Spantax aircraft accident near Stockholm
| Spantax aircraft accident near Stockholm | |
|---|---|
.jpg) The affected machine |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Loss of control after takeoff due to wind shear |
| place | near Märsta , Sweden
|
| date | 5th January 1970 |
| Fatalities | 5 |
| Survivors | 5 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 Convair CV-990-30A-5
|
| operator |
.svg){kind=small} Spantax
|
| Mark |
EC-BNM
|
| Departure airport |
Stockholm-Arlanda Airport , Sweden
|
| Destination airport |
Zurich Airport , Switzerland
|
| Passengers | 7th |
| crew | 3 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The Spantax aircraft accident near Stockholm occurred on January 5, 1970. A Convair CV-990 , which was to be flown out of schedule from Stockholm-Arlanda Airport to Zurich Airport due to a diagnosed engine failure , got out of control during take-off and fell to the ground. Five of the ten occupants of the machine were killed in the accident.
machine
The crashed machine was a 1962 Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado with the serial number 30-10-32 . The Convair was delivered to American Airlines in July 1962 , which put the machine with the aircraft registration number N5628 and fleet number 620 into operation. On January 29, 1968, the machine was sold to Spantax and went into operation there with the aircraft registration EC-BNM . The four-engine long-range - narrow-body aircraft was equipped with four Turbojettriebwerken type General Electric CJ-805-23B equipped. By the time of the accident, the machine had had a total operating performance of 16,940 hours.
Inmates
There was a three-person cockpit crew on board, consisting of a flight captain, a first officer and a flight engineer. The seven occupants considered to be passengers were the cabin crew who, contrary to the prescribed procedures, had started the positioning flight together with the pilots.
Weather
On the day of the accident, temperatures of -27 ° C and strong winds prevailed in the Stockholm area.
the accident
The machine was originally intended to transport Swedish vacationers on a charter flight from Stockholm-Arlanda to Palma de Mallorca . During the take-off run, engine number 4 did not function properly; The take-off was canceled and the machine rolled back to the apron. The inspection of the engine revealed damage to the compressor. After consultation with the Spantax operations department in Madrid, it was decided to transport the aircraft with only three functioning engines to Zurich, where engine no. 4 was to be changed.
The technical preparation of the aircraft for the transfer flight was supervised by a Spantax ground engineer. In the meantime, the flight crew prepared the flight plan. Since the briefing center in Arlanda was closed after 9 p.m., the master submitted the flight plan to the control center by telephone. Neither when discussing the flight plan nor at the weather briefing did the crew announce that the flight was a positioning flight with only three operational engines. However, the air traffic controller obtained information about the purpose and nature of the flight by other means.
At 10:08 p.m. the crew received taxi clearance for runway 08, but since the pilots were of the opinion that this runway was too short for a three-engine take-off, they requested clearance to use runway 19, which was issued shortly afterwards has been. Another advantage of using this runway was that the departure course could be flown south with minor course changes after take-off. While taxiing to the starting point, the anti-icing systems were checked according to the checklist; after the functional check, the anti-icing system was switched off. At 10:21 p.m. the take-off clearance was given. The engine output of engines 1 to 3 was initially set to full load with the parking brake applied, and the output of engine no. 1 was then reduced to 85 percent before the brake was released. At 10:24 p.m. the machine began to take off from runway 19 at Arlanda Airport. During the take-off run, the aircraft nose yawed to the right after five to ten seconds. The master corrected this by reducing the power of engine no. 1 from 85 to 80 and immediately afterwards to 60 percent. When the engine was back on the center line, the captain slowly pressed the thrust lever again. The maximum engine power was stopped when the aircraft reached a speed of 100 knots. The machine was rotating at a speed of 134 knots with the buoyancy aids extended to 27 degrees . When it was indicated that the engine was climbing, the master retracted the landing gear. Shortly after take off, he was blinded by the reflections from the aircraft's landing lights, which shone into the clouds hanging unexpectedly low over the runway. Initially, the master kept the rotation speed of 145 knots and read the rate of climb of 800 feet per minute on the instruments. He had to turn the rudder excessively to the left to center the machine along the runway. After take-off, the aircraft assumed a right-hand roll angle of four to six degrees and the airspeed suddenly fell by 10 knots and thus below the rotational speed. The master observed no tendency to roll or yaw on the machine, but found that the stated airspeed (IAS) did not increase normally and that the rate of climb decreased immediately after take-off. The captain felt that more thrust was needed, but everything happened very quickly and shortly after noticing the drop in speed, the aircraft collided with the terrain. The machine grazed some treetops, assumed a roll angle of 10-15 degrees and fell 1,800 meters behind the point of take-off. The machine cut a wide swath through the forest and the hull broke into several pieces. The cockpit was torn from the rest of the fuselage and, tilted 45 degrees to the left, wedged between tree trunks and the hard-frozen ground.
After the accident
First Officer Miguel Granado, who was sitting in the right pilot's seat, was pinched when his seat was pushed forward. Both of his legs were trapped under the instrument panel. His right lower leg was broken and bent. His left foot was clamped tight, as was his left calf and Achilles tendon. One of the aircraft mechanics was trapped diagonally below him. This had suffered several broken ribs. Granado put his hands against an exposed tube of the torso structure, trying to keep himself in an upright position and to relieve the pressure on his colleague's chest. In the extreme cold, he suffered severe cold burns on both hands.
The master suffered only minor bruises in the accident. He could leave the wreck on his own. Since he was aware of the danger of the cold affecting his body, he walked around trying to maintain his body heat. His hands and feet were only slightly frostbitten. The surviving crew members searched for the emergency beacon in the prevailing darkness and powder snow and were able to request help after it was found. The survivors were not aware that there was a house just 100 meters from the scene of the accident where a family slept that had not heard of the accident. The family was only later awakened by the sounds of police helicopters flying low.
Although the accident occurred very close to the airport, it took four hours for the rescue teams to reach the plane. The trapped first officer Granado had to wait over eight hours in the cold before he could be released from the wreck. At the time of the accident, disaster preparedness in Arlanda was modest. An ambulance was stationed ten kilometers south in Löwenströmska lasarettet in Upplands Väsby , but it was not equipped with radios. Rescue workers in white coats and with clogs on their feet were brought to the scene of the accident to provide first aid to the injured. Five people, including a Swedish flight attendant, died in the cold from their injuries.
root cause
The Statenshaverikommission took over the investigation after the accident. The investigators identified a number of accident factors. Immediately after the start, there was an unforeseen loss of visual reference points. During the transition from sight to instrument flight, directional control was also lost. The resulting yaw motion caused a rolling motion. In addition, due to an inversion weather situation , a wind shear and a gust of wind had hit the machine, which resulted in a loss of speed below the critical level.
swell
- Accident report CV-990, EC-BNM , Aviation Safety Network
- Crash of a Convair CV-990-30A-5 in Stockholm: 5 killed , B3A - Bureau of Aircraft Accident Archives
- Accident report CV-990, EC-BNM , ICAO Circular 118-AN / 88, pages 25 to 42.
- Hierton, Tor (1992): Mot alla odds flyger han igen Ortopediskt magasin (Swedish). Solna : Landstingens inköpscentral (LIC) (1): Pages 6–9.
- Company history CV-990, EC-BNM , planespotters.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ Charter flight: Very bad thing, Der Spiegel 51/1972 of December 11, 1972.
Coordinates: 59 ° 37 ′ 40.8 ″ N , 17 ° 53 ′ 51.3 ″ E