Lentäjien Turvatoimikunta

I was flying yesterday and landed to find out the horrific fate of Veopass flight 2283. The images of that aircraft and its occupants in their final moments are truly shocking. Many have asked me how could this happen, and was it recoverable? It’s not wise to speculate on causes, that’s a matter for the investigation to thrash out but here’s some obvious observations and facts from previous similar events. The aircraft is in a spin. This is caused by the aircraft being aerodynamically stalled and whilst in that condition a lateral input, likely from rudder or unexpectedly from another input, being made. How the aircraft got into the stall will be a focus for investigators. However, there was an almost identical accident in 1994 on an American Eagle ATR cause by icing and unexpected aileron hinge moment movement. That same accident highlighted the ATR had known adverse handling and stability effects in severe icing conditions. This ATR entered steep, almost vertical, rolls with little or no horizontal movement. In terms of recovery, all pilots are taught recovery actions from unusual attitudes, this is common practice across all of aviation. Those who fly aerobatics or have been in the military will also have trained in spin recovery techniques. Notwithstanding this, there is no commercial operator who trains spin recovery in a large commercial aircraft as it’s a scenario all pilots are trained to avoid through robust training of stall avoidance and recovery, if required. No stall, no spin. The cause of the initial stall will be a focus for investigators and may have been caused by many factors. It’s not wise to speculate on those here. Sadly, once in this spin, I’d feel it would be irrecoverable, regardless. I’m not suggesting that icing may be the cause of this accident, I have no idea what’s happened to put this aircraft into this spin. It’s rarely one factor that causes an accident. I’m just merely highlighting the similarities to another crash based on what was seen on those videos and some simple aerodynamics. It could quite possibly be a number of other factors. May those who perished, rest in peace. #veopassflight2283 #aviation #aviationdaily