British Midland Flight 092
| British Midland Flight 092 | |
|---|---|
 Destroyed British Midland 737 G-OBME near the M1 Motorway |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Loss of thrust after switching off the wrong engine after fire, human error |
| place | at Kegworth , at East Midlands Airport United Kingdom
|
| date | January 8, 1989 |
| Fatalities | 47 |
| Survivors | 79 |
| Injured | 74 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Boeing 737-4Y0
|
| operator |
British Midland Airways
|
| Mark |
G-OBME
|
| Departure airport |
London Heathrow Airport , UK
|
| Destination airport |
Belfast Airport , UK
|
| Passengers | 118 |
| crew | 8th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
British Midland Airways Flight 092 (flight number: BD092 ) was a scheduled domestic flight operated by British Midland Airways from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast in Northern Ireland . On January 8, 1989, the flight was carried out with a Boeing 737-4Y0 . There were 118 passengers and 8 crew members on board. Due to wrong decisions by the crew during a technical engine failure, the machine crashed into a wooded slope about a kilometer from the runway at East Midlands Airport . A total of 47 passengers were killed in the crash, 79 occupants were rescued from the wreck of the machine, including the entire crew.
plane
The machine used on this flight belonged to the Boeing 737-400 series . After the Boeing 737-300 introduced in 1984 , this was the second sub-version of the second generation of the Boeing 737 . The most noticeable distinguishing feature were the engines that were moved forward under the leading edge of the wing. At the end of the 1980s, the Boeing 737-400 was the longest version of the Boeing ever. It went into commercial operation worldwide for the first time in February 1988.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737-4Y0, which was finally assembled at the Boeing plant in Renton , Washington . It had the factory number 23867, it was the 1603rd Boeing 737 aircraft from ongoing production. The aircraft was built for the Irish aircraft leasing company Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) and therefore had the customer code Y0 in its type designation , which Boeing had reserved for the GPA. The first flight was carried out on October 6, 1988. Since GPA had already signed a leasing contract with British Midland Airways before the machine was completed, the machine was delivered to the lessee on October 15, 1988 with the British aircraft registration G-OBMY . The twin- engine, medium - range, narrow-body aircraft was equipped with two CFMI CFM56-3C1 engines and had only had 521 operating hours before the crash. The machine had only been in commercial operation for 85 days.
Passengers and crew
The flight from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast Airport had taken 118 passengers. There was a crew of eight on board. The machine was piloted by the 43-year-old Captain Kevin Hunt, the first officer was the 39-year-old David McClelland. Captain Hunt has been flying for the British Midland since 1966 and had around 13,200 hours of flight experience. First Officer McClelland had worked for the British Midland since 1988 and had around 3,300 hours of flight experience.
course
The Boeing 737-4Y0 took off from London Heathrow Airport at 19:52. Vibrations occurred just 13 minutes after the start, and a burning smell moved inside the machine. The pilots considered which engine could be affected. Due to the smell of the fire, they assumed a fire in engine no.2, as in older versions of the Boeing 737 the bleed air for the air conditioning system was drawn from the right engine. The pilots were not aware that the bleed air system in the Boeing 737-400 was connected to the left engine, so they mistakenly switched off engine no. 2. The pilots were now planning an alternate landing at East Midlands Airport . Shortly before landing, the power of engine number 1 suddenly dropped rapidly at an altitude of 900 feet, 2.4 kilometers from the runway. The machine, which was already in the landing configuration, touched down at 20:25 with the landing gear extended on a meadow directly in front of the motorway running there. The chassis were sheared off according to the design and the machine was thrown up again after this first collision with the ground. The machine was carried over the freeway, kinking lamp posts and finally crashing into the wooded slope just behind the freeway at a speed of 125 knots just 900 meters from the runway. The machine's fuselage broke into three parts on impact. Despite the machine breaking up, no fire broke out. It was thanks to this fact that despite the violent impact, two thirds of the mostly injured occupants survived the accident.
There were no victims on the ground.
root cause
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It could be determined that a ventilation blade of engine no. 1 broke in flight. In this situation, the pilots did not pay attention to the control display in the cockpit, which indicated problems with the left engine. Rather, they switched off the still intact right engine and at the same time increased the fuel supply to the left engine, causing it to catch fire. They did so because, when the damage occurred, both pilots had used the blueprints of older Boeing 737s with which they were familiar. Also, unlike many passengers and members of the cabin crew, they had not noticed the fire in the defective engine.
The breakage of the engine blade was traced back to material fatigue during the accident investigation. The material fatigue was caused by strong vibrations in the newly introduced, more powerful engines. These had only been tested under laboratory conditions, but not in flight. Another factor was the landing gear, which was extended for the final approach and caused additional air resistance, so that the decreasing thrust still available was insufficient to fly over the last obstacles in front of the airport area.
consequences
The Kegworth accident resulted in extensive measures for civil aviation:
- Introduction of regular checks of the engines and their blades for possible damage
- Update of the flight manuals in the event of a burning smell and vibrations in the engine during the flight
- Training of pilots and cabin crew in the passenger area for better communication within the aircraft in emergencies
- Checking aircraft turbines to avoid excessive vibrations during flight
- Better structural separation of the fuel tanks from the chassis to avoid leaks
- Sensors for recording engine vibrations during flight and storing the data on the aircraft's flight recorder
- Stricter test procedures for more stable passenger seats and belts
- Increased requirements for the stability of passenger seats and overhead lockers
Media reception
This incident is the subject of the first episode of the 14th season of Mayday - Alarm im Cockpit with the title Total engine failure ( M1 Plane Crash ), alternative title: Crash next to the Autobahn (English: Choosing Sides ). It was first broadcast in Germany on February 7, 2015 on National Geographic Channel and on free TV on N24 on March 31, 2016.
source
- Accident report Boeing 737-4Y0, British Midland Airways Flight 092, Kegworth Air Disaster , Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch.
- Accident Report Annexes , Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch.
- Accident report B-737-400 G-OBME , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 26, 2019.
- Episode total engine failure of the series Mayday alarm in the cockpit
- Operating history of the machine , planespotters.net
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 49 ′ 55 " N , 1 ° 17 ′ 57.5" W.