Investigation into Deadly Cessna 206 Crash near Brisbane Continues
The Cessna 206 operated by Adrenalin Skydivers crashed during takeoff on March 22 at the airstrip, 50km north of Brisbane. Five persons, including the pilot, two tandem instructors and a couple were killed.
The Managing Director of Aero Dynamic Flight Academy and the Safety Officer of Caboolture Airfield, Bryan Carpenter said the aviation community is shattered by the tragic incident. He said it was not possible at this stage to speculate the cause of the accident. The possible causes could have been a bird collision, a mechanical failure or a center of gravity shift in the plane. The plane was reportedly having engine trouble on takeoff.
The victims included instructors Glenn Norman and Juraj Glesk, and Logan couple Rahuia Hohua and Joey King.
Adrenalin Skydivers, known as Skydive Bribie, uses Caboolture Airfield for picking up tourists for conducting tandem jumps. They land on nearby Bribie Island.
Adrenalin Skydivers Pty Ltd also had a similar accident in August 2010 killing seven on board.
The investigation is being handled by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
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What: ultralight plane en route from Volks Aerodrome in Tottenham near Caledon, Ont. Where: north of Toronto When: The wreckage found by York Region police helicopter at about 7:45 p.m. Who: The pilot, John Townsend of King City was found in the wreckage Why: unknown. Transport Canada is investigating
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What: Record TV News helicopter Where: Sao Paulo’s jockey club When: February 10 Who: Pilot and cameraman Why: News network’s Astar helicopter developed rear engine failure and careened to the grass of Sao Paulo’s jockey club. The pilot managed to avoid rush hour traffic on Marginal Pinheiros, and no one on the ground was injured. The cameraman Alexandre Borracha was conscious when on the way to the hospital, surviving with serious injury. The pilot Rafael Delgado Sobrinho was found slumped over the controls died on the scene. The accident was filmed by another news crew.
Pilot of the helicopter filming the crash incident was Globo pilot Dato de Oliveira, who followed and landed, and rushed to assist; he turned off the fuel pump and battery to avoid an explosion.
Both crews were in the area filming a bank robbery.
Longer video from the crashed vehicle and Portuguese newscast
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It’s no surprise that the FAA has no crystal ball and can’t tell us when the 787 is flying again.
Is Boeing going to switch out Battery systems? Are they wasting time trying to qualify the problematic lithium-ion system they have when they could switch to a different technology? Is it cost prohibitive to switch systems temporarily while Boeing works the kinks out of a system they seem to want to keep?
Cessna confirms that it intends to requalify lithium-ion batteries. It means that they are going to keep using them–but we do agree with their determination to REQUALIFY them. Let us not forget that Cessna issued an emergency recall of the CJ4+ Citation Jet lithium-ion batteries when they suffered a fire in late 2011. Their airworthiness directive required CJ4+ operators to replace the lithium-ion batteries within 10 flight hours. The company that produced the Cessna batteries, A123 Systems, went out of business. Maybe Cessna should go talk to Boeing about their findings.
The investigation of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner battery that caught fire in Boston is that two things have been found:
thermal runaway (a cycle where temperature goes up causing it to go up more) If the electrolyte catches on fire it can self-sustain.
short-circuit (unintended contact of components and consequent accidental diversion of the current)
The Boston event battery suffered both.
Now the question is which one is the chicken, and which one is the egg. Which came first? And they still haven’t figured out why. And did both failed batteries come from the same batch of batteries?
Was the whole battery system a mistake? It was, according to whistleblower Michael Leon who we mentioned in Battery Buzz wrote a report (2006) saying that the battery technology was risky and that substitute battery technology should be used on the 787.
Now the NTSB is going to point fingers at the FAA for certifying what may be a problem.
The new PHI Air Medical Eurocopter AS350B3 Ecureuil (#N395P) on its first flight had just delivered a patient from Rio Rancho to University of New Mexico hospital. Taking off from the hospital roof, the helicopter crashed, injuring the pilot and two medics aboard. No patients were aboard at the time.
The helicopter lifted off for 30 feet, spun, then fell back to the roof; the tail impacted the building and the helicopter rolled on to its side. It caught fire, but the fire was put out by sprinklers. The top two floors of the hospital were evacuated as a precaution. The accident occurred at a quarter to six pm on April 9, and NTSB investigators arrived Thursday morning.
PHI (Petroleum Helicopters International) flies patients to hospitals, medical equipment, gas, oil, and technology.
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