South African Airlink Flight 8911

(Redirected from Airlink Flight 8911) 2009 aviation accident

South African Airlink Flight 8911
Accident
ZS-NRM, the South African Airlink BAe Jetstream 41 involved in the accident.
Date	24 September 2009
Summary	Engine failure leading to pilot error; shut-down of operating engine
Site	Durban International Airport, Durban, South Africa 29°57′18″S 30°58′14″E / 29.95500°S 30.97056°E / -29.95500; 30.97056 (South African Airlink Flight 8911)
Total fatalities	1
Total injuries	3
Aircraft
Aircraft type	BAe Jetstream 41
Operator	South African Airlink
IATA flight No.	SA8911
ICAO flight No.	LNK911
Call sign	LINK 911
Registration	ZS-NRM
Flight origin	Durban International Airport
Destination	Pietermaritzburg Airport
Occupants	3
Passengers	0
Crew	3
Fatalities	1
Injuries	2
Survivors	2
Ground casualties
Ground fatalities	0
Ground injuries	1

South African Airlink Flight 8911 was a positioning flight from Durban International Airport to Pietermaritzburg Airport, South Africa, that crashed into the grounds of Merebank Secondary School, Durban shortly after take-off on 24 September 2009, injuring the three occupants of the aircraft and one on the ground. The captain of the flight subsequently died of his injuries on 7 October 2009.

Flight

The flight was a positioning flight (ferry flight) from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, carrying no passengers. The three crew members consisted of Captain Allister Freeman, First officer Sonja Bierman, and a flight attendant. Captain Freeman had previously been involved in an accident in which the Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander he was flying experienced an engine failure and crashed into a house in Durban. All six people on board survived.

The aircraft, a BAe Jetstream 41 with registration ZS-NRM, had only flown 50 hours since its last service. The aircraft had been diverted to Durban from Pietermaritzburg the previous evening by bad weather.

Crash

At around 8:00 a.m. local time (06:00 UTC) on 24 September 2009, the flight departed Durban International Airport. Shortly after takeoff, the crew reported loss of engine power and smoke from the rear of the aircraft, and declared an emergency. Witnesses reported the aircraft flying at an unusually low altitude, and that the pilot was attempting to ditch the aircraft in vacant land surrounding Merebank Secondary School approximately 400 metres (440 yd) from the threshold of Runway 24 at Durban International Airport. The school was closed on the day of the accident because it was Heritage Day, a public holiday. The pilot ditched the aircraft on the sports field of the school, avoiding hitting nearby residential properties; the aircraft broke into three pieces on impact.

Rescue

Rescue workers arrived on the scene shortly after the crash and cut the three crew members out of the wreckage using hydraulic rescue tools. The captain was airlifted to St. Augustine's Hospital at 11:00 a.m. local time (09:00 UTC) in a critical condition; the critically injured first officer and seriously injured flight attendant were taken to other nearby hospitals. A street cleaner on the school's perimeter was struck by the plane and was taken to hospital. The captain died of his injuries on 7 October 2009.

Investigation

Investigators from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were dispatched to the crash scene; the CAA conducted an on-site investigation to determine the possible cause of the crash. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were retrieved and used in the investigation. British Aerospace, the manufacturer of the aircraft, dispatched a team of technical experts to assist in the investigation should they have been required by the CAA.

On 9 October 2009, the CAA issued a press release requesting the public's assistance in finding a bearing cap from one of the engines. The cap, which possibly separated from the engine during takeoff, could not be found at the crash site or at the airport.

On 23 December 2009, the CAA issued the following press release : "In the case of the FADN (Merebank) accident the initial cause appears to be that of an engine failure during take-off which finally resulted in an accident when the human factor involvement resulted in the wrong engine being shut down. This type of engine failure has occurred previously and the cause is known to the manufacturer."

In 2011, the CAA released their final report on the accident. The right engine had failed at rotation due to its turbine seal plate separating and the crew mishandled the situation; First officer Bierman did correctly identify the right engine, but Captain Freeman accidentally feathered the still-functioning left engine, making a forced landing "inevitable."

References

^ "MEDIA RELEASE: ACCIDENT – AIRLINK FLIGHT Update #2 at 16h30" (Press release). South African Airlink. 24 September 2009. Archived from the original (Open Office XML) on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
"Durban plane crash investigated". News24. 22 August 2005. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
"ACCIDENT REPORT – EXECUTIVE SUMMARY" (PDF). South African Civil Aviation Authority. CA18/2/3/8003. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
^ "Jetstream aircraft 4100 ZS-NRM: Loss of control after engine failure and misidentified engine shutdown after take-off from Durban Airport, South Africa, on 24 September 2009" (PDF). South African Civil Aviation Authority. 4 October 2011. CA18/2/3/8692. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
da Costa, Wendy; Eliseev, Alex (25 September 2009). "Plane had a clean bill of health". IOL. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
"CAA trying to piece together plane crash". News24. 25 September 2009. Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
^ "Crash plane declared emergency". IOL. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
^ "Pilot needs to be commended: witness". IOL. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
^ "It looked like the plane slid over one man". IOL. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009.
"Airlink pilot dies". IOL. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
"CAA desperate to recover bearing cap of crashed SA-Airlink plane". SABC. 9 October 2009. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
"SACAA – South African Civil Aviation Authority". South African Civil Aviation Authority. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
Hradecky, Simon (4 October 2011) . "Accident: SA Airlink JS41 at Durban on Sep 24th 2009, lost height after takeoff and impacted school fence". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

External links

Final Accident Investigation Report (Archive) by the South African Civil Aviation Authority
News archive – Airlink – Has information about the incident in the year 2009
Flight 8911 at the Aviation Safety Network

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 2009 (2009)
Jan 15 Makhachkala Ilyushin Il-76 collisionJan 15 US Airways Flight 1549Jan 17 French Air Force Eurocopter AS 532Jan 27 Empire Airlines Flight 8284Feb 7 Manaus Aerotáxi Embraer EMB 110Feb 12 Colgan Air Flight 3407Feb 25 Turkish Airlines Flight 1951Mar 12 Cougar Helicopters Flight 91Mar 20 Emirates Flight 407Mar 23 FedEx Express Flight 80Mar 25 Medair Bell 206Apr 1 Bond Offshore Helicopters Flight 85NApr 6 Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27Apr 9 Aviastar BAe 146Apr 17 Mimika Air Flight 514Apr 19 CanJet Flight 918May 3 Venezuelan Army Mil Mi-17May 20 Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100Jun 1 Air France Flight 447Jun 30 Yemenia Flight 626Jul 3 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17Jul 13 Southwest Airlines Flight 2294Jul 15 Caspian Airlines Flight 7908Jul 24 Aria Air Flight 1525Aug 2 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 9760DAug 4 Bangkok Airways Flight 266Aug 8 Hudson River mid-air collisionAug 11 Airlines PNG Flight 4684Aug 26 Aéro-Frêt Antonov An-12Sep 2 Andhra Pradesh Government Bell 430Sep 9 Aeroméxico Flight 576Sep 22 Iranian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76Sep 24 SA Airlink Flight 8911Oct 21 Sudan Airways Flight 2241Oct 21 Northwest Airlines Flight 188Oct 22 Divi Divi Air Flight 014Oct 29 California mid-air collisionNov 1 Yakutia Ilyushin Il-76Nov 12 RwandAir Flight 205Nov 18 Pel-Air IAI Westwind IINov 28 Avient Aviation Flight 324Dec 22 American Airlines Flight 331Dec 25 Northwest Airlines Flight 253
2008 ◄ ► 2010

Aviation accidents and incidents in 2009 (2009)

Jan 15 Makhachkala Ilyushin Il-76 collisionJan 15 US Airways Flight 1549Jan 17 French Air Force Eurocopter AS 532Jan 27 Empire Airlines Flight 8284Feb 7 Manaus Aerotáxi Embraer EMB 110Feb 12 Colgan Air Flight 3407Feb 25 Turkish Airlines Flight 1951Mar 12 Cougar Helicopters Flight 91Mar 20 Emirates Flight 407Mar 23 FedEx Express Flight 80Mar 25 Medair Bell 206Apr 1 Bond Offshore Helicopters Flight 85NApr 6 Indonesian Air Force Fokker F27Apr 9 Aviastar BAe 146Apr 17 Mimika Air Flight 514Apr 19 CanJet Flight 918May 3 Venezuelan Army Mil Mi-17May 20 Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100Jun 1 Air France Flight 447Jun 30 Yemenia Flight 626Jul 3 Pakistan Army Mil Mi-17Jul 13 Southwest Airlines Flight 2294Jul 15 Caspian Airlines Flight 7908Jul 24 Aria Air Flight 1525Aug 2 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 9760DAug 4 Bangkok Airways Flight 266Aug 8 Hudson River mid-air collisionAug 11 Airlines PNG Flight 4684Aug 26 Aéro-Frêt Antonov An-12Sep 2 Andhra Pradesh Government Bell 430Sep 9 Aeroméxico Flight 576Sep 22 Iranian Air Force Ilyushin Il-76Sep 24 SA Airlink Flight 8911Oct 21 Sudan Airways Flight 2241Oct 21 Northwest Airlines Flight 188Oct 22 Divi Divi Air Flight 014Oct 29 California mid-air collisionNov 1 Yakutia Ilyushin Il-76Nov 12 RwandAir Flight 205Nov 18 Pel-Air IAI Westwind IINov 28 Avient Aviation Flight 324Dec 22 American Airlines Flight 331Dec 25 Northwest Airlines Flight 253

2008 ◄ ► 2010

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in South Africa
20th century	South African Airways Flight 406 (March 1967) South African Air Force Hawker-Siddeley HS125 crash (May 1971) Mozambican Tupolev Tu-134 crash (October 1986) South African Airways Flight 295 (November 1987) Comair Flight 206 (March 1988)
21st century	SA Airlink Flight 8911 (September 2009) Piaggio Albatross crash (August 2011) South African Air Force C-47 crash (December 2012) Pretoria Convair 340 crash (July 2018)

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