JS41, Venetia Mine South Africa, 2022

JS41, Venetia Mine South Africa, 2022

Summary

On 3 January 2022, the right propeller of a BAe Jetstream 41 was hit by a large bird during its landing roll at Venetia Mine. The impact caused overload fracture and separation of one of its blades. Debris then penetrated and damaged an unoccupied part of the passenger cabin and caused significant secondary damage to the right engine. The accident was attributed to the absence of wildlife management at the licensed but not regularly manned airport. The bird involved was identified as a Kori Bustard, which is Africa’s heaviest flying bird and can weigh up to 19kg.

Description

On 3 January 2022, the right propeller of a BAe Jetstream 41 (ZS-NRJ) operated by SA Airlink on a scheduled commercial passenger flight from Johannesburg to Venetia Mine was hit by a large bird during its destination landing roll in day visual conditions (VMC). The impact broke off one of the propeller blades which then penetrated the fuselage, but fortunately there were no passengers seated in the vicinity. Extensive damage was also caused to the right engine, so the eventual taxi-in used only the left engine. None of the four passengers and three crew members were injured, but substantial damage to the passenger cabin was caused by pieces of the damaged propeller blade.

JS41-Venetia-Mine-2022-propeller-damage

The right hand propeller after the impact with one blade severed near the root. [Reproduced from the Official Report]

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