AirBear

Good Video on this accident from Juan Brown, an AA B777 F/O who has a large following on his YouTube Channel. Dan Gryder is interviewed and discusses the liability insurance problems many operators are having. He covers several accidents including Addison in depth. Dan is advocating for an AQP style program for GA and Part 135 Pilots. NetJets has already started this.

https://youtu.be/93XR6JhH1P4

rickair7777

If you read the systems report, sounds like there's history of throttle friction locks allowing throttles to retard to flight idle on takeoff. Including a very similar previous accident. Still doesn't explain why the pilot didn't deal with the loss of power, whatever the cause.

I was under the impression it was a single low-time pilot, but it was a crew and the PIC had plenty of experience, and the SIC was very reasonably experienced for light turboprop operations.

Hopscotch

An interview with a person who had flown with the PIC indicated that perhaps there was a physical limitation the PIC was struggling with (that may have prevented him from pushing the rudder hard enough)? Or maybe even the rotation technique the PIC employed? I'm not that fluent in all the medications/interactions found in his system either - maybe toxicology played a role too? As is usual, there are multiple layers to consider, just quite sad.

rickair7777

I didn't google everything in the tox report, but at least some of it might have been legit prescription meds which he was authorized to use. Or maybe not, the board can sort that out and let us know later.

EMAW

With all the emphasis in GA training on FITS and scenario-based training, I don’t know why more companies aren’t pushing toward AQP programs.

JamesNoBrakes

I haven't read everything in the docket, but a few parts. There's a few critical systems in the KA that need to function to have a chance and if not, I'm not sure how much of a chance you have. One is rudder boost. The aircraft uses bleed air to help boost the rudder control. The other is feather. Not necessarily auto-feather, but auto-feather can lead to complacency in training, as in always "expecting" the aircraft to feather. It's a critical item on the pre-takeoff checklist. But not so much that aspect, the aspect that if it didn't auto-feather due to a malfunction or simply not doing the pre-takeoff checklist, I'm not sure it's controllable. The simulators are all janky with lack of stability, so it's a bit hard to see if it translates, but without feather, those experience far more yaw and roll than any piston I've flown. The docket I read on performance didn't seem to address the aspect of control with and without a feathered engine. Although it seems pretty clear the left engine wasn't making power, I didn't get far enough into it to see whether or not the left engine was feathered. So with an engine failure on takeoff, without feather, these roll and yaw like a ***** at high AOA. Training that I've had keeps reinforcing "don't grab the prop lever, just verify it". Then there's rudder boost, if there was any issue with that, it would have severely decayed control.

But of course this may not be all that relevant, there was talk in the docket that one of the pilots may have put in the opposite control input early on, you also see the airspeed decay, so many people I've flown with won't push the nose back down and regain the speed/keep it from decaying.

rickair7777

If the friction lock let the power lever retard, AFX would not activate, obviously. Apparently there was a history of that, both failures and simply forgetting to set the friction (commonly after Mx work was done).

When I flew turbo-props, failed AFX was a staple in training. I always always always assumed an engine was going to fail when I set power for T/O... too much complexity in turboprops to try to wing that.

wankel7

Left engine "The propeller governor oil return line to the reduction gearbox was found finger tight with the safety cable missing"

I wonder if that was the oil leak?

JamesNoBrakes

I was taught from day one to keep my hands on the throttles at all times below 1000 feet. Too many stories of friction locks letting throttles work backwards during critical flight. I don't like much friction on those because the throttles become so jerky and easy to over-shoot. I saw the newest version has full authority digital engine control.

rickair7777

Yeah with FADEC, we only guard the levers for an abort, hands off at V1.