Auringy and JEA criticised

Aurigny comes in for severe flak

“A Channel Island airline has been severely criticised by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB).
It follows an incident involving an Aurigny Air Services flight between Guernsey and Stansted last November.

The ATR72 aircraft suffered severe icing causing it to roll and pitch before the pilot regained control.

The aircraft remained in service and the information in the black box flight recorder was not saved – data that may have provided valuable information.

Procedural changes

An AAIB report said the plane was carrying 13 passengers and flying over Southampton when it went into a series of rolls and pitches because ice was forming on the aircraft.

It found the plane had been “subjected to severe airframe icing”, causing it to turn and pitch.

The plane eventually landed safely at Stansted and no-one was injured.

The report also criticised the 55-year-old captain of flight ATR72 for not reporting the incident fast enough.

It said this caused the loss of valuable information about the event.

Aurigny Air Services, based in the Channel Islands, has now made changes to its post-flight accident and incident reporting procedures, the report said.

During the flight, the plane rolled 40 degrees to the left, then turned to the left before pitching up and down twice.

Steering effectiveness

A separate report by the AAIB described how a Jersey European Airways aircraft ended up with its wheels wedged in the ground off the runway at Birmingham International Airport in April this year.

The report said the captain was aware of another plane lined up for take-off and another about to land.

He had tried “to make a 90-degree left turn where the combination of speed and reduced surface friction resulted in the loss of nose wheel steering effectiveness,” the report said.

None of the 69 passengers on board the Dash-8 aircraft were hurt.

Jersey European Airways has since issued a notice to aircrew about landing procedures, highlighting that crews should not feel pressurised into carrying out a take-off due to air traffic control pressure.”

BBC News