A second grounding in less than three years involving Air Botswana’s newly acquired ATR-72-600 plane has raised questions about the safety of the aircraft.
Questions have also arisen over the plane with registration number A2-ABK code named Tsodilo amid an investigation by South Africa’s Accident and Incident Investigations Division (AIID) following an incident in that country that the agency described as “serious.”
Following the release of a preliminary report by AIID recently, industry insiders said the incident does not only raise questions about Botswana’s air safety standards but has also put the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) on the spotlight.
The preliminary report by South Africa’s Accident and Incident Investigations Division shows the Aircraft Maintenance Organisation (AMO) which carried out the last maintenance inspection (1A Check) of the plane prior to the incident flight was in possession of an approved AMO certificate that was issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana.
The plane was grounded by the national airline for the second time following a recent incident in South Africa which resulted in an emergency landing at the OR.Tambo International Airport.
Reports indicate that this was the second time that the plane was grounded as it was also grounded in 2018.
According to the report by South Africa Accident and Incident Investigations Division (AIID), “on 30 December 2021 the ATR 72-600 aircraft with registration A2-ABK operated by Air Botswana was involved in a serious incident during the climb phase from O.R. Tambo International Airport (FAOR).”
The preliminary findings show that the torque had 8% fluctuations and the Interstage Turbine Temperature (ITT) had increased by approximately 40°C on engine number 2 parameters.
It says the engine fire warning illuminated, and the crew shut down engine number 2. “The crew returned to FAOR and landed safely on Runway 03L.”
The report shows that, “Post-incident inspection of engine number 2 (right engine) revealed that the exhaust pipe, turbine blades, exit vanes and handling bleed valve (HBV) electrical connector were damaged.”
It was also discovered that there were exhaust pipe metal pieces at the bottom cowling.
The report says this was an international scheduled flight from FAOR to Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (FBSK).
“Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) prevailed and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight plan was filed. None of the occupants (70 passengers) were injured during the serious incident sequence; however, the aircraft’s right-side engine was damaged,” the report says.
The report says the State of Design and Manufacture of the aircraft, which is France, was informed of the incident as per ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) and they had appointed a non-travelling Accredited Representative.
“The State of Registry and Operator, which is Botswana, was informed of the incident, and have also appointed a non-travelling Accredited Representative. The AIID will lead the investigation and issue the final report,” the report says.
The report says although the investigation is on-going, some provisional findings which were made show that the aircraft was first registered with the current owner (Air Botswana) on 1 November 2018. The aircraft had a valid Certificate of Airworthiness (CoA) initially issued on 2 November 2018 with an expiry date of 31 October 2022. The aircraft was re-issued a CRS on 12 October 2021.
The report says the operator was issued an AOC by the State of Registry and State of Operator, Botswana, on 30 March 2021 with an expiry date of 30 April 2022.
The aircraft had a valid AMO certificate issued on 26 April 2021 with an expiry date of 6 December 2022, unless cancelled, suspended or revoked.
The last maintenance inspection (1A Check) was carried out on 12 October 2021 at 4079.0 airframe hours. The aircraft had accumulated an additional 326.3 airframe hours in operation since the last inspection and no major defects were recorded.
The QAR data revealed that the engine parameter fluctuations are consistent with mechanical damage within the engine. The fluctuations led to important engine vibrations which caused some of the debris to cut the HBV connector and the jet pipe.
The plane is part of the two ART-72-600 Air Botswana acquired from French based ATR firm valued at more than P520 million ($52 million).
Air Botswana spokesperson Kefilwe Kebafetotse confirmed to The Telegraph that,”One of the ATR 72-600 aircraft experienced technical challenges that rendered it inoperable last year, in Johannesburg.” She said the aircraft landed safely, and all passengers were disembarked following the normal disembarkation procedures.
“The occurrence was reported to the regulatory authorities of both Botswana (CAAB) being the state of registry and South Africa as the State of occurrence. The airline is pleased to inform this publication that the aircraft has been serviced and back in operation,” she said. She added that Air Botswana conforms to the highest safety and operational standards, as such, the airline has consistently maintained high safety ratings as evidenced by the recent success in the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) of 2021.
CAAB spokesperson, Modipe Nkwe confirmed that an incident report dated 30 December 2021 was received from Air Botswana. “The report indicates that the above-mentioned aircraft had an engine fire warning indication, which resulted in an inflight engine shutdown as per emergency procedures,” he said.
