Investigation of a fatal Bahamian aviation accident

(The following is one in a series of cases I have investigated that illustrate the different forensic engineering methods I use to investigate the cause of failures and accidents that result in civil litigation. 

This is a good case for illustrating how simple an engineering investigation can sometimes be, and how knowledge of the geology of an area can form the basis of informed comment.

The investigation of the fatal aviation accident is reported under the following main headings with several sub-headings:

  • The case (a description of the fatal aviation accident, the legal/technical issues, and my client)
  • Forensic engineering investigation of the failure and the methods used
  • Findings of the investigation (conclusions with respect to the technical issues)
  • Post mortem (resolution and lessons learned)

The case

Description of fatal aviation accident 

Ms. Jane Doe was killed when her plane crashed on take-off from an international airport on one of the family islands in the Bahamas.  The accident occurred near a runway where I had completed a geotechnical/foundation investigation prior to construction of the runway several years previously.

Legal/Technical Issues

The main issue was whether or not the propeller on the starboard side of the aircraft – the right side for landlubbers, could penetrate several inches into the ground at the crash scene, and this not occur on the port side – the left side.

Client

I was retained by a U.S. aviation accident reconstruction expert on the advice of the Public Works Department in Nassau, Bahamas and a law firm practicing in Nassau.  Both were involved in the case.  The Department was my client for the earlier geotechnical investigation.  The law firm knew of my work as a professional engineer in the Bahamas.

Forensic engineering investigation

My forensic engineering investigation and advisory services involved the following methods:

  1. Taking a telephone briefing on the aviation accident by the U.S. reconstruction expert
  2. Studying photographs of the crash scene e-mailed as attachments
  3. Reviewing my geotechnical/foundation investigation report for the runway design and construction
  4. Briefing the U.S. expert on the geological processes on the Bahamian island and the degree of probability that the propeller on the starboard side penetrated the ground where the port propeller did not

You will note that this forensic engineering investigation was a simple document review and my knowledge of the published geology of this particular Bahamian island.  An extremely simple investigation.  There would have been no advantage to me flying to the island and examining conditions at the crash site because these would have changed since the accident.

Conclusion

I was able to advise the U.S. aviation expert with considerable certainty the degree of probability that the propeller penetrated the ground several inches on the starboard side.  I’m not at liberty to state that degree of probability.

Resolution

The case may still be in litigation.

Lessons learned

  1. Do the most thorough and reliable engineering work possible every time because you never know how the data you collect will want to be used for a different purpose in the future.
  2. Worthwhile forensic engineering investigations of serious incidents, e.g., fatal aviation accidents, can be carried out at a distance based on a simple document review.  And sometimes that’s all that is possible, as in this case, because site conditions had changed since the accident.

 

 

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