Interflug aircraft accident near Luanda
| Interflug accident in Luanda | |
|---|---|
 A structurally identical Interflug aircraft |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Overshooting the runway |
| place | Luanda , Angola |
| date | March 26, 1979 |
| Fatalities | 10 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Injured | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Ilyushin Il- 18D |
| operator | Interflug |
| Mark | DM-STL |
| Departure airport |
 Luanda Airport
|
| Destination airport |
 Lusaka airport
|
| Passengers | 6th |
| crew | 4th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
In the Interflug accident near Luanda , an Il-18D operated by the GDR airline Interflug crashed on a flight to Lusaka . All 10 occupants were killed in the accident. The accident was Interflug's only fatal flight accident abroad.
prehistory
The Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (MPLA), which has ruled since Angola's independence, supported the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) , which was operating in what was then Rhodesia . This planned a major offensive in 1979 and required heavy weapons. a. were delivered by ship to Luanda from the GDR. The further transport to Lusaka was to be done by plane. Since the capacities of the Angolan airline TAAG Angola Airlines were not sufficient for this, Angola chartered a cargo plane from Interflug, with which a total of 500 tons of weapons were to be transported. Interflug's General Director, Major General Klaus Henkes , ordered the deployment, if necessary, even in violation of the operating regulations applicable in European airspace. The Il-18 DM-STL was stationed with crew and technicians in Luanda.
plane
The Il-18 DM-STL with the serial number 186009402 was put into service by Interflug on September 9, 1966 as a passenger plane and converted into a freighter in January 1974.
procedure
On March 26, 1979, the machine took off under the command of Dieter Hartmann with a take-off weight of 60.5 tons. During take-off, engine number 2 failed after 56 seconds. The start was then aborted. The aircraft rolled over the end of the runway at high speed, collided with the antennas of the landing system and caught fire. The four-person crew were killed as well as six ZAPU members who accompanied the transport. The plane was completely destroyed.
causes
The accident was investigated by an Interflug commission headed by Henkes. The flight recorders could be recovered and evaluated. The investigative commission found that the decision to abort the take-off was wrong, as the critical take-off speed had already been exceeded at 268 km / h if one engine failed (222 km / h). The commander tried to start the aircraft despite the engine failure, but broke off this attempt. The remaining stretch of the runway was no longer sufficient to bring the aircraft to a stop.
consequences
Due to the difficult freight, the details of the accident were kept secret. Since Angola was a member of the ICAO , an investigation report had to be published. It indicated food and relief supplies as freight.
On March 31, the Politburo of the SED decided, at the suggestion of Henkes, to continue the flights. For this purpose, the Il-18 DM-STP was sent to Luanda on April 2, 1979, which handled the remaining flights.
The head of the State Aviation Inspectorate of the GDR , Gerhard Mudrack , raised serious allegations against Henkes for violating the rules for compliance with flight safety and disregarding the supervisory authority. Mudrack was then appointed professor and “praised” to the newly created chair for flight safety at the Humboldt University in Berlin .
literature
- Horst Materna: The Berlin-Schönefeld Airport and the military-run Interflug 1977–1988. Verlag Rockstuhl 2015, ISBN 978-3-86777-465-9 , pp. 122–128
Web links
- Accident report IL-18 DM-DM-STL , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 7, 2019.
- The accident on interflug.biz
Individual evidence
- ^ Detlef Billig, Manfred Meyer: Airplanes of the GDR. Volume 1. TOM Modellbau 2002, ISBN 3-613-02198-6 , p. 187