I just got a safety notice from FAA stating that Canada is considering a new AD related to the cargo doors on U-206 Aircraft. Another 206 on floats got upside down in Canada, and there were fatalities.....in a survivable accident.

One suggestion is to limit the number of Legally useable seats in 206s.

This issue has been batted around for decades, with little change, mostly placards.....

..FAA is looking for input from operators and pilots. Here’s the text with links:


Proposed AD action by Transport Canada to address Emergency Exit Concerns on the Cessna 206
Notice Number: NOTC0041

Transport Canada recently contacted the FAA with concerns for the use of cargo doors as an emergency exit on Cessna 206 models. Following a fatal accident in August 2018, where a float-configured U206G capsized and became submerged after loss of control during landing, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada concluded the accident was survivable. Canadian authorities are considering mandatory action to require a Cessna door handle kit, placards, and limiting the airplane occupancy to five for all Cessna U206 airplanes on their registry. The FAA is continuing to investigate to determine if we should consider similar AD action. A link to the TSB report can be found here:
https://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/enquetes-inve ... w0129.html

The FAA is interested in your feedback and has recently published an Airworthiness Concern Sheet (ACS) highlighting the issue. We are requesting you provide any information on prior experience with the 206 cargo doors with regard to use, operation, and clarity of placards and instructions as well as any modifications or alterations completed by owners and operators that aid in the usability with and without flaps extended. Please provide any other information you feel may be helpful for us to consider as part of our evaluation.

The Cessna 206 cargo door configuration and use as an emergency exit has been the subject of several discussions since its introduction in the 1960s, primarily following float-related accidents. Operation of the door handles as well as opening the doors when the flaps are extended has been the primary concern. The FAA, Transport Canada, and Cessna have investigated this area of concern numerous times in the past and have examined possible design changes, but no cost-effective and feasible or practical improvements were identified. Cessna issued a Service Bulletin and Kit (SEB91-4) in 1991 providing a door handle modification that simplified the opening procedure as well as luminescent placards.

The Canadian authorities have done extensive research and studies into seaplane (float) accidents and survivability aspects related to these events. Most accidents occur during the takeoff and landing phases and mainly attributed to loss of control from failing to maintain speed, unfavorable winds, or using unsuitable areas for takeoff, landing, and taxiing. Pilot qualifications, training, and proficiency are additional items identified in the cause of many accidents. These studies reflect a number of reasons for drowning which include incapacitation, injuries, inability to unlatch seatbelt, disorientation, inability to locate exit and/or open the door or window. Occupants usually have seconds to unbuckle and find a door or window to escape and often this is being done while upside down in a dark cockpit or cabin with extremely cold water rushing into the area. As part of these unique operations over and on the water, authorities have made impactful changes involving training, preflight briefings, as well as the use of personal flotation devices.

Cessna Aircraft Company produced approximately 7,000 of the 206/U206/TU206 variant over the 55 years since initial entry into service. The 206H/T206H was introduced in 1996 following the restart of single-engine production airplanes by the company. The newer 206H/T206H incorporates the improvements that were made with the 1991 service bulletin (SEB 91-4) that was applicable to the older 206 fleet. The company currently does not have any service bulletin kits in stock, but based on list price, it’s anticipated the cost of the kit and installation would be approximately $3500 for each airplane.

The ACS is part of the FAA’s investigative process to help communicate with owners, operators, type clubs, and other industry stakeholders to gain insight into a safety concern and seek feedback. Based on this feedback, the FAA can determine an appropriate path forward relative to the entire fleet.

To see a full copy of the FAA ACS, please follow this link:

ACS Cessna 206 Cargo Door Exit?

Photos and images of a 206 and the door/flap interference are included below.
Placard
Image showing the position of the flaps at 20° down and how they obstruct the forward door of the rear double cargo doors (Source: TSB)
Door
The procedure to open the door from the inside with the flaps down, which is listed on a placard above the handle on the forward cargo door (Figure 7), is the following:

Rotate forward cargo door handle full forward then full aft.
Open forward cargo door as far as possible.
Rotate red lever in rear cargo door forward.
Force rear cargo door full open.
Instructions for operating rear double cargo doors as an emergency exit on the occurrence aircraft (Source: TSB)

If you have any questions or comments, contact the Wichita ACO Branch at:

Wichita ACO Branch
1801 Airport Road
Wichita, KS 67209

Dan Withers
[email protected]
(316) 946-4137


MTV

$3500 placard?

Yes this will be interesting. It's worth noting that in Canada the H model 206 is already limited to 5 seats, and if anyone is in the rear row, then one center row seat must be removed. The AD would bring the rest if the U206 fleet into the same certification. Sure am glad mone is a P model...

how much strength and agility is required to get the rear cargo door open if full flaps were deployed in the landing/crash? That's assuming the persons in the back make it that far into the cargo door emergency checklist before they succumb or rescue arrives?

PapernScissors wrote:how much strength and agility is required to get the rear cargo door open if full flaps were deployed in the landing/crash? That's assuming the persons in the back make it that far into the cargo door emergency checklist before they succumb or rescue arrives?

It’s not difficult when there’s no stress. But unless it’s been well drilled ahead of time, doing it smoothly in a crisis situation is probably more than 80% of the population could handle. When I owned one we practiced it but I wasn’t hauling for revenue, family only.

It is a chickenshit egress setup, no doubt about that.

Wow...

What is included in the $3,500 price tag?

Any link to the relevant information from Canada on limitations currently in place?

I hate that back door setup....with a passion!!
It gives me nightmares.
Stupid placard won’t save any lives. I have a newer model so not potentially affected but I have zero confidence that anybody in the back could get out in a high stress situation.
I don’t understand why they can’t design the back door to open first, thus avoiding the flap interference entirely.
I realize it would be expensive if it was opened in flight but I don’t see a lot of emergency exits on jets getting mistakenly opened.
Have I mentioned how much I hate the rear door design.....?!?!?


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Well, I'm not a big fan of that cargo door either. My passenger safety briefing for 206s always included an admonition that the cargo doors were NOT an egress exit. And, I never carried more than four people in float equipped 206s....generally, we were carrying a fair amount of gear, so even with the upgross of 3800 pounds, by the time I got four up and gas to go anywhere, I'd be at gross weight.

But, what REALLY chaps my ass about this whole issue is this: What in the living hell is a seaplane operator putting a pilot in a 206 with a load of passengers who is so damn incompetent that he can't land the airplane on the water without getting it upside down?

Seriously, it is extremely hard to get a 206 upside down during a landing. In Kodiak, back when a lot of us were operating 206s out of Lilly Lake (2200 feet long), we hopped to the boat channel (ocean) to load and depart, but landing in Lilly Lake at the end of a day sometimes got sporty due to big trees and terrain all around. So, the procedure was to fly the plane down onto the water pretty fast, and shove the yoke all the way to the forward stop. Plane would come up on the front of the floats, which created a lot of drag, but the plane wouldn't go over.

So, just how bad does one have to screw the pooch to get one of these things upside down? And just how incompetent a pilot does it take?

Look at these accidents. They fall into one or both of two categories:

1) Very low time on floats pilot, who is just so incompetent he shouldn't be allowed to solo one of these things, or
2) An amphibious float equipped version, which is landed gear down in the water. This is often associated with 1) above.

So, my suggestion is require a decent and thorough amount of training, certainly for charter pilots, and limit the U-206 on floats to four occupants when on floats.

Finally, this pilot and person occupying the other front seat egressed through the pilot side window. Pilot never even opened the ONE and ONLY decent egress door!!! Seriously? The report says the pilot tried to help other passengers out after he'd egressed, but couldn't get the door open.

Good grief!!

MTV

Well I have some personal experience with this. I am on the local fire dept and we were paged out for a plane crash on our local lake. 206 upside down, the pilot, and some other passengers made it out the front. The rear seat passenger kicked the front cargo door but didnt get the rear door open. When I got there I had to instruct the firefighter in the water how to open the rear cargo door. We got her up on the float of the beaver I had ridden to the site on. We did cpr to the shore and then all the way to the hospital to no avail.

I have several thousand hours in 206s and have always thought that I explained the operation of the rear door well, but after that I had the passenger practice opening the door.

Lots of good pilots have ended up upside down. One lapse of judgement, hidden obstruction or weird gust can put even Kodiak skygods upside down.

That design is horrible, but the size of that cargo door is awesome and therefore the 206s will continue to be used. My best suggestion would be a cable/pin arrangement (similar to what you see on aerobatic planes) that would release both doors at the hinges.

Until a fix comes in, drill your passengers, because I will never forget the look on the pilot's face knowing that he had played a role in that lady's death.

The big rear doors are why U206s see so much use.

Like MTV I rarely ever carried more than three passengers because there was always a bunch of cargo and even empty I briefed to use the left door or windows first - pretty obvious since most of the time cargo blocked access to the rear doors anyways.

If it were my call I would restrict U206s to four people (in the front two rows) unless they had an STC'd rear door jettison system or redesigned doors that has the rear half open first.

Actually, How about two new/modified doors. No overlap or latch between them so either door can be opened first. The rear door is the same as is except the latch mechanism is internal with twist handles inside and out. The front doors also have twist handles inside and out, and it uses latches just like the rear door rather than latching to the rear door.

Provide a government grant for the engineering work to keep costs down (I believe Canada did this for a recent Caravan STC) and waive the entire certification process cost in the name of safety in exchange for an STC that does not cost a ton.

That would work till some little brat in the back seat opened the rear door in flight.
What about dividing the front cargo door into an upper and lower section, so that even if the flaps are down, the lower half could be used for egress.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 9033829355
This is the only pic I could find of it. Sorry if you don't do the Facebook. This is the fix my AME and his friend put together for the 206 door.

Fraser Farmer wrote:https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3126927980660431&id=195239033829355
This is the only pic I could find of it. Sorry if you don't do the Facebook. This is the fix my AME and his friend put together for the 206 door.

BINGO!!! That is clever.

Here’s a video of it on the airplane.


http://www.airwrweb.com/cessna-206-cargo-door-mod.html

That is a slick solution to the problem. Hopefully it becomes a widespread STC on the 206 fleet. Too bad Cessna, TC, and the FAA did not think of it way back when.

I believe this AD became official in Canada today

Too bad the solution revealed here can’t be fast tracked. How many more will die while this idea weaves its way through the bureaucracy? This isn’t an overcrowding problem. It’s a can’t get the f’n door open problem!

Pinecone wrote:Too bad the solution revealed here can’t be fast tracked. How many more will die while this idea weaves its way through the bureaucracy? This isn’t an overcrowding problem. It’s a can’t get the f’n door open problem!

Ain't that the truth? This should be fast tracked by TC, it really is a no brainer.

A1Skinner wrote:

Pinecone wrote:Too bad the solution revealed here can’t be fast tracked. How many more will die while this idea weaves its way through the bureaucracy? This isn’t an overcrowding problem. It’s a can’t get the f’n door open problem!

Ain't that the truth? This should be fast tracked by TC, it really is a no brainer.

My understanding is that it IS being fast tracked, but this is TC so I suppose it's all relative.

That’s a great solution. Could it be an AMOC?

What’s the purpose of limiting the airplane to 5 seats?