WW24 CREW ENCOUNTERS SEVERE TURB AND ICING AT 14000 FT.

Date: 2007-02 · Aircraft: IAI1124/1124A Westwind · Phase: cruise

Anomalies: aircraft-equipment-problem-less-severe|deviation-altitude-excursion-from-assigned-altitude|inflight-event-encounter-weather-turbulence|inflight-event-encounter-loss-of-aircraft-control

Synopsis

WW24 CREW ENCOUNTERS SEVERE TURB AND ICING AT 14000 FT.

Narrative

UPON LEVELING OFF THE AUTOPLT WAS NOT MAINTAINING THE 14000 FT AS SELECTED. AT 14100 FT I RESELECTED 14000 FT AND IT CORRECTED BACK DOWN. WITHIN SECONDS WE WERE AT 14400 FT WHEN I SAID TO THE CAPT 'WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE AUTOPLT; HOW COME IT WON'T HOLD ALT?' THE CAPT THEN DISCONNECTED THE AUTOPLT AND PITCHED DOWN TO CORRECT FOR THE UNCOMMANDED CLB. THE RIDE THEN WENT FROM SMOOTH TO VIOLENT. I PULLED BOTH THROTTLES TO IDLE AS SOON AS I WAS ABLE. IT WAS SO ROUGH THAT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO CTL YOUR ARMS AND LEGS AT TIMES. BOTH OF US HIT OUR HEADS ON THE BREAKER PANEL ABOVE; WHICH RUNG OUR BELL SO TO SPEAK. INITIALLY I HEARD A HISSING SOUND AND THOUGHT DECOMPRESSION AND MASK. THEN NO MASK WE ARE ONLY 14000 FT. THE HISSING WAS A BURST BEVERAGE CONTAINER OR MY MASK OUT OF ITS HOLSTER AND PURGING; I DON'T KNOW FOR SURE. THE CAPT HAD A SEVERE CUT ON HIS HEAD AND WAS BLEEDING. HE CONTINUED TO FLY AND CLAIMED TO BE OK. THE AIRFRAME WAS COVERED WITH ICE AND A GENERATOR WAS OFFLINE. WE RPTED OUR STATUS WITH CTR AND I BELIEVE THEY DECLARED US AN EMER ACFT. AS PNF I ACTIVATED THE ACFT'S ICE PROTECTION WHICH WORKED WELL. WE BEGAN LOAD REDUCTION. I RAN THE APPROPRIATE CHKLIST FOR THE GENERATOR OFF AND IT WAS RESTORED. THE REMAINING FLT WAS UNREMARKABLE. I REVIEWED THE FLT LOG AND IT INDICATED A MAX ALT LOSS OF 2000 FT. THIS IS MY BIGGEST CONCERN. MAINTAINING WINGS LEVEL WAS A FULL TIME JOB DURING THIS EVENT WITH SEVERE TURB AND I COMMEND MY CAPT. I THINK GOOD CRM PROBABLY SAVED OUR LIVES. DURING THIS EVENT I FOUND MYSELF DOING ONLY THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN 'OVER-LEARNED.' IN THE FUTURE I WILL PIPE UP AND ASK FOR DEVS AROUND ALL CLOUDS WHEN POSSIBLE AND IF ANYONE IS EVER INJURED INFLT I WILL SUGGEST THE USE OF OXYGEN. WE MAY NEED ALL THE HELP WE CAN GET.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.