TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2016) |
Recife International Airport, Recife , Brazil | |
Occupants | 95 |
---|---|
Passengers | 89 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 95 |
Survivors | 0 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 4 |
TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 was a scheduled domestic flight from Caxias do Sul, Brazil, to Recife International Airport in Recife, via São Paulo–Congonhas International Airport and Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro. On 31 October 1996, at 8:27 (
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a
Crew
The Captain was 35-year-old José Antonio Moreno, who had more than 9,000 hours of flight experience, including 3,000 hours on the Fokker 100. The first officer was 27-year-old Ricardo Luis Gomes, who had 4,000 flight hours, with 160 of them on the Fokker 100.[8] There were also five flight attendants on board.[9]
Accident
The Fokker 100 aircraft incorporates a safety system to deal with an accidental deployment of a thrust reverser on take-off or when in flight; the system automatically moves the thrust control of the affected Rolls-Royce Tay 650-15 engine to reduce power, the aeroplane then being capable of climbing out safely on the full power of the one unaffected engine, or of maintaining normal flight at reduced power. In addition, a micro-switch, activated by the aircraft's main landing gear leaving the ground, disables the thrust reverser operating circuitry, preventing inadvertent operation of the thrust reverser in flight.
As the aircraft lifted off the runway on the accident flight with both engines at full power, a faulty switch in conjunction with a possible short circuit caused the right engine's thrust reverser to deploy. The imbalance of power resulted in the aircraft rolling and veering to the right as it was climbing away from the runway. The safety system automatically cut the power to the engine with the malfunctioning thrust reverser. There was no alarm or other indication in the cockpit to indicate that a thrust reverser had been accidentally deployed. The crew had no way of knowing what the true problem was. The copilot, seeing the right engine power lever automatically move to the closed position, thought that the lever had slipped back due to a problem with the autothrottle system and pushed it back to the full power position alongside the left engine throttle lever. Once again, the automatic safety system closed the right engine throttle and the captain, who was conducting the takeoff, called for the autothrottle system to be switched off. After switching off the system, the copilot again pushed the right engine power lever fully forward and forcefully held it there.
The safety system cable, responsible for pulling the power lever to the idle position, was no longer able to withstand the physical strain of being pulled one way by the actuator, while the copilot forced it the other way by pushing the throttle lever to the fully open position — the cable soon parted at a maintenance connection. With the lever no longer restrained by the safety system, the copilot continued to hold the right throttle fully open. The combination of the right engine at full thrust in reverse and the left engine still at normal forward take-off thrust caused the aircraft to roll violently to the right and descend into the ground.[1]
Investigation
In the subsequent investigation it was discovered that the flight crew had not been trained for such an occurrence as the aircraft's manufacturer, Fokker, had judged the failure mode to be so remote a possibility that training for recovery was not necessary.[10][8]
Dramatization
The crash was featured in the 15th season of the television documentary series Mayday in an episode titled "Carnage in São Paulo".[11]
See also
- Lauda Air Flight 004, an accident involving in-flight thrust reverser deployment.
- Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, an accident involving in-flight thrust reverser deployment.
- TAROM Flight 371, an accident which was caused by Auto-throttle failure.
- Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, an accident that was caused by Auto-throttle failure after take off.
References
- ^ Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- ISBN 978-85-7430-760-2.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "Brazil air safety profile". Aviation Safety Database. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "Fokker 100". Aviation Safety Database. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- ^ "PT-MRK TAM Linhas Aéreas Fokker F100". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ "TAM PT-MRK (Fokker 70/100 - MSN 11440)". www.airfleets.net. Airfleets aviation. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ "Past Recipients". 2023-09-10. Archived from the original on 2023-09-10. Retrieved 2023-09-10.
- ^ a b "FINAL REPORT" (PDF). Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ "Pilotos - TAM 402" [Pilots - TAM 402] (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. Archived from the original on 2017-07-26. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
- ^ "Síntese do relatório da Aeronáutica sobre a queda do vôo 402" [Summary of the Aeronautics report on the fall of flight 402]. Folha de S. Paulo (in Portuguese). 1997-12-12. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
- National Geographic Channel.
External links
- Final Report
- Final Report Archived 2020-09-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Portuguese)
- "1996 Brazilian Flight Crashes Seconds After Takeoff". Smithsonian Channel. 2017-10-20. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
- Reproduction animation of TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 on YouTube