The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has widened its investigation into how a propeller strap on a flight from Canberra flew loose and penetrated the fuselage last November.
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The official investigation unit said it had identified "several risk controls with limitations that contributed to the occurrence. Examination of these factors represent a significant increase in the scope of this investigation".
The Link Airways SAAB 340B was forced to return for an emergency landing with passengers screaming in terror.
The official government investigators initially categorised their enquiry as "short", indicating it would be relatively simple, but have now categorised it as "defined" meaning they think there are more complex causes, perhaps to do with safety procedures or training.
"Defined investigations look at transport safety accidents and incidents of a more complex nature than short investigations, and seek to identify systematic safety issues that reveal underlying causes of an occurrence," the ATSB says.
Investigators say they have already:
- interviewed the flight crew, ground crew and cabin crew;
- examined available closed-circuit television video of the occurrence and preparation for other flights;
- analysed flight recorder data;
- inspected the strap and other components from the occurrence;
- examined ground procedures.
But they now want to investigate further to include:
- ground handling procedures;
- ground staff training;
- fleet-wide serviceability of propeller blade straps;
- flight crew procedures.
A full report is expected towards the end of the year.
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Nobody was hurt in the incident but the passengers said afterwards they were terrified when there was a bang and a hole appeared in the side of the plane near the front row of seats. A SAAB 340B can carry up to 36 passengers.
One passenger across the aisle from the impact said: "It was as loud as a bomb going off."
The strap went through the casing and hit a woman in seat 2A, according to passengers immediately behind her. Debris sprayed into the cabin, passengers said.
Many of the passengers were deeply critical of the way they were treated just after the plane landed.
One person who was in seat 6A said at the time: "We are angry because nobody has asked us if we are okay. There was zero care. We were just left and abandoned."
Some said the concern seemed to be to stop them taking pictures.
The ATSB has identified several risk controls with limitations that contributed to the occurrence. Examination of these factors represent a significant increase in the scope of this investigation.
- Australian Transport Safety Bureau
Link Airways was operating the flight to Sydney on behalf of Virgin Australia. Virgin set up a team to contact all passengers.
Some had screamed in horror when the strap from the propeller pierced the fuselage.
"We took off and there was a huge, loud bang, and stuff flew over the cabin, and everybody screamed," Carolyn Paisley-Dew, who was five seats behind the impact, said.
Once in the air, with the hole in the side, the plane circled north over Mount Majura and turned south over Queanbeyan and Jerrabomberra before making the emergency landing. It was in the air for about 10 minutes.
After the circle back to the airport, the plane came to a stop on the runway, emergency services rushed across the tarmac and entered the aircraft.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
