WW24 CREW ENCOUNTERS SEVERE TURB AND ICING AT 14000 FT.
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.