The Shortcut That Turned Into A DISASTER | Proflight Zambia 705

Pro flight Zambia Flight 705 was on a routine domestic passenger flight within Zambia as they were nearing their destination the crew opted to fly a visual approach to Kenneth kund International Airport what first appeared to be routine turned into a nightmare for the crew and passengers as the aircraft was thrown into darkness shuck by lightning and forced to descend at a rapid rate this video will show you how this occurred and what happened next on the 25th of November 2019 this pro-light Zambia Bombardier - 8300 Was preparing for a routine passenger flight to Kenneth K International Airport this was a domestic flight looking to take around 1 hour and 5 minutes this would be the crew's first flat of the day and the temperature was a warm 29° c as the crew prepared for the flight F 41 passengers entered the airport terminal and began moving towards their departure time of 10:30 UTC as the crew were preparing for the flight the aircraft they were due to depart on had been delayed on its route from luaka to Livingstone and this would lead to a delay of 2 hours for the departure of Flight 705 the crew were aware that the aircraft was required for another flight at 1530 so were Keen to reduce the delay as much as possible the aircraft landed and was turned around with the dash8 now prepped for the trip the crew and passengers made their way to the aircraft the Bombardier -8 q311 was a short to medium range aircraft with a maximum range of 1,63 Mi it could comfortably seat 50 to 56 passengers and for this flight there would be 41 passengers on board with three cabin crew and two flight crew this aircraft had a certificate of airworthiness that was issued on the 15th of July 2019 to the 14th of July 2020 after the 2-hour delay the passengers were relieved to be boarding the aircraft for this short trip North little did they know that this flight would not turn out as expected the flight crew carried out their pre-flight checks and were nearly ready for departure there was an experienced flight crew on board the pilot in command had a total of 4,679 flying hours and the first officer had a total of 2,963 flying hours both individuals were medically fit and had valid licenses at the time just before engine starts the first officer got an update on the weather for the route it was described as there being few cumin Olympus clouds broken towering cumus with a base of 3,500 ft with scattered towering Q at 10,000 ft with a temperature of 29° c and visibility greater than 10 km the weather was as expected and the crew were happy to continue with the flight conscious that the aircraft was required at their destination for a departure in just over 3 hours the crew started the engines and taxied the aircraft whilst the passengers received their pre-flight safety brief with the cabin crew happy they strapped in for departure then at 12:30 Flight 705 was cleared for takeoff from Runway 10 during the climb Flight 705 was cleared to flight level 230 and to route to the reporting Point called kerma they only needed to climb to flight level 230 as this was a short domestic flight upon reaching their top of climb at flight level 230 the crew noticed that the Towering Olympus clouds were fairly frequent and may require the them to Route off track to avoid them a cumul olymbus cloud is associated with extreme weather such as heavy torrential downpours hail storms and lightning and because of this aircraft are to avoid them at all costs at 12:59 pro-light Zambia Flight 705 got in touch with approach control and reported their position at kerma maintaining flight level 230 the crew now discussed their options as there was a large weather cell on their current heading they decided to deviate from their course to avoid the weather at 1301 Flight 705 requested to deviate left of track to head in 040 for weather avoidance this was granted by a traffic control and They carried out the procedure the pressure was building on the crew as these Maneuvers only prolonged their flight adding to the current 2-hour delay now that they were clear of the weather they requested descent approach radar cleared Flight 705 to descend to 6,000 ft on q& 1015 as they started their descent the passengers were under 25 minutes from landing and were all strapped in and preparing for their onward Journeys just before we continue I want to talk to you about the sponsor of this video now you're going to want to listen to this one because this product is unbelievable the sponsor of this video is Sterling Pacific a premium luggage brand that has gained worldwide recognition among pilots and frequent flyers for its commitment to manufacturing the best aluminium luggage on the market its Devotion to specific driven design is evident in the design of its luggage which features a completely aluminium construction without any plastic components when I first saw the case I was amazed by the sheer presence and Prestige of it it is no doubt a tough piece of luggage with 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Pro flight Zambia Flight 705 was conducted in its descent to 6,000 ft everything was cared with the focus on Landing in 20 minutes the crew were still aware of their delay and at this time they were clear of weather on their weather radar at 1317 they now received clearance from approach to route to auli for the instrument Landing system approach for Runway 10 Z the crew decided that they could save a bit of time by flying a visual approach and request to route to The non-directional Beacon of Lima whiskey Air Traffic Control cleared Flight 705 for a visual approach the crew continued their descent and on passing flight level 160 at 190 knots the aircraft entered Cloud the lights penetrating through the cloud started to diminish and the cabin fell into darkness this Darkness soon turned into chaos as the aircraft started to rock and shudder under severe turbulence luckily for the passengers they were strapped in for landing so they remained in their seats during this turbulence there was a l large flash as the aircraft was struck by lightning and now the sound of deafening hail started to fill the cabin in the flight deck the crew were having a difficult time as the turbulence picked up the autopilot disengaged the pilot flying was struggling to maintain a safe Direction and soon after the flash of lightning the hail started to smash on the aircraft the wind screen started to crack and in the darkness the pilot flying started to execute an emergency descent the pilot mon in now stated that the aircraft was losing Key Systems they were losing some of the electrics DC gen 1 was lost and they were having full Rudder pressure and the aircraft was losing pressurization still struggling to control the aircraft they continued to descend rapidly into the darkness the sound of hail was still overwhelming but the darkness was starting to subside the clouds lightened and clear air started to appear through the cloud the turbulence slowed and the aircraft stabilized the crew Now quickly checked their systems and it appeared that both engines were still working and the aircraft was now controllable they were able to see the Airfield through their cracked wind screens but there was still an unusual sound of the air flow over the aircraft and performance was slightly off the crew had to increase the power to maintain normal flight at 1325 pro-light Zambia Flight 705 was handed over to Tower where they were given clearance to land the wounded Bombardier -8 continued on its approach and at 1328 the aircraft landed safely as flight 75 was taxiing back another aircraft saw them and contacted air traffic control to confirm if Flight 705 had encountered a hail storm as the aircraft was badly damaged Air Traffic Control responded that they were unaware of any damage or issues with weather for Flight 705 as Flight 705 reached its stand it started to shut down and at this point the full extent of the damage to the aircraft could be seen the aircraft sustained damage to the nose cone right hand winglet tip and navigation light the right hand Wing route left hand Leading Edge Wing fairing taxi and Landing lights and the Leading Edge horizontal stabilizer paint and lens covers a damage survey which was carried out from the 29th of November to the 2nd of December 2019 by the structure engineer in service engineering and Tech techncal supports at De havland aircraft of Canada revealed that the aircraft was extensively damaged Beyond economic repair and therefore most of the parts needed replacing after reviewing the incident the investigators concluded that the incident was caused by a lack of appreciation by the cockpit crew of the meteorological weather conditions prevailing at the time this was in spite of the aerr reports and forecasts during the route that the flight was routed directly into a cumin Limba storm form rather than away from it other contributing factors were the commercial pressure on the crew due to the 2 hours plus technical delay the pilots chose a direct route which took the flight Into the Storm rather than to circumnavigate away from the storm they also determined that the pilots exhibited a lack of good airmanship and judgment by failing to report The Encounter of heavy turbulence to air traffic control this should have been done to contribute to the safety of flights from other aircraft by repor in the time location and intensity of the encounter it was also noted that the crew who were in the process of a visual approach could not have maintained visual with the runway during the early stages of the approach as they were in the storm the aircraft accident investigation board recommended the following safety recommendations to be followed pro-light Zambia management is recommended to conduct in-house ground refresher training on Bann weather operations before the rainy season and any other challenging season commences they were also recommended to conduct regular refresher training on the duties and responsibilities of the pilot in command with regard to company procedures and Zambia civil aviation requirements and it was recommended to prioritize Aviation safety over commercial interests and for the civil aviation Authority they are to carry out an ad hoc audit of pro-light Zambia Aviation safety and quality control measures to ensure that management conducts regular pilot refresher training in bad weather operations and duties and responsibilities of the pilot in command as set by the company procedure and Zambia civil aviation requirements this incident highlights the importance of safety over commercial pressures but also the resilience of aircraft even when faced with severe weather the Bombardier -8 was pretty beat up but still managed to get home safely I'm always trying to find incidents that haven't been covered before or if I can to Pilot's perspective or even an updated view on them hopefully you found this video interesting and perhaps have seen an incident that you did not know about before please do like the video If you enjoyed it and consider subscribing thank you for watching and as always I hope you're having a great day and I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Curious Pilot

Views: 122,914

Keywords: Air crash investigation, curious pilot, proflight zambia, proflight, plane in storm, aviation, pilot

Id: ruyEHoucmHc

Length: 13min 20sec (800 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 29 2023