Accident
King Air VH-AAV commenced takeoff from runway 25 at 1908 hours operating as Advance Airlines flight DR4210 to Temora and Condobolin, New South Wales with a single pilot and 12 passengers onboard. Almost immediately, after climbing to an altitude no more than 150 feet above ground level, the aircraft was observed to level off and enter a shallow bank to the left. The pilot contacted the control tower advising he had suffered a left engine failure and requesting an immediate return to land on runway 34. Air Traffic Control acknowledged this request and cleared the King Air to make a visual approach to the runway behind an Ansett Airlines Boeing 727 on final approach.
As VH-AAV continued to turn towards the runway, it descended to just a few feet above the water on a heading towards a sea wall enclosing the runway which stretches into Botany Bay. This manoeuvre prompted the tower controller to enquire if the approach and landing would proceed as normal. The reply from the pilot eight seconds later was "Alpha Alpha Victor negative". This was the final transmission from the aircraft. At 1909:08, the Sydney Airport crash alarm system was activated, and the preceding Ansett 727 instructed to expedite its landing roll and vacate the runway. At 1909:20 VH-AAV was cleared to land, however this clearance was not acknowledged as at 1909:22 the aircraft impacted the sea wall six feet above the waterline. The total duration of the flight was 106 seconds from brakes release to impact. Five fire fighting appliances were dispatched to the accident site and crews extinguished the fire within 10 minutes of the crash.
The initial impact disintegrated the left wing, while a section of the right wing including its engine separated from the aircraft coming to rest adjacent to the runway, while the main fuselage was engulfed in an explosion caused by fuel igniting as the wing structures separated. The main wreckage bounced over the sea wall and landed inverted on a taxiway, sliding along the ground for a distance of approximately 55 metres (180 ft). All 13 aboard the aircraft were killed in the accident which was ruled to be non-survivable.
Read more about this topic: VH-AAV Crash
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