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To: From: Date: Subject: CC: Attachments: Dr. Clark Leora Homel October, 23, 2013 Comet Failure Case Study Assignment 2013 Raunaq Srivastav [1] Timeline of Comet accidents

__________________________________________________ Introduction
British Overseas Airways Corporation,

Background Discussion
1. Provide a graph, table or timeline of the Comet accidents from the first to the last.
See attachments.

2. What were the leading theories as to the cause for each of the failures? a) What factors contributed to these leading theories? Include technical and non-technical factors.
Crash 1: On October 26, 1952, Comet G-ALYZ crashed at the Campino Airport, Rome. The weather was bad and it was dark. The airplane did not get up to speed and was unable to become airborne. The pilot abandoned the take-off and the airplane was totaled in the crash landing. The pilot was initially faulted but after the crash of the CF-CUN it was concluded that if the plane was pulled up too fast the airflow around the wings was disrupted causing a stall. a) In the subsequent report that followed this incident, it was shown that the nose of the airplane was too high during take-off. This had caused the airplane wing to stall. The airplane overshot the runway and finally stopped with damaged landing gears. This was a known issue with the airplane, so much in fact that they had guidelines written into their pilot training manual. After this accident new techniques for take-off were incorporated. The pilots were trained to hit a certain speed before lifting the nose of the Comet. Then the pilot would allow it to touch down before lifting up the nose again for take off. This helped to ensure that the correct speed for take-off had been reached. Crash 2: On March 3, 1953, the Canadian Pacific Air Lines Comet 1A CF-CUN crashed near Karachi, Pakistan. This was also a take-off accident. This happened during the delivery flight of the Comet to Canadian Pacific Air Lines service base that was located in Sydney, Australia. The plane collided with a bridge and started on fire. No one survived this crash. The pilot was initially faulted, but it was found that a design change was necessary at the edge of the wing to prevent the plane from stalling. a) There was not an official report given for this accident. There was an accident summary which indicated that the airplane was very close to its weight limit for the take off conditions. It was dark and the air temperature was very cold. There wasn t any wind present the Comets were very sensitive to the wind conditions during their take-off. Similar to the first crash the nose of the airplane was much too Wolfram Mathematica Student Edition high and take-off was not possible Printed withby the heavy load. Crash 3: On May 2, 1953, the BOAC Comet 1 G-ALYV crashed near Calcutta, India during its initial

Pakistan. This was also a take-off accident. This happened during the delivery flight of the Comet to Canadian Pacific Air Lines service base that was located in Sydney, Australia. The plane collided with a bridge and started on fire. No one survived this crash. The pilot was initially faulted, but it was found HomelCometCase.nb that a design change was necessary at the edge of the wing to prevent the plane from stalling. a) There was not an official report given for this accident. There was an accident summary which indicated that the airplane was very close to its weight limit for the take off conditions. It was dark and the air temperature was very cold. There wasn t any wind present the Comets were very sensitive to the wind conditions during their take-off. Similar to the first crash the nose of the airplane was much too high and take-off was not possible with the heavy load. Crash 3: On May 2, 1953, the BOAC Comet 1 G-ALYV crashed near Calcutta, India during its initial climb phase. At 10,000 feet it flew into a tropical thunderstorm and the plane disintegrated. Bad weather was faulted. a) The Indian Court of Inquiry investigated the accident and issued a report. The probable cause of the accident was from severe wind gusts that were encountered during a thunderstorm which caused loss of control of the aircraft by the pilot. This was a plausible cause, but it remained unproven. The report indicated that an examination of the wreckage should be made. Crash 4: On January 10, 1954, the Comet G-ALYP crashed near Elba, Italy after a fuel stop was made in Rome. The crash happened around 25,000 feet. This happened during the day in good weather and witnesses report that there were explosions. It was thought that it could have been an engine explosion or even a bomb. Fire was faulted, and flights of the Comet were suspended. Modifications were made to the Comet which included fire and smoke detectors and new fuel pipes. In March 1954 flights were resumed. a) This investigation was reopened following the crash of G-ALYY. The remains of the G-ALYP were collected and reassembled. After a very long expensive investigation, it was found that there were crystalline changes in the fuselage skin. These were due to fatigue from the high speed and altitude of the Comets along with repeated pressurization. This metal fatigue caused rupture of the fuselage which had caused decompression of the plane. Crash 5: On April 8, 1954, the comet G-ALYY crashed near Naples, Italy. This Comet was leased from the BOAC to the South African Airways. It was on its way back from London to Johannesburg. It had stopped in Rome to refuel. It took off from Rome only to crash a half hour later. Because of the similarities between the two crashes, all Comet flights were again suspended and an investigation was opened. a) The remains of the G-ALYY were in the sea which was as deep as 1000 meters in this area. No parts of this plane could be inspected. After the inspection of the G-ALYP, it was concluded that this airplane also crashed due to metal fatigue.

3. For each accident, what actions were taken by BOAC, de Havilland, British Civil Aviation and/or others?
Here I will focus on the three disintegration flights: G-ALYV: G-ALYP: G-ALYY:

4. What engineering design approaches were used for the Comet? 5. During production, what kind of testing was performed by de Havilland to ensure the integrity of the fuselage? a) What the testing representative of real conditions? b) Was this testing sufficient? Why or why not? 6. After Yoke Peter disintegrated, what kind of testing was performed? a) Highlight all relevant discoveries from this second round of testing. Printed by Wolfram Mathematica Student Edition b) How many simulated pressurization cycles before the first documented fatigue crack? Was anything unique about this cracking when compared with cracking from the other investigations? c) How many simulated pressurization cycles before the final rupture?

HomelCometCase.nb

6. After Yoke Peter disintegrated, what kind of testing was performed? a) Highlight all relevant discoveries from this second round of testing. b) How many simulated pressurization cycles before the first documented fatigue crack? Was anything unique about this cracking when compared with cracking from the other investigations? c) How many simulated pressurization cycles before the final rupture? d) How many cycles had the aircraft been designed to withstand? 7. In the end, what were the major contributing factors attributed to these failures? a) Hint: It s not only fatigue. 8. Within the article by Withey, cracks were known to be present during manufacture. Describe the approved technique called locatingwith respect to these cracks. 9. Describe how you would reproduce the initial defectsizes in the Withey article. (The article discusses these for Yoke Peter and Yoke Uncle.) 10. The use of graphite with epoxy resin composites on aircraft is part of the new age of aerospace. What aspects should be considered by aircraft manufacturers for design, testing, manufacturing and the use of these materials?

Conclusion Recommendation Attachments

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