Queensland police jet emergency sparks training reform

The Queensland Government Air Wing has introduced new training in the wake of an emergency involving the police jet.

The damaged rotor from the Queensland police jet.

The Queensland Government Air Wing has introduced new training for flight crews after an Australia Day emergency involving the police jet.

On January 26, the Cessna ­Citation 560 was carrying eight people, including Police Commissioner Ian Stewart, Police Minister Mark Ryan and Fire Chief Katarina Carroll, on a flight from Brisbane to Townsville.

About 350km north of Brisbane, a series of bangs was heard from the rear of the jet and the ­pilots made an emergency ­descent from 30,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

A request was made to air traffic control for an immediate ­return to Brisbane, with the pilots deciding to bypass Bundaberg and Sunshine Coast airports.

Although the flight crew donned oxygen masks due to a mist of “acrid smoke in the cockpit”, they did not deploy passenger oxygen masks.

At the time, Mr Ryan ­described the incident as a “frightening experience” and said he was grateful for the flight crew’s professionalism, skill, calmness and reassurance.

An Australian Transport ­Safety Bureau investigation found a tiny piece of broken metal from a compressor stage rotor in the engine caused the bangs.

“The aerofoil fractured as a ­result of a fatigue crack … the exact origin of the fatigue crack could not be determined,” the ­report says.

The investigation revealed the engine and rotor were manufactured in 2001, and had completed 3126 flight hours.

No other maintenance was required to be performed on the rotor until overhaul at 3500 hours of service.

The components were sent to engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada, which formed a specialist engineering group to review the complete history of the boost rotor, and boost rotor distress.

The next meeting of the group is scheduled for next month.

The ATSB report also says the Queensland Government Air Wing has introduced a number of new training packages for flight crew, including crew resource management for all pilots and a future line operations safety audit program.

“Although some of this training was programmed, it was expedited following a review of the occurrence involving (the police jet),” the report says.

“The first tranche of crew ­resource management training was conducted prior to publication of this report.”