Pitt Meadows crash

[7dirty7]

Cessna down at the airport, I don't know anything else.

[ahramin]

Wow, that's a hard hit. Hope the injuries aren't severe.

[iflyforpie]

More carb ice?

Reports are pilot is safe.

[7ECA]

Damn, that is certainly not going to buff out.

Apparently it was an EFATO, from runway 18, with an attempted turn back for runway 36. Seems to me like it may have been a better idea to just put her down on Barnston Island, which is just South of the airport, and a particularly inviting piece of land if this were to occur.

[cncpc]

Doesn't seem to have any of those foot high reg letters.

[CpnCrunch]

Here is the ATC recording:

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/cypk/ ... -2230Z.mp3

Starts at 19 minutes. Registration C-GZSX (C152). Sounds like he took off, told tower he was turning back, then no further calls. Certainly could be carb ice - temp 14C, dewpoint 10C.

[gaamin]

.

[OntheNumbers]

Here's a transcript of the recording which is 31:37 in length, first exchange with ZSX is at 12:33. The transcript goes to the end. All in a calm professional manner, as you would expect. Takeoff clearance acknowledged at 19:56, then engine out transmission happens at 21:02, so he was probably in the air for about 1 minute. In that case, I'd have him at ~700 feet or less which, from what I've read, is marginal for a 180 turn back to the airport.

I sincerely hope the pilot <and passenger?> is/are doing well and wish them a speedy recovery!

OTN

12:33 – Pitt ground, Cessna 152 Golf Zulu Sierra X-Ray is on the apron, requesting taxi with Hotel for Langley <unintelligible>

12:43 – Golf Zulu Sierra X-Ray, Pitt Ground, runway 18 altimeter 2-niner-7 7, taxi via Alpha, Golf, Delta, cross 26 left then right, contact tower ready, squawk 6745

13:01 – Runway 18, uh, taxi alf - alpha, golf, delta, cross 26 left 26 right squawking 6745

13:10 - <click click>

19:42 – Tower, Zulu Sierra X-ray holding short 18 ready for takeoff

19:47 – Zulu Sierra X-ray, on departure, 1000 feet or below, towards Langley there’ll be a helicopter at 1900 clear takeoff, runway 18

19:56 – 1000 or below for Langley is, uh, Zulu Sierra X-Ray

21:02 – Tower, uh, engine failure, we’re turning back

21:04 - <unintelligible> Roger

21:12 – aaand, Pitt tower, air 1

21:13 – air 1 pitt twr

21:16 - Requesting a southbound turn for Langley, please

21:19 - Air1 cleared en-route and have a good day

21:22 – Air 1, thanks, you too

21:32 – Zulu Sierra X-Ray, tower

21:49 – Zulu Sierra X-Ray, tower

24:37 – Pitt ground pitt ground, Red 2

24:40 – Red 2, Pitt ground

24:42 – Responding to a plane crash, uh, at the taxiway by the river, is that confirmed?

24:51 – Red 2, roger, yeah, they went down by the, uh, float ramp just south of the airport there, what’s your position now?

24:57 – Still en-route I’ll, uh, give you a call once I get to Airport Way

25:01 – Roger, you’ll want to head into the gate and then head directly to the float ramp

25:06 – Copy

25:53 – Staff 43, ground

25:59 – Pitt ground this is staff 42

26:01 – Staff 42, ground, are you aware, uh, you heading towards the aircraft(?) site?

26:05 – Pitt ground, staff 42 is headed towards the gate, for, apparently to let in emergency vehicles

26:10 – Staff 42, roger, yeah, the, OK the aircraft, we saw him go down near the float ramp on the river there, but we haven’t have, uh, any reports there nobody’s actually seen what’s happened

26:20 – OK, staff 42, we’ll go check it out

26:22 – Roger, uh, Red 2 is en route, they’ll be here in about a minute but, uh, yeah if you just take a quick look to see what you can see

26:28 – Staff 42 check remarks

26:56 - Pitt ground, Pitt ground, red 2

26:59 – Red 2, Pitt ground

27:00 – Yeah, just coming up to the tower area, is it best to go in off gate 5?

27:08 – Yeah affirmative, yeah, first gate there we`ll have the airport staff meet you

27:14 - Copy That

27:16 – Red 2 do you have a pass to get in or do you need an escort?

27:18 – No I do have a pass card

27:20 – Roger just head in, uh, right away, just go straight ahead I`ll give you directions to the float dock

27:24 – Copy <transmission interrupted>

27:25 – Staff car 2, we’ve got a plane crash that’s just on, uh, the top side of the boat ramp along, uh, apron 1

27:31 - Staff bird 2, check remarks, uh red 2 is en route, he’ll be there momentarily he can get in the gate on his own there.

27:37 – Check remarks

27:52 – Pitt ground, Red 2 heading in off, uh, gate 5

27:56 – Red 2, Roger, just prkeet – proceed straight ahead, you’ll see the airport vehicle is at the intersection there with their lights flashing, it’s a white truck, they’ll direct you toward the crash site

28:06 – Copy, thank you

28:08 – Staff 42, red 2 is en route, just coming in the gate now

28:13 - Staff 2 check remarks

29:43 - Pitt ground from Red 5

29:45 - Red 5, Pitt ground

29:48 – Red 5 coming up to gate E5, main gate at this time

29:52 – Red 5 roger, proceed into, uh, gate E5, continue straight ahead, you’ll see, uh, your first left at the far end and take the left there, the crash site is just at the, uh, float dock

30:04 – Copy that, straight in, E5, first left, down float

30:08 – Staff 42, just be advised Red 5 just coming in gate E5 they’re going to need to go to the crash site as well, they’re, uh, entering the parking lot now

30:18 - Staff 42

30:58 - Staff 42, ground

31:00 – Staff 42

31:02 – Staff 42, the next truck is going to be about 30 seconds behind that one

31:05 – Staff 42

<End of recording>

[CpnCrunch]

According to Dale Nielson's column in this month's COPA flight, the TSB have said that this accident was caused by contaminated fuel. Strangely there is still no update to the CADOR.

It would be useful from a safety standpoint to get more info about how the contamination happened. Water in the airport fuel seems unlikely. Aircraft sitting for a long period (days) seems unlikely, as it was a flight school. Article says the pilot likely checked the fuel as he was a conscientious CPL student, although I'm not sure that is necessarily a good assumption.

Anyway, my best guess would be that the plane had a very leaky gas cap which let in lots of rain (it rained earlier that day). Perhaps the student strained out a bunch of water, but there was still more water at the bottom of the tank. After takeoff the nose-high attitude would have caused the water to go into the fuel pickup.

This article is an interesting read:

http://www.sumpthis.com/cessna150andces ... nktest.htm