Martinair Flight 495
| Martinair Flight 495 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Stall in wind shear |
| place | Faro airport |
| date | December 21, 1992 |
| Fatalities | 56 |
| Survivors | 284 |
| Injured | 106 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF |
| operator | Martinair |
| Mark | PH-MBN |
| Surname | Anthony Ruys |
| Departure airport | Amsterdam Schiphol Airport |
| Destination airport | Faro airport |
| Passengers | 327 |
| crew | 13 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On December 21, 1992, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashed on Martinair Flight 495 in poor weather conditions while landing at Faro Airport . There were 340 people on board. 54 passengers and two crew members were killed in the accident; another 106 inmates were seriously injured.
the accident
The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 of Martinair launched at 05:52 am local time from Amsterdam airport for charter flights to Faro . Due to the repair of an engine , the departure was delayed by 45 minutes. The flight was carried out by the first officer , while the pilot took over the function of " pilot not flying ".
The air traffic in Lisbon gave the pilots at 08:03 am local time the release to descend. They also received information about the weather situation in Faro. The visibility at the destination airport was 2,500 meters. Because Faro airport did not have an instrument landing system (ILS), the approach there had to be carried out according to visual flight rules . This required a minimum visibility of 2,000 meters. The crew considered moving to Lisbon Airport if conditions should deteriorate further. At 8:10 a.m., the aircraft made contact with approach control in Faro. The pilots were informed that the airport was under a staggered, almost closed cloud cover. Inside were thunderstorm cells that reached up to a height of 152 meters (500 feet). The wind speed on the ground was 30 km / h (18 knots) from a direction of 150 degrees (southeast). It was also raining heavily.
The machine continued its descent according to the instructions of the air traffic controller . At 08:26, the aircraft passed the airport's rotating beacon (VOR) at 1,220 meters (4,000 feet) and turned west to make the final approach to runway 11, which faces east . The air traffic controller said that the runway at "flooded" ( flooded ) was. At 8:30 a.m., the pilots extended the landing gear and raised the position of the landing flaps from 35 to 52 degrees in order to carry out the approach at low speed. The flight captain informed the copilot in charge that the on-board devices (INS) were displaying cross winds at a speed of 56 km / h (30 knots). At 08:32, the approach at an altitude of 229 meters (750 feet) became increasingly restless and unstable. The crew deactivated the automatic thrust regulation and controlled the engine power manually. Shortly afterwards the machine began to tip over the left wing . The crew steered to the right against it, but now the right wing was pointing 5 degrees downwards. At about 25 meters (70 feet) above the ground, the machine lost airspeed . At the same time, the rate of descent rose to 300 meters (900 feet) per minute. Immediately before touchdown, the flight captain increased the thrust to intercept the aircraft.
At 08:33:20, the machine landed hard with the right main landing gear on the left outer edge of the runway. The right landing gear broke on impact. At the same time, the downward-facing right wing hit the ground and was separated from the fuselage . The aircraft then swerved to the right and turned on its back, with the tail unit being torn off. The machine broke into two parts between the 16th and 23rd row of seats. Both main parts of the aircraft came to rest about 1,100 meters after the touchdown point to the right of the runway. The escaping kerosene ignited and set fire to the rear of the fuselage.
The incident was observed by the airport fire brigade, who happened to be preparing for an exercise. The first emergency vehicle reached the scene of the accident in less than two minutes and immediately started fire fighting. A second vehicle arrived a minute later. Using the fire-fighting cannons , the fire brigade managed to build an escape lane through which most of the inmates were able to save themselves.
Cause of accident
The main cause of the accident was wind shear that the aircraft crossed on its final approach. They led to strong fluctuations in the rate of descent and made it difficult for the pilot to align the machine with the runway. As a result, the approach became increasingly unstable. About one kilometer (0.6 NM ) before the landing threshold , the aircraft got into another vertical air current ( microburst ), which pushed it towards the ground. At the same time, strong cross winds of up to 74 km / h (40 knots) and a tail wind of 19 km / h (10 knots) acted on the machine.
Martinair had determined internally to abort an uncontrolled landing approach at a height of 152 meters (500 feet) at the latest and to initiate a go- around maneuver . The pilots continued their approach contrary to this requirement. The crew had deactivated the automatic thrust control because the engine power increased and decreased suddenly when flying through the first wind shear . Before being deactivated, this automatic system had reduced the engine power to 40 percent. The pilots then failed to increase the thrust again, causing the aircraft to lose speed and lift. The loss of lift and the simultaneous impact of the microbursts led to a rapid increase in the rate of descent.
Air traffic control did not inform the crew of the aircraft approaching from the west of any wind shear. Due to an incorrect switch position, the air traffic controller only received information from a weather station located at the eastern end of the approximately 2,500 meter long runway. At the time of the incident, no fluctuations in wind strength or direction were registered. Previously landed aircraft had also reported no wind shear.
The investigators generally criticized the decision to land in Faro in these weather conditions. According to the Martinair regulations , landings with the DC-10 in poor runway conditions and thus reduced braking effect were only permitted if the strength of the crosswind did not exceed 9 km / h (5 knots).
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Web links
- Crash Martinair flight MP495 in Faro, Portugal , extensive information and source collection on the accident
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Final report of the Portuguese DGAC (Report no. 22 / Accid / GD1 / 92), translation into English by the Dutch Aviation Authority (PDF), accessed on September 20, 2019
- ↑ a b c d e f Flight Safety Foundation, Accident Prevention, Flight Crew of DC-10 Encounters Microburst During Unstabilized Approach, Ending in Runway Accident, August 1996 (PDF)
- ↑ The runway orientation at that time was 110 and 290 degrees and was later changed to 100 and 280 degrees.