Summary
Air Astana Flight 1388 was a repositioning flight from Lisbon to Almaty, with a refueling stopover at Minsk. On 11 November 2018, shortly after takeoff, it suffered severe control issues. After 90 minutes it landed safely at Beja Airbase, with no fatalities.[1][2][3]
 P4-KCJ, the Air Astana Embraer ERJ-190 involved, six months before the incident | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 11 November 2018 |
| Summary | Severe control issues, maintenance error |
| Site | Near Lisbon, Portugal |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Embraer ERJ-190LR |
| Operator | Air Astana |
| IATA flight No. | KC1388 |
| ICAO flight No. | KZR1388 |
| Call sign | ASTANALINE 1388 |
| Registration | P4-KCJ |
| Flight origin | Alverca Air Base, Portugal |
| Stopover | Minsk National Airport, Minsk, Belarus |
| Destination | Almaty International Airport, Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Occupants | 6 |
| Passengers | 3 |
| Crew | 3 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Survivors | 6 |
Aircraft and crew edit
P4-KCJ, the incident aircraft, was an Embraer ERJ-190LR operated by Air Astana of Kazakhstan. The aircraft was delivered from Embraer to the airline in December 2013. Prior to the incident it had accumulated a total of 13,152 flight hours.[1][3]
The plane was flown by Captain Vyacheslav Aushev (40); First officer Bauyrzhan Karasholakov (32); and First officer in jumpseat Sergey Sokolov (26).[4][3] Three engineers travelled as passengers.[2]
Maintenance edit
On 2 October 2018 the aircraft arrived at Alverca Air Base to undergo heavy maintenance at an OGMA maintenance facility. The maintenance consisted of accomplishing several service bulletins. On 9 October the overhaul of aileron cables was initiated. The first service bulletin consisted of replacing pulleys and structural supports of the cables. The second one consisted of replacing the stainless steel cables with carbon steel cables. The cables were also lubricated.[1][3]
On October 26 during operational tests, a warning message (FLT CTR NO DISPATCH) alerted the maintenance crew that the aircraft was unfit for flight due to control system problems. The warning occurred again on 31 October. The troubleshooting lasted until 11 November, the date of the incident.[1][3]
Flight edit
The aircraft took off at 13:31, with the crew failing to detect the ailerons' anomaly during the operational check procedures. Visibility was limited—between 2,000–3,000 metres (2.0–3.0 km; 1.2–1.9 mi). Shortly after take-off, the pilots noticed severe control issues. The pilots tried to turn on the autopilot, but it failed to engage. At 13:37, the crew requested a climb to FL100 (about 10,000 feet (3,048 m)) and an immediate return to Alverca, reporting flight control problems. At several instances, the plane suffered complete loss of control, flipping over and diving sharply, placing stress on the airframe. The crew requested a heading to the sea so they could ditch if it became inevitable, but they struggled to comply with any headings given by ATC due to their difficulty controlling the aircraft.
The crew discussed the options available to them, with the first officer in the jumpseat coordinating with the technicians on board as passengers to discover the cause of the upsets and establish an action plan. Despite no warnings indicating issues with normal mode, the crew activated the direct mode for flight controls which disconnects the FCM (flight control module) from the controls. This considerably increased controllability of the pitch and yaw-axes, but control of the roll axis was still limited with the plane rolling abnormally as the spoilers would actuate and upset the aircraft with too much input. The crew flew the plane east, hoping to find better weather conditions. Two F-16s, led by Lt. Col. Nuno "Buzzer" Monteiro da Silva, from the Portuguese Air Force took off from Monte Real Air Base to escort the aircraft to Beja Airbase. After two go-arounds due to unstable approaches, the active first officer changed places with the other one in the jumpseat. On the final approach, the plane was bound for runway 19R but eventually landed on 19L due to the aircraft drifting on the approach. Video footage shows the aircraft nearly skidded off the runway after touching down on the runway.[5]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Footage of KC1388 emergency landing at Beja Airbase |
All on board were shaken, but the only injury was one passenger who suffered a leg injury. The hull was deformed and the leading edges of the wing were wrinkled. Some parts of the aircraft suffered loads greater than they were designed for. The aircraft was written off[1] and subsequently scrapped.[3][6]
Investigation edit
The investigation revealed that the aileron cables were installed incorrectly. This caused reversal of aileron controls. Since the roll control surfaces include spoilers, which weren't affected by the mistake, the situation couldn't have been handled with just reversing inputs.[1]
The investigation blamed the manufacturer of the airplane for unsatisfactory maintenance instructions, the supervising authorities for lack of oversight over the maintenance crew, who lacked the skill to perform the heavy maintenance, and the flight crew for failing to notice the condition during pre-flight control checks.[1][3]
In popular culture edit
The incident was featured in season 23, episode 5, of the Canadian documentary series Mayday, titled "Control Catastrophe".[7]
See also edit
- China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303
- China Airlines Flight 006 - another flight that suffered loss of control and immense G-forces
- Forced landing of a German Air Force Bombardier Global 5000 with partly reversed flight controls
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g "ASN Aircraft accident Embraer ERJ-190LR (ERJ-190-100 LR)". aviation-safety.net.
- ^ a b Davies, Alex (2018-11-12). "How to Land a 'Completely Uncontrollable' Passenger Jet". Wired. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g "ACCIDENT SAFETY INVESTIGATION FINAL REPORT" (PDF). reports.aviation-safety.net.
- ^ "Air Astana – An Effective 'Just Culture'". bluetoad.com. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
- ^ "New footage shows Air Astana Embraer almost skidded off runway during emergency landing at Beja air base". AIRLIVE. 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
- ^
- Multiple sources:
- "Irrflug in Portugal trieb Embraer E190 übers Limit : Jet von Air Astana wird zerlegt" [An erratic flight in Portugal drove the Embraer E190 over the limit : Air Astana jet is dismantled]. aerotelegraph.com (in German). 26 February 2021.
- Charpentreau, Clement (2020-06-26). "Air Astana E190 near-"ditch" incident due to faulty maintenance". Aerotime Hub. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
- Kylie, Nicole (2023-02-05). "How A Maintenance Error Caused Severe Control Issues Onboard Air Astana Flight 1388 In 2018". Simple Flying.
- "'We will survive': National Geographic Re-enacts Famous Air Astana Flight 1388". Qazaqstan Monitor (Kazakhstan Monitor).
- Wrigley, Sylvia (2022-11-25). "Air Astana Out Of Control (KC1833 in 2018)".
- "Ailerons Connected Backwards! The Wild Flight of Air Astana 1388 (SCANALYZER)". fourmilab.ch.
- "Details of Air Astana's aircraft accident in Portugal were uncovered". ans.kz.
- "How to land a completely uncontrollable passenger jet". Infinite Flight Community. 2018-11-13.
- "Aviation incident in Portugal: Kazakh Embraer 190 aircraft crew got aircraft that was fatally flawed back to earth". Казинформ. 2020-06-29.
- Donn, Natasha (2019-06-02). "Prestigious aircraft maintenance centre "to blame" for terror-flight over Lisbon".
- "Avião que aterrou de emergência em Beja ia para Minsk". dn.pt.
- "Avião que aterrou de emergência em Beja tinha saído da manutenção em Alverca". jn.pt.
- Guerreiro, Pedro. ""Pedimos autorização para aterrar na água, na água! O avião está incontrolável" — ouça o áudio da emergência aérea". PÚBLICO.
- "Problemas nos eixos de controlo estarão na origem da emergência do avião da Air Astana". PÚBLICO.
- "F-16 foram "fundamentais" para aterragem de emergência de avião em Beja". Visão. 2018-11-12.
- ^ Mayday - Air Crash Investigation (Season23), retrieved 2024-03-15