Page:CAB Accident Report, AAXICO Logair Flight 1416B.pdf/8

- 8 - Measurements of the swath through the trees made by the aircraft established an angle of descent of 7.3 degrees.

The settings found on the captain's and first officer's altimeters were 29.88 and 29.89, respectively. The crew testified that they had no operating difficulties with the aircraft or any of its components during the flight and that power had been applied and symmetrically received prior to impact.

1.13 Fire

The flight engineer reported that he first noticed fire out the right cockpit window just after the aircraft first made contact with the trees. As the aircraft came to a stop the cockpit began filling with smoke. Fire emanating from ignited fuel spilled from ruptured tanks, penetrated the fuselage and extensively damaged the interior of the fuselage from the aft pressure bulkhead to the cockpit entry door.

At 0605 the Whiteman AFB tower controller advised the base fire department by means of the primary crash phone that contact had been lost with the aircraft while on final approach and that a crash might have occurred. At 0612 the controller alerted all base activities concerned that a crash had occurred.

The Assistant Fire Chief and three units of firefighting equipment responded to the alarm by way of the perimeter road inside the base. Two other units utilized a road located outside the base. Both groups of vahicles converged on the burning aircraft and were actively engaged in combating the fire at 0617. Additional dire equipment was dispatched to the scene as off-duty and standby personnel reported for duty. Approximately 60 firefighters and 9 pieces of firefighting equipment all attached to Whiteman AFB participated in the operation. The fire was completely extinguished at 0730.

Difficulty was encountered in combating the fire inside the fuselage due to the fact that the cargo had shifted during the crash and had jammed the forward left cargo door from the inside. The cargo was removed through the aft left cargo door to allow access to the fire inside the fuselage.

1.14 Survival Aspects

This was a survivable accident. After the aircraft came to a stop the flight engineer stowed his seat which is located just aft and between the captain's and first officer's seats and opened the crew entrance door on the forward right side of the fuselage. The flight engineer followed by the first officer and the captain jumped to the ground five feet six inches below the door sill and walked away from the burning aircraft to await assistance. The evacuation was accomplished in pouring rain in approximately 15 seconds. None of the three crewmembers was injured.

1.15 Tests

The altimeters, airspeed indicators, vertical speed (rate of climb) indicators, turn and bank indicators, gyro horizons, radio magnetic indicators (RMI) and Omni bearing selectors (OBS) were removed from the wreckage and brought to a test facility for bench checks. All instruments were found to operate within tolerances with no discrepancies.