ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-275C Adv. N810TA Honolulu-Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, HI (HNL)
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Status:Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Date:Friday 2 July 2021
Time:01:45
Type:Silhouette image of generic B732 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Boeing 737-275C Adv.
Operator:Transair (Cargo)
Registration: N810TA
MSN: 21116/427
First flight: 1975-07-23 (46 years)
Total airframe hrs:72871
Cycles:69446
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A
Crew:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Passengers:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:9 km (5.6 mls) WSW off Honolulu-Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, HI (HNL) (   United States of America)
Phase: Approach (APR)
Nature:Cargo
Departure airport:Honolulu-Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, HI (HNL/PHNL), United States of America
Destination airport:Kahului Airport, HI (OGG/PHOG), United States of America
Flightnumber:T4810
Narrative:
Transair flight 810, a Boeing 737-200C cargo plane, ditched in Mamala Bay off Honolulu, Hawaii, after experiencing an engine anomaly after takeoff. The captain sustained serious injuries, the first officer sustained minor injuries, and the airplane was destroyed.

The aircraft took off from runway 08R at Honolulu-Daniel K. Inouye International Airport at 01:33 hours local time on a cargo flight to Kahului International Airport (OGG).
As the aircraft climbed to an altitude of about 390 feet, at an airspeed of 155 knots, the EPR of the right engine dropoped to 1.43 for a period of two seconds. The aircraft then began to yaw to the right. The co-pilot corrected the tendency by using the left rudder. He stated that engine number 2 (right) had failed, which was confirmed by the captain.
Upon reaching 2000 feet, the first officer (who was Pilot Flying) selected flight idle thrust. In the meantime the captain radioed Honolulu Tower that they had an emergency
The captain then instructed the co-pilot to maintain a speed of 220 knots, an altitude of 2000 feet and a heading of 240°. This heading the controller had given to Transair 809 on the same radio frequency about 52 seconds before.
About 3 minutes and 14 seconds after the loss of power in the right engine, the captain took control of the aircraft; at that time the aircraft's speed was 224 knots and the heading was 242°. By then, the altitude of the aircraft had dropped from about 2100 feet to 1690 feet.
The captain pulled the nose up slightly, allowing the aircraft to climb to 1878 feet, but at the expense of airspeed, which dropped to 196 knots.
Although it was determined immediately after takeoff that the right engine had failed, the crew again tried to establish the failing engine. The co-pilot then noted that the left engine had failed. The captain accepted the copilot's assessment and took no action to verify the information.
He moved the throttle of the right engine forward.
The co-pilot then asked the captain if they should "go back to the airport" before the plane would be "too far away." The captain replied that the plane would stay within 15 miles of the airport. This would not interfere with other traffic and give them time to address the engine problem.
He then instructed the co-pilot to run the engine failure checklist.
While working checklist, the co-pilot noticed that the right engine's exhaust temperature (EGT) was in the red. He indicated that the power on the right engine should be reduced. The captain then decided that they should return to the airport. Since they can no longer see the airport, Honolulu Tower issued heading instructions.

Meanwhile the EGT remains deep in the red. The captain instructed the co-pilot to proceed with the engine failure checklist. But moments later, the co-pilot stopped again and stated, "this engine is no good, we need to shut it down." The captain agreed and ordered the right engine to be shut down.
The captain then began to steer the back toward the airport. The altitude was then only 320 feet at a speed of 180 knots.
About 27 seconds before the crash, the left EPR was increased to 1.62, and the airspeed dropped to 156 knots. The captain then increased power on the left engine to maximum continuous power (1.95 EPR), but the aircraft hit the water, eleven and a half minutes after takeoff, 5.5 miles southwest of Honolulu Airport.
Both pilots were able to escape from the sinking plane.
The Coast Guard was alerted and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was on scene around 02:30. The captain was hanging from the floating tail section of the plane and the co-pilot was lying on top of floating wreckage. The captain was lifted from the water to the helicopter with the help of a rescue diver. The diver then re-entered the water and swam with the co-pilot to the rescue boat, which arrived at the scene around 02:40.

The wreckage sank to a depth of about 105 meters and was salvaged in Octobter 2021. The subsequent investigation shows that two high-pressure turbine blades (Nos. 1 and 6) of the right engine had fractured. They failed by stress rupture resulting from a loss of loadbearing material due to oxidation and corrosion.

Probable Cause:

Probable Cause and Findings:
The flight crewmembers’ misidentification of the damaged engine (after leveling off the airplane and reducing thrust) and their use of only the damaged engine for thrust during the remainder of the flight, resulting in an unintentional descent and forced ditching in the Pacific Ocean. Contributing to the accident were the flight crew’s ineffective crew resource management, high workload, and stress.

Accident investigation:

cover
Investigating agency: NTSB
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 2 years
Accident number: DCA21FA174
Download report: Final report

Classification:
Shutdown of wrong engine
Ditching

Sources:
» cnbc.com

METAR Weather report:
10:53 UTC / 00:53 local time:
PHNL 021053Z 07013KT 10SM FEW025 SCT045 26/18 A3004 RMK AO2 SLP170 T02560183

11:53 UTC / 01:53 local time:
PHNL 021153Z 06010G21KT 10SM FEW025 SCT050 26/17 A3003 RMK AO2 SLP169 60000 T02560172 10267 20256 56008


Photos

photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
photo of Boeing-737-275C-Adv-N810TA
accident date: 02-07-2021
type: Boeing 737-275C Adv.
registration: N810TA
 

Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line is connecting ADS-B datapoints from Flightradar24.
Distance from Honolulu-Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, HI to Kahului Airport, HI as the crow flies is 161 km (101 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.

This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.
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