Engine failure/loss of control, Beech Aircraft Corp C90, VH-LQH

On 25 June 2004, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau released its final investigation report into an accident which occurred on 27 November 2001 at Toowoomba aerodrome, Qld, involving a Beech Aircraft Corporation King Air C90 aircraft, registered VH-LQH, which experienced an engine failure shortly after take-off. The aircraft was destroyed and all four occupants sustained fatal injuries. The report (200105618) is available on the ATSB website (www.atsb.gov.au).

In September 2005, a coronial inquiry into the accident was commenced. During that inquiry, new information was brought to the attention of the ATSB. As a result of this new information, the ATSB formally reopened the investigation on 11 November 2005in accordance with Paragraph 5.13 of Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention through Section 17 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003, to assess the matters raised and their significance to the original ATSB investigation findings.

In light of a further review of the evidence, the ATSB has reconsidered its original finding that the initiating event of the engine failure of VH-LQH was a blade release in the compressor turbine and proposes that an alternative possibility could have been that the initiating event occurred in the power turbine. Notwithstanding this possibility, in either scenario, the remainder of the findings and safety recommendations contained in the original ATSB report are still relevant.

Attachment 1: Technical Analysis Report (1480Kb)