NTSB Rules Crew Mistakes Caused Crown Princess Tilting
The National Transportation Safety Board on Thursday determined that the probable cause of a tilting incident by Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess was the second officer’s incorrect wheel commands, executed first to counter an unanticipated high rate of turn and then to counter the vessel’s heeling.
Contributing to accident were the captain’s and staff captain’s inappropriate inputs to the vessel’s integrated navigation system while it was traveling at high speed in relatively shallow water, their failure to stabilize the vessel’s heading fluctuations before leaving the bridge, and the inadequate training of crewmembers in the use of integrated navigation systems, NTSB ruled.
“We see from this accident the importance of having adequate training,” said NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker. “Had the crew been better trained in the equipment they were using, this accident may not have occurred, and implementing our recommendations is one way to help ensure this.”
On July 18, 2006, the Crown Princess, which had been in service about a month, departed Port Canaveral for Brooklyn, its last port on a 10-day round-trip voyage to the Caribbean. About an hour after departing, the vessel’s automatic navigation system caused the ship’s heading to fluctuate around its intended course.
The second officer, alarmed by a perceived high rate of turn, attempted to take corrective action, which resulted in the ship heeling to a maximum angle of about 24 degrees to starboard.
This caused people to be thrown about or struck by unsecured objects, resulting in 14 serious and 284 minor injuries to passengers and crewmembers, NTSB said. The vessel incurred no damage to its structure but sustained considerable damage to unsecured interior components, cabinets, and their contents.
The report adopted by the NTSB board states that the Crown Princess was operating at nearly full speed when the second officer took the controls. Because of instabilities in the automatic steering system, the officer faced the problem of navigating a vessel that exhibited both increasing course deviations and high rates of turn.
