ATSB Final Report - Rex Saab 340B Gear Retract Overspeed

[Grahame Hutchison]

ATSB Report - Rex Saab 340B Gear Retraction Overspeed

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has just released its Final Report on this incident, where the
Saab's landing gear was retracted above the maximum retraction speed. The ATSB have used my photograph
of the aircraft (with credit) departing Runway 16R on the front cover of the report.

Interesting reading.

Full Report : https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5770605/ao-2014-189-final.pdf

http://www.16Right.com/MessageBoard/ATSB Report VH-ZRJ.JPG

http://www.16Right.com/MessageBoard/D300-20140405-249.jpg

[Mick F]

I haven't read the details of the report, but did they seriously invest all that time and resources into a report about overspeeding the gear retraction, when they are spending 3 years doing a report on the 2 aircraft that landed below minima in Mildura, because of a failing aviation system in Australia, then fail to make the nessecary recommendations....?????

I'm gobsmacked ��

[Rowan McKeever]

What worries me far more than the ATSB spending so much time, effort and money on this investigation is this:

"In March 2013, [CASA] released new rules on fatigue management for flight crew. At the time of the occurrence, air operators that already held, or had applied for an air operator's certificate after April 2013, had until April 2016 to transition to the new fatigue management rules. Consistent with this timeline, Regional Express was planning for their transition to meet those requirements at the time of the occurrence. In November 2015 [11 months after the occurrence], this deadline was extended by [CASA] to May 2017."

So here we have the regulator, presumably knowing that fatigue was reasonably believed to be a factor in this occurrence (which could have led to damage to the aircraft and possible injury to its occupants) extending by 13 months the deadline for implementing new rules around fatigue management.

And, as Mick says, no recommendations whatsoever made by the ATSB as a result of their investigation. In fact, the text I've quoted above is taken from the ATSB's "what's been done as a result" section.

On a happier note, congratulations to Grahame for having your photo included on the cover! :)

[Radi K]

I haven't read the details of the report, but did they seriously invest all that time and resources into a report about overspeeding the gear retraction, when they are spending 3 years doing a report on the 2 aircraft that landed below minima in Mildura, because of a failing aviation system in Australia, then fail to make the nessecary recommendations....?????

I'm gobsmacked ��

Hear Hear.

[Yusef D]

I'm a little bewildered and dismayed that so much effort went into such a little incident. Gear retraction limit speeds usually exist to limit fatigue on the non structural parts, like gear door hinges. If the gear can be felt extended every day at 200 kt, retracting it at 182 kt does not in my book pose significant risk.

There are better things for the ATSB to look at, including within the fatigue realm.

[Rob R]

Agree, 25 page report because they forgot to put the gear up is a waste of valuable resources. Hopefully with Mr Hood taking over very soon we will see the ATSB return to a respected investigation body, as at the moment they are a laughing stock.

[Trent C]

I think the point is being missed here. A reasonably experienced pilot (8000+ hrs) made a rudimentary error due to fatigue.

Pilots are working much longer hours with dramatically varied sign-on and sign-off times making it very difficult to have a predictable rest schedule. The transit time from staff carparks in Sydney are around 45mins each way during peak times which are not counted in any fatigue calculations. Rostered shifts can often exceed 11 hrs and delays can extend these to 13+ quite easily. Therefore, it is not unusual for there to be 15hrs from parking the car to returning to the vehicle at the end of the day. Doing this at all hours of the day and night every working day can cause mistakes such as this or potentially much bigger mistakes.

Hopefully lessons can be learned from minor incidents such as this instead of waiting for The Big One.