Aviation safety report offers details on Air Inuit’s Aug. 24 flight
Wrenching upset tossed passengers and crew, causing minor injuries
Here’s a look at the Air Inuit Boeing 737-200 on Aug. 24 after it managed to land in La Grande Rivière after its autopilot failed. (Submitted photo)
The official report to Transport Canada about the Air Inuit flight that pitched while en route from Montreal to La Grande Rivière on Aug. 24 is finally online at the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System site.
The report says that there was a loss of control inflight as well as issues with aircraft navigation and communication equipment and flight control systems.
Prior to the posting, online websites dedicated to aviation incidents had already suggested that an autopilot malfunction on the 38-year-old aircraft was the cause of a wrenching upset that threw passengers, crew and meals around.
Before that happened, the Air Inuit Boeing 737-200 was flying by instruments and navigating with the help of electronic signals on its way from Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport to La Grande Rivière, the report said.
This photo shows some of the damage to the interior of the Air Inuit aircraft and what appears to be blood on the floor after the jet’s autopilot failed on Aug. 24 near La Grande. (Submitted Photo)
La Grande is where this jet flight always stops before continuing north to its final destination of Puvirnituq.
But after 10 minutes of cruising at 34,000 feet (10,300 metres) on autopilot, there was an “uncommanded rotation,” the report said, and “the crew disconnected the autopilot and felt a vibration in the flight controls.”
After repositioning the aircraft, the crew requested a “block altitude,” that is, to find stability for the jet at another altitude.
But when they re-engaged the autopilot, there was a “second uncommanded rotation,” the report said.
The crew disconnected the autopilot and requested to descend to 32,000 feet (about 9,700 metres).
There were four crew members and 35 passengers on board, the report said.
“A passenger received minor injuries and an ambulance was requested,” states the report, which said there were two nurses on board who helped the cabin crew members with the injured passenger.
“The aircraft landed without incident,” the report said.
In previous online reports on what took place on the flight, the movement on board the flight was called a “pitch” instead of a “rotation.”
A pitch motion is an up or down movement of the nose of the aircraft that can cause a rapid change in altitude, while a rotation usually refers to pressure put on a control device to lift the nose wheel off the ground during takeoff.
Air Inuit’s Aug. 30 statement, in which the Makivik Corp.-owned airline apologized for the Aug. 24 flight, also differs from the report in that it said two people were injured: “While in flight, the two injured parties were assisted by two nurses onboard. Once they arrived at the La Grande airport they were assisted by medical services and released after examination.”
Air Inuit said the aircraft was serviced, inspected and returned to service the day after the incident.
This is statement is incorrect.
“A pitch motion is an up or down movement of the nose of the aircraft caused by a rapid change in altitude.”
Pitch refers to the attitude of the aircraft that is controlled by the elevator. A pitching motion can be caused by inputs on the control column (pitch up or down) I.e. pulling or pushing forward on the yoke whether by a human or a motor controlled by the autopilot computer. In this case it was caused by an inappropriate input from the autopilot from what I understand.
Pitch is not caused by “rapid changes in altitude” that doesn’t even make sense.
Simple grammar error perhaps.
*…a pitch motion can cause rapid changes in altitude.*
And the block altitude means giving the aircraft a range of altitude, example between 30000 and 34000 feet, that other aircraft are prevented from entering in order to prevent conflict (aircraft getting too close to each other) in this case because the jet was unable to maintain the desired altitude.