KBR Aircrew Overcoming Mid-Air Emergency
An essential part of the job when you work as a member of a flight crew is ensuring you’re equipped and ready at a moment’s notice for anything that may come your way. From preparing for the physical demands associated with flying military aircraft to years of training and knowing the ins and outs of their assigned aircraft, KBR aircrew are experts at handling challenging scenarios that may arise while on missions. But even years of training and experience don’t necessarily prepare you for when the aircraft you’re flying malfunctions unexpectedly. It’s what happens in those uncertain moments that makes or breaks the success of the team.
Earlier this year, an all-KBR flight crew was flying a U.S. Navy KC-130T aircraft at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, when they experienced a very unusual in-flight emergency. While on approach for landing, one of the propellers on the aircraft began spinning faster than the allowable revolutions per minute (RPM). The flight crew canceled the landing in order to troubleshoot the propeller malfunction, which would require the engine to be completely shut down prior to landing. However, the aircrew was unaware that the propeller had failed at a very low blade angle. As a result, when the engine was shut down, the airflow passing through the propeller caused it to spin faster instead of stopping, leading the propeller RPM to exceed 120% of its normal operating range. This massive increase in propeller speed caused significant noise, vibrations and asymmetrical drag on the aircraft. At this point, knowing the dangers of the situation, KBR’s pilot in command elected to land immediately on an off-duty runway to minimize the time in flight. The crew quickly configured the KC-130T for landing and reviewed procedures for normal and emergency landings, while declaring an “emergency” with air traffic control. The pilot was able to land the aircraft safely with increased flight control inputs, but without further incident. The propeller stopped rotating once the aircraft was on the ground and slowed to a normal taxi speed. The kicker in all this: the total time from the initial overspeed to landing was only five minutes.
The KC-130T aircrew’s depth of knowledge and experience were critical to their ability to recognize an unexpected and dangerous propeller malfunction. All the pilots and aircrew members have over 20 years of military and civilian flying experience. The pilots on the team each have flown at least 3,000 flight hours, and the aircrewmen have each flown between 5,500 and 10,000 flight hours. Many of the aircrew are currently serving as flight instructors, and all of them have held flight instructor qualifications at various points in their careers. The pilot in command and loadmaster on this flight are the senior instructors in their platform for their assigned U.S. Navy squadron. The aircrew on this flight are representative of the highly talented personnel who make up the expansive flight department across KBR’s aviation contracts.
KBR’s flight operations team supports multiple contracts, where aircrew fly over 30 types of military fixed wing, rotary wing, tilt-rotor and unmanned aircraft. In total, KBR’s flight operations span eight locations in the United States, including Patuxent River, Maryland, Pt. Mugu and China Lake, California. The team supports nine military squadrons whose primary scope of work is developmental test and evaluation of new aircraft, modifications and installed systems. KBR’s aircrew also provides flight instruction at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.
