2018 Pretoria Convair 340 crash

Investigation

The Accident and Incident Investigations Department of the South African Civil Aviation Authority began an investigation and pledged to have an initial report within 30 days of the crash.

A preliminary report was released in August 2018. It said the pilots did not follow the prescribed checklist procedures when they discovered an engine had caught fire. Recovered video footage from the cockpit showed the captain was the pilot flying, while the first officer was doing the radio work. The footage also showed the licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (LAME) operating the engine controls. Further, “during taxi, takeoff and flight, until moments before the crash, one of the passengers was seen standing in the cockpit area behind the LAME. “The GoPro also shows that the pilots were not sure if they had retracted the landing gears, as they can be heard asking each other whether the gears are out or not. It also shows that though the pilots and LAME were informed of the left engine fire, they were asking each other which engine was on fire,” the preliminary report reads. The GoPro footage also showed that “at no stage did the pilots or the LAME discuss or attempt to extinguish the left engine fire, as the left engine fire extinguishing system was never activated”. The preliminary report noted the aircraft was certified for operation by two pilots and it was “not clear why the LAME was allowed to operate the engine controls during the operation of the aircraft” and noted “crew resource management in the cockpit was found lacking”.

The South African Civil Aviation Authority released its final report on 28 August 2019. Indicating that the probable cause of the accident was poor maintenance of the engines and multiple mistakes by unqualified pilots, such as continuing the flight after the left engine had caught fire. Early indications of the engine fault were misdiagnosed by maintenance personnel as an instrument reading erratically.