Mangalore - Mangalore

On October 31, 1954 at 03:07 PM, Mangalore - Mangalore experienced a crash involving Vickers Viscount, operated by Trans Australia Airlines - TAA, with the event recorded near Mangalore Victoria.

The flight was categorized as training and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 5 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 37.5%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew (pilots and engineers) were engaged in a local training flight at Mangalore Airport, Victoria. During the takeoff roll on runway 22, after it reached V1 speed, the instructor shut down the engine number four and feathered its propeller to simulate an engine failure. The pilot-in-command continued the takeoff procedure. Shortly after rotation, the aircraft turned to the right and reached the height of 100 feet when it stalled and crashed in flames in a field located less than one km west of the airfield. Five crew members were injured (three of them seriously) while three pilots were killed. The aircraft was destroyed. The takeoff from which the accident resulted was being attempted in the most critical three-engine configuration, i.e. with number 4 engine (starboard outer) inoperative. In this configuration, with flaps extended 20° and the three engines on full power, a minimum speed of 96 knots is necessary in order to ensure that, using both rudder and aileron, a constant heading can be maintained. When flying under these conditions at speeds below 96 knots it is not possible to keep the aircraft from turning. The takeoff safety speed for the conditions existing at the time of this accident is given in the flight manual for Viscount VH-TVA as 106 knots and it has been the practice of Trans- Australia Airlines to teach its pilots not to lift the aircraft off the ground at speeds below 110 knots in a three-engine takeoff. It has been calculated that with normal acceleration in a three-engine take-off the speed of the aircraft when it left the runway would have been 85 to 90 knots which was too low.

Aircraft reference details include registration VH-TVA, MSN 44, year of manufacture 1954.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -36.9246°, 145.1708°.