A Bombardier CRJ-701ER was at the operator's maintenance ramp at Baton Rouge-Ryan Airport (Louisiana, USA) on this day in 2008, shortly before 2.00 oçlock at night. It was scheduled to undergo a so-called "Engine Wash", or Ëngine wash The engine internals get cleaned using water, chemicals or a combination of both. The engine is normally rotated using the engine starter motor during the wash procedure. (click here to find out more about an aircraft engine wash)
Two of the three aircraft after the collision (www.wafb.com © unknown)
When the right engine wash was completed the equipment was moved to the left engine, and the necessary maintenance actions on the engine were performed. With all preparations completed the engineer in the flight deck initiated an engine dry crank (Rotating the engine on the starter motor, without ignition and fuel).
As the engine started to rotate the engine's computerised control system, the FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) initiated a normal engine start cycle. Ignition was switched on and fuel was introduced, and the engine started. This in itself was already a problem, but what made the situation worse was the fact that the throttle setting for the left engine was at ~85% power.
A damaged wing-let (www.wafb.com © unknown) The aircraft (estimated weight at the time was reported to be around 34 tons) leapt forward and after a short roll (estimated to be around 60 feet) collided with two CRJ-200 aircraft in the company's hangar. Both the aircraft sustained substantial damage from the impact but were repaired and returned to service. The CRJ-700 came off far worse and was damaged beyond repair. There were no reports of injuries. The NTSB did not investigate the accident as all three aircraft carried no passengers, were not in flight, and were damaged in an FAA-approved maintenance facility.
One of the incident aircraft collided with a towtruck (www.wafb.com © unknown)
** Editorial note **
V2 Aviation - Training & Maintenance has not been able to obtain an investigation report on this accident. This blog is therefore based on several internet sources. should there be an inconsistency in the blog don't hesitate to get in touch with us. There are two possibilities to do that, via the comments function at the bottom of this page or via the contact page of the website.
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