CAA plane up in smoke
Smoke in cockpit of CAA’s own aircraft
● The body tasked with ensuring aircraft safety in SA had to ground its own plane after smoke billowed into the cockpit just before takeoff from Lanseria airport.
The twin-engine 12-seater Cessna owned and operated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) screeched to a halt on the runway on November 8. The takeoff was aborted and the plane limped back to a hangar. Both rear tyres deflated as a result of heat generated by the emergency braking.
The CAA did not respond to Sunday Times queries about the emergency, which is described in a detailed, preliminary serious incident report on the CAA website. It is unclear whether the plane is back in service
According to the report, the crew of the Cessna 550 also encountered smoke in the cockpit the previous day while flying at altitude, resulting in maintenance checks on both engines after the plane landed.
“After landing, the crew conducted an inspection of both engines and there was no oil visible on the dipstick on the No 1 engine,” the CAA report said.
The defect was addressed, a ground test of the engines was conducted and the plane returned to service.
“The following morning, the aircraft with four on board was scheduled to depart Lanseria International Aerodrome for a flight to Polokwane International Aerodrome,” the CAA report said. “The start-up and flight profile setup were uneventful.
“During the takeoff roll from Runway 07, the crew experienced smoke in the cockpit. The crew decided to abort the takeoff and the aircraft was taxied back to the hangar area before the engines were shut down. After the aircraft was parked, it was discovered that the right main-gear tyre deflated and minutes thereafter the left main-gear tyre also deflated. The crew did not report any injuries.”
The 33-year-old plane is used to transport CAA inspectors to airports locally and in neighbouring countries. A key task is to conduct annual calibration of instrument-landing systems at South African airports.
Aviation sources this week described the incident as serious and commended the pilot for aborting the flight. “With smoke in the cockpit the crew would need to abort the takeoff probably at high speed — it would be very dangerous to continue the takeoff with this problem,” said a senior SAA pilot.
“Smoke in the cockpit is a notoriously difficult snag because it can come from several different sources — all of them bad. To have it on takeoff is critical because the pilot only gets a few seconds to assess and make a decision.
“Aborting the takeoff requires very high energy to decelerate a heavy aircraft. In many cases, this causes the brakes and tyres to overheat, deflate, and in some cases even explode.”
Another well-placed source said that although the CAA plane was “fraught with problems” the organisation did not want to invest in a replacement, possibly due to budgetary issues.
Gavin Kiggen, vice-president of ExecuJet Africa, which maintains the Cessna, referred queries to the CAA.
The plane’s airworthiness certificate, first issued in October 1986, expires next October. The last maintenance inspection was on August 2, and since then the plane has flown 59.6 hours, the CAA report said.
The CAA drew criticism from several commercial pilots earlier this year over a decision to send relatively inexperienced inspectors for Airbus conversion training. At the time, several aviation sources told the Sunday Times the CAA was hamstrung by budget cuts and an exodus of senior staff.
The Cessna emergency follows other recent incidents involving commercial passenger airliners, notably a temporary Mango Airlines “nosedive” that took place between Johannesburg and Cape Town.