Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Romania

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FoxKhan
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Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Romania

Post by FoxKhan »

Hello everyone,

A Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander made a forced landing yesterday on a remote mountain in Transylvania (Romania). The pilot was a former airline pilot with 38 years experience and over 16 000 hours of flying time. He and one of the passengers died a few hours after the crash landing occurred. Four other passengers and the co-pilot survived.

The plane was transporting medics from Bucharest to the western part of Romania to harvest organs for transplant when it was forced to crash land at an altitude of 1,400 meters (4,595 feet). The conditions were poor with low visibility due to heavy fog. One of the survivors said that „the pilot tried to de-ice the aircraft, we lost altitude and crashed”.

I took more than 6 hours for the rescue teams to get to the crash site, not because the road was that difficult or because the crash area was that remote, but because the Romanian authorities were unable to determine the location of the crashed aircraft. The survivors were found by local mountain rangers and villagers.

The medics had smartphones on them and managed to call and alert the authorities even if the network coverage was very poor there. Unfortunately, for reasons still unknown they were unable to obtain a GPS position using their phones.

My question is why were the Romanian authorities unable to pinpoint the plane's location? I think the BN-2 has an Emergency Locator Transmitter and there were also the smartphones… Still, the authorities were clueless.

What is the usual procedure in such cases? How should have the Romanian authorities approached the situation? Does the BN-2 have other systems that could have helped in finding its location?

Thank you,
Fox

P.S. A picture from the crash site.
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Jim Stewart
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by Jim Stewart »

I don't know anything about finding airplane crashes, but I have hiked mountains and looked for landmarks. Six hours does not seem unreasonable without a good fix on the site.
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drseti
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by drseti »

I'd be curious to know if the plane carried an ELT, and if so, which kind. The 121.5 analog ELTs are no longer supported by Search and Rescue Satellites. The 406 MHz digital units are compatible with the new generation of SARSats, which can pinpoint the location within a half hour or so. But, those are not yet required in the US, and I have no idea what the Romanian regulations are.

FWIW, I'm getting ready to upgrade my ELT from 121.5 to 406, for that very reason. The AmeriKing 451 that I will be installing is tray and cabling compatible with the AK 450 that I will be replacing, so it's an easy swap (for which I have an LoA).
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FoxKhan
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by FoxKhan »

Yes, I live in a mountainous region, six hours is not unreasonable without a good fix on the plane's position.

But with the help of a 406 MHz digital ELT, maybe rescue teams could have got there in less than half the time.

It seem that the BN-2 had a 121.5 analog ELT. Thank you for the info Drseti.

The terrain wasn't very difficult, you could get with off road vehicles up to about 3 km from the crash site (a local off-road club got there before the authorities), foggy conditions, above freezing temperatures, some snow. The rescue teams had about 1 hour and a half of daylight. Helicopters weren't available due to bad weather conditions.

Could the smartphones have help in anyway?

With your experience, what would have been your approach in trying to pinpoint their location as soon as you could?
InformalGreeting
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by InformalGreeting »

Thankfully I've never been involved in a SAR for a downed aircraft. But I have gone looking for missing or lost hikers here in the Appalachians. It can be exceedingly difficult to find someone even if you have a pretty decent idea of where they are. When looking at a map the direct distance from one point to another may be a quarter mile but the mountain peak between your position and their position would equate to being miles and miles away. I don't know why they couldn't track them to their precise position using the phone GPS but once that failed it became pretty hard work.

Looks like heads are going to roll due to the incident. The Interior Minister has stepped down as a result of this incident and others appear to be trying to cover their backsides as well.
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by Merlinspop »

InformalGreeting wrote:I don't know why they couldn't track them to their precise position using the phone GPS but once that failed it became pretty hard work.
Could be that the phones' GPS receivers couldn't 'see' enough of the sky to get a reliable fix. Or... could be that the GPS signal was rendered unavailable for that part of the world by the DoD.
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by drseti »

Merlinspop wrote:Or... could be that the GPS signal was rendered unavailable for that part of the world by the DoD.
The Department of Death? Ya think maybe?
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MovingOn
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by MovingOn »

.......
Last edited by MovingOn on Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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drseti
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Re: Question about Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crash in Rom

Post by drseti »

MovingOn wrote:Damn liberals.
Well, yes, but in this case, I'm speaking as a veteran. There is no stauncher pacifist than he or she who's waged war.
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