbound flight. But the pilots, caught by surprise, were far less effective than the previous crew at diagnosing and dealing with the problem.

Source: FlightGlobal

Just like elsewhere in the world, the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max has stymied airline industry growth in Latin America, a region long home to some of Seattle-based Boeing's top customers. Those airlines are now girding for a year of slower-than-expected growth while waiting for regulators in the USA and Latin America to green-light the jet's return to service. "We will [report] much lower air traffic growth in 2019," Pedro Heilbron, chief executive of Copa Airlines and president of Latin American airline trade group ALTA, said on 27 October. He spoke during a press conference marking the opening of ALTA's annual forum. "We all have grounded aircraft right now, and are all obviously affected," Heilbron says. "It has a lot of impact on this market," Brazil's secretary of aviation infrastructure Ronei Glanzmann says of the Max. "This is, of course, an economic imperative." Copa has not said how severely the grounding might impact its financial results, though other 737 Max operators have. Those include much-larger American Airlines, which recently disclosed it expects the grounding will take a $540 million bite from its 2019 financial results. The grounding has had a notable impact in Latin America partly because the region is home to several carriers that have made the 737 their primary narrowbody workhorse. When regulators grounded the 737 Max in March, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Cayman Airways, Copa and Gol operated a combined 25 of the aircraft. That may be relatively few, but Latin American airlines hold outstanding orders for 270 737 Max jets, representing a significant chunk of the region's future fleet, according to Cirium schedules data.


Source: FlightGlobal

Investigators claim a mis-set altimeter combined with heavy fog led to the fatal crash of a Let L-410 turboprop during an attempt to land at Yirol in South Sudan. The Ukrainian-registered aircraft (UR-TWO) had been leased from Slav-Air to Juba-based South West Aviation. It was chartered by a company called Baby Air Tours and Travel to fly from Juba to Yirol on 9 September last year, and was transporting 21 passengers and two crew members. South Sudan's ministry of transport indicates the aircraft approached and passed Yirol airfield from the south-east before crossing Lake Yirol – lying some 1,600m beyond the airfield – before circling clockwise, and then crashing into the western side of the lake. Yirol airfield has a single runway, designated 03/21, which is 1,400m in length. But the inquiry says there are no navigation aids to support landings.While the flight-recorder data was unavailable, the inquiry states that examination of the wreckage showed most of the instrument had "frozen in the impact". The altimeter read 1,780ft, it says, and other instruments indicated the aircraft was descending. The elevation of Yirol airfield is approximately 1,430ft. Several other matters were highlighted during the inquiry including the absence of checks on the crew by flight-safety inspectors. The crew did not check the weather briefing before departure, it says, and the operator could not provide a loadsheet.

Source: FlightGlobal