Interflug flight 1107
| Interflug flight 1107 | |
|---|---|
 A structurally identical Interflug aircraft |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Collision with an obstacle |
| place | Leipzig / Halle Airport |
| date | 1st September 1975 |
| Fatalities | 27 |
| Survivors | 7th |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Tupolev Tu-134 |
| operator | Interflug |
| Mark | DM-SCD |
| Departure airport | Stuttgart-Echterdingen Airport |
| Destination airport | Leipzig / Halle Airport |
| Passengers | 28 |
| crew | 6th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
Interflug flight 1107 was a charter connection of the East German airline Interflug from Stuttgart to Leipzig for the Leipziger Messe , on September 1, 1975 shortly before 08:00, a Tu-134 Tupolev during landing approach to the airport Leipzig-Schkeuditz crashed. In the accident, 27 of the 34 inmates, mainly business people from southern Germany, were killed on the way to the Leipzig trade fair.
prehistory
Interflug's Tu-134 with the registration number DM-SCD landed in Stuttgart late on August 31, 1975, after which the crew stayed overnight. The minimum rest period had just been observed.
At Leipzig-Schkeuditz Airport, a mobile radar station, which was otherwise stationed in Dresden, was in use during the Leipzig trade fair.
course
On the morning of September 1st, there was thick fog in Leipzig. The pilots carried out a so-called precision approach , with an air traffic controller monitoring the approach using radar . It was the task of the air traffic controller to inform the crew of any necessary corrections to the approach course and altitude.
When the crew flew through the decision height of 60 meters, they could neither establish visual contact with the approach lights nor the runway. In such a case, a go- around would have been necessary at this point . Nevertheless, the captain, who was piloting the aircraft himself because of the bad weather conditions, continued the approach and fell below the safety altitude . Neither the copilot, the navigator nor the air traffic controller intervened. About 1000 meters from the runway, the aircraft collided with the transmitter mast of a radio beacon at an altitude of about two to three meters . The left engine was torn off and the left wing damaged. Due to the loss of lift on one side, the Tu-134 rolled to the left around its longitudinal axis and hit it in an inverted position . The force of the impact threw the aircraft up, overturned again and touched the ground again after about 200 to 250 meters. After another rollover, in which the Tu-134 broke into three parts, the wreckage came to rest 400 meters from the first point of contact. Escaping kerosene then ignited.
The first to arrive at the scene of the accident was Paul Leskowitz, who was working as a driver for an LPG nearby and was able to pull three people out of the wreck.
At 8:07 a.m., the tower alerted the fire department. However, the heavy fire-fighting vehicles had to fight their way through muddy terrain and melioration ditches , which partially blocked the escape routes, and found the burning debris eleven minutes after the crash instead of the prescribed five minutes.
All three flight attendants and 24 of the 28 passengers were killed in the crash (23 passengers were killed instantly, according to one source, while one later died in hospital). Four passengers and the three-man cockpit crew survived. Both pilots and the navigator survived because the cockpit was torn down on impact and did not catch fire.
Due to the large number of West German exhibitors, visitors and press people already present in Leipzig, the accident forced both German states to work together quickly and unbureaucratically. The Stuttgart State Criminal Police Office provided documents to identify the dead within a day, relatives of the victims were able to enter the GDR without any major formalities and (albeit under state supervision) to speak to the first rescuers (some farmers who happened to be working nearby).
Nevertheless, the wreckage of the aircraft was removed relatively quickly from the scene of the accident, which was probably caused by the GDR leadership. The evacuation may have been ordered in order to prevent further investigations into additional technical causes of the accident. What is certain is that the government was not interested in critical inquiries about the technical equipment at Schkeuditz Airport.
Cause of accident
According to today's view, the causes of the plane crash were a combination of human error, bad weather and inadequate technical equipment at the airport.
When interviewed by the Accident Commission, airport employees stated that the airport's flight safety was not given or was insufficient. Safe landing approaches were no longer possible, especially when visibility was poor. Radar devices and airport lights were also not at the highest technical level. However, this contradicts the fact that 10 minutes before the crash under the same weather conditions another trade fair flight, a Tu-134 from Interflug, landed safely in Leipzig.
However, there is nothing to be read in the final report of the accident commission about deficiencies in the technical equipment of the airport. Instead, human error alone is said to have caused the disaster. The pilot fell below the minimum flight altitude with limited visibility. In addition, the captain should have interrupted the approach and take off, and the first officer and the navigator should have asked him to do so.
consequences
Schkeuditz Airport was upgraded in 1978 with a modern instrument landing system and a permanent radar guidance system.
The pilot was sentenced to five years in prison, the first officer , the navigator and the air traffic controller to three years. The sentences were later suspended.
The flight regime of Interflug was changed. On trade fair flights that landed in Germany late in the evening, the crews now stayed twice and thus had a day of rest before the return flight.
Movie
- To life and death - Messejet 1107 , MDR 1999 (episode 6 of the series Forgotten Catastrophes )
- The worst accidents in the GDR (2) - Dangerous technology from big brother , ZDFinfo , 2016
Web links
- Alexander Ilg: 35 years after the crash. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . July 16, 2010 .
- ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 134 DM-SCD Leipzig Airport (LEJ)
- Gerd Ritter: Historical considerations on the former GDR airline INTERFLUG , interflug.biz
- Interflug crash crew gaoled. In: Flight International . January 3, 1976, p. 4 (English, digitized at flightglobal.com).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Alexander Ilg: 35 years after the crash. In: Leipziger Volkszeitung . July 16, 2010, accessed September 11, 2019 .
- ^ Karl-Dieter Seifert: Way and crash of the Interflug. The history of the company. VDM, Zweibrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-86619-030-6 , p. 298/299.
- ↑ a b c d e f g The worst accidents in the GDR (2) - Dangerous technology from the big brother. (No longer available online.) ZDF, August 17, 2016, archived from the original on January 8, 2018 ; accessed on September 11, 2019 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Harro Ranter: ASN Aircraft accident Tupolev 134 DM-SCD Leipzig Airport (LEJ). Accessed January 8, 2018 .
- ↑ The accident on interflug.biz , accessed on August 9, 2020
- ↑ Interflug Crash Crew gaoled. In: Flight International . January 3, 1976, p. 4 , accessed on September 11, 2019 (English, digitized from flightglobal.com).
