More of the Door Story

Passengers on a Barrier Air plane were terrified when they saw its door come ajar mid-flight - but the aircraft had even bigger problems they did not know about. The pilot says the plane with six passengers onboard experienced "equipment failure" as it came in to land at Auckland Airport. The incident occurred on the 34-year-old Piper Chieftain aircraft last Tuesday, on a flight from Kaitaia to Auckland with a scheduled stop in Whangarei. Passengers described how the plane door appeared to come open during the flight, and said the plane circled about three times before landing at Auckland. James Snowden said once the plane landed, the pilot could be seen on his haunches by the wing of the plane, breathing deeply. "He was worried. I thought it was because of the door." Pilot Ryan Bergman wrote on the public Kiwi Pilots Facebook page that the issue with the door was not the reason the plane could not land, but another "defect" occurred. In another post, Bergman wrote he had "equipment failure on short finals in the Chieftain and commenced the missed approach". When approached for comment, Bergman said he was not at liberty to talk about the incidents, and directed further questions to Barrier Air and the Civil Aviation Authority. Snowden said he was shocked to hear of the so-called "equipment failure", as passengers were not told about it at the time, and had not heard from the airline since. "That's even worse. That's even more scary." A spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Authority said an incident involving the Piper Chieftain had been reported but was unable to provide specific details. The exact same plane, Embraer EMB-820C Chieftain ZK-RDT, was involved in a similar door-opening incident in 2001, when it was operated by Origin Pacific. Origin flight 457 was flying from New Plymouth to Auckland when the cabin door opened in flight, according to a Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report. Passengers had to hold the door shut for about 10 minutes as the pilot landed the plane. TAIC found the 2001 incident resulted from wear and distortion of door latch components, which had not been detected. Pilots and engineers needed to be more aware of mechanical deterioration of items such as the door latch mechanism, TAIC said at the time. Barrier Air CEO Michael Foster said the airline has been operating under new management since August. All aircraft were airworthy at the time of the changeover, and maintenance events dating back 15 years or more were not considered relevant, and were unknown to the new management. Barrier Air was undergoing a fleet replacement, Foster said. "The BN2A Britten-Norman Islanders and the Piper Chieftain aircraft, the mainstay of yesteryear and stalwart faithful servants for so many past years, are fast approaching their 'use-by' date and we plan to put them out to pasture as soon as we can re-educate our clients to the virtues of using modern turbine engines." The Piper Chieftain was manufactured in Brazil in 1982, and imported into New Zealand in 1994. Aviation commentator Irene King said the door issue was a well-known problem with this type of aircraft. However, it was rare for the door to come fully open, and in this case it was more likely that the pressure seal had broken, causing it to come slightly ajar - which would be enough to give passengers a fright, she said. "You've got a multiple locking mechanism on it. If the pilot doesn't lock it properly, then the first mechanism will come open and that lets the air pressure in. "It's no big deal. These aircraft can fly quite satisfactorily with one pressured seal." King said Piper Chieftain were "tough, rugged, nuggety aircraft with few moving parts". "Very few things go wrong with them, really. But it's old equipment - you do have to be a bit careful with it."

Source : http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/80638583/barrier-air-plane-experienced-equipment-failure-after-door-came-ajar-midair