ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 247078
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| Date: | Tuesday 11 March 2003 |
| Time: | 08:53 UTC |
| Type: |  Boeing 747-312 |
| Owner/operator: | South African Airways |
| Registration: | ZS-SAJ |
| MSN: | 23027/583 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1983 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 157 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Incident |
| Location: | Johannesburg International Airport -
 South Africa
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Johannesburg International Airport (JNB/FAJS) |
| Sao Paulo | |
| Investigating agency: | CAA S.A. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The Boeing 747-300 was scheduled to depart from Johannesburg International Airport to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The aircraft was initially delayed by the ATC due to only one ATC radar sector being in use.
However, during the Pre-Flight inspection, the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) failed to provide sufficient airflow into the cockpit and cabin area as well as to start the engines. It was planned to use a ground air cart (Copco) to start an engine and then to cross-bleed start the other engines. There were several distractions on the flight deck and an expected 45-minute delay was reduced to 30 minutes when the ATC gave start clearance.
The flight engineer (FEO) obtained the load sheet, but entered the Zero Fuel Weight of 203 580 kg instead of the aircraft’s, Take Off Weight of 324 456 kg into the hand held performance computer and then transferred the computed take-off speeds onto the take-off cards. The pilot-in-command checked the take-off speeds, as the first officer who normally does this, was busy and both pilots set up the relevant bugs on their airspeed indicators. The bugged speeds were thus not correct for takeoff.
The pilot-in-command stated that during the take-off roll from Runway 03L with the engine power set at 1.42 EPR with 10° of flaps selected, the call to “ROTATE” was given at the speed set on the airspeed indicator. He then sensed that the aircraft felt nose heavy and delayed the rotation by 15 knots.
As the aircraft became airborne, the pilot-in-command requested more thrust as the aircraft still felt “sluggish” and at the same time, the flight engineer called “sinking”. The pilot-in-command then kept the nose down in order to gain more speed. The aircraft climbed away at a positive rate of climb before the landing gear was retracted.
The ATC notified the pilot that a tail scrape had occurred during take-off and fuel was dumped before the aircraft landed back at Johannesburg International Airport.
The crew and passengers disembarked normally from the aircraft without any injuries.
Probable Cause
The FEO obtained the load sheet, but unintentionally entered the incorrect weight into the hand held performance computer and the computed take-off speeds onto the take-off cards. The computed take-off speeds were checked by the pilot-incommand and both pilots then set up the relevant bugs on their airspeed indicators that were in fact incorrect.
According to available information, there were several distractions on the flight deck as well as an expected 45-minute delay by ATC that was suddenly reduced to 30 minutes when the ATC issued start clearance.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
CAA S.A.
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
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