2018 Ju-Air Junkers Ju 52 crash
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 4 August 2018 |
Summary | Stall and loss of control in hot and high conditions |
Site | Piz Segnas mountain, Glarus Alps, Switzerland 46°53′57″N 09°13′45″E / 46.89917°N 9.22917°E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Junkers Ju 52/3mg4e |
Operator | Ju-Air |
Registration | HB-HOT |
Flight origin | Locarno Airport |
Destination | Dübendorf Air Base |
Occupants | 20 |
Passengers | 17 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 20 |
Survivors | 0 |
On 4 August 2018, a Junkers Ju 52 passenger aircraft operated by Ju-Air crashed near Piz Segnas, Switzerland, while en route from Locarno to Dübendorf. All 20 people on board were killed.
It was the first fatal crash of a Ju-Air aircraft since the company began operations in 1982. The cause of the crash was investigated jointly by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) and the cantonal police of Grisons on behalf of the federal and cantonal prosecutors' offices.
The final STSB report on the accident, released on 28 January 2021, indicated that the accident was caused by the two highly experienced pilots flying recklessly, disregarding regulations, failing to anticipate expected turbulence, and failing to control the aircraft to prevent it from stalling and spinning into the ground. The report also found that the aircraft was not airworthy at the time of flight, in that the engines were not producing their minimum rated power and that the company had a deficient safety culture of rule breaking.[1]
Accident
The aircraft was flying from
Swiss authorities stated that the plane appeared to have crashed almost vertically and at high speed. A witness at nearby Segnas Pass saw the Junkers approaching from the south and fly by the
The aircraft was carrying three crew and seventeen passengers,[3] seventeen were Swiss citizens and while three were an Austrian couple and their son.[7] Nine were women and eleven were men.[8][9][10]
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved was a tri-motor
On the day of the crash, the Junkers was piloted by two veteran captains, aged 62 and 63. Both had extensive experience as pilots for Swissair, Swiss and Edelweiss, as well as more than 30 years of militia service with the Swiss Air Force. Both had several hundred flight hours' worth of experience with the Ju 52.[14] The third crew member was a 66-year-old flight attendant with 40 years of professional experience.[14]
Aftermath
Hiking routes and the local airspace were closed off for the duration of the recovery operation, which involved five helicopters.[14]
Ju-Air suspended all flights by its other Ju 52 aircraft for two weeks, until they resumed operations on 17 August under stricter conditions.[15][16][17]
Following a review in March 2019, while the accident investigation was still ongoing, the FOCA banned Ju-Air from conducting commercial passenger flights with Ju 52s, allowing only private flights for club members. Later, the operating and maintenance licenses were revoked for the other Swiss-based Ju 52 aircraft, effectively grounding the HB-HOP and HB-HOS sister aircraft. FOCA deemed them unsafe to fly due to the maintenance issues found in the HB-HOT wreck, such as fatigue cracks, corrosion and sub-standard repair work.[18]
Investigation
Video of the crash | |
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Video of the crash captured by nearby hiker (from local TV report) |
The accident was investigated jointly by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) and the cantonal police of Grisons on behalf of the federal and cantonal prosecutors' offices.[13]
A spokesperson for the STSB said that the Junkers "fell like a stone to the ground",
In August the
On 28 January 2021, a final report was released by the STSB which stated that "the pilots' high-risk flying was a direct cause of the accident", and that "the flight crew piloted the aircraft, at low altitude, with no possibility of an alternative flight path and at an air speed that was dangerously low for the circumstances. The high-risk manner of flying through these not unusual turbulences caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. The aircraft was also being operated with its
See also
- List of accidents and incidents involving the Junkers Ju 52
- List of airworthy Ju 52s
References
- ^ a b Niles, Russ (31 January 2021). "Reckless Flying Led To Swiss Ju-52 Crash". AVweb. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ Die Wetterstation liegt in etwa 2500 m Höhe am Crap Masegn.
- ^ a b c d Hradecky, Simon (4 August 2018). "Crash: Ju-Air JU52 at Piz Segnas on Aug 4th 2018, impacted terrain". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ a b "HB-HOT Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ "Vorbericht der Schweizerischen Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle SUST" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ Fröhlich, Cedric (6 August 2018). "-Hüttenwart sah Absturz: "Es hat keine 15 Sekunden gedauert"". Der Bund. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
Sie fliegt Richtung Norden. Am Martinsloch vorbei. Anstatt über den Grat zu fliegen, geht das Flugzeug in eine scharfe Kurve. Felder rennt nach draussen. Die Ju 52 kippt unvermittelt in den Sturzflug. Ein dumpfer Einschlag. Das Flugzeug prallt senkrecht auf dem Hochplateau unter dem Martinsloch auf. «Als hätte man ein Lot aufgestellt», sagt Feldner. Anflug, Kurve, Absturz. «Es hat keine 15 Sekunden gedauert.»
- ^ a b "Vintage plane crashes in Swiss Alps, killing all 20 on board". USA Today. Associated Press. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ a b "Vingt morts dans l'accident d'un avion militaire de collection suisse" [Twenty dead in the crash of a Swiss military aircraft]. La Croix (in French). 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ "Flugzeug mit 20 Personen beim Piz Segnas abgestürzt" [Plane with 20 people crashed at Piz Segnas] (in German). Blick. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ Hughes Neghaiwi, Brenna (4 August 2018). "Second plane crashes in Swiss Alps on Saturday". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ a b "Final Report No. 2370 by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board" (PDF). Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
- ^ “Where Eagles Dare film locations“, 2018
- ^ a b "Bis zu 20 Todesopfer befürchtet" [Up to 20 fatalities feared] (in German). 20-Minuten. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ Swissinfo. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ "Switzerland crash: Twenty dead in WW2 plane crash". BBC News. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ Neghaiwi, Brenna Hughes. "Swiss airline to resume flights two weeks after deadly crash". U.S. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
- ^ "Swiss vintage planes resume flights after crash". Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David (12 March 2019). "Swiss regulators have banned Junkers Ju 52 operator Ju-Air from conducting commercial passenger flights with the fleet, although it will be permitted to offer private flights for club members". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ "Sie ist wie ein Stein zu Boden gestürzt" [It fell like a stone to the ground] (in German). Spiegel. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
- ^ "Heat wave could be behind Swiss crash of vintage plane that killed 20 in the Alps". KIRO7 Seattle. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
- ^ "Ju 52 Crash: Mögliche Videos der Passagiere als "Blackbox-Ersatz"" [Ju 52 crash: possible videos of passengers as a "black box replacement"]. Austrian Wings (in German). 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
- ^ "(untitled)" (PDF) (in German). Schweizerische Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle. 15 August 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ^ "Zwischenbericht der SUST über den Unfall des Verkehrsflugzeuges Junkers Ju 52/3m g4e, HB-HOT" (PDF) (in German). Schweizerische Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ Referenced in "Bericht zeigt: Piloten sind zu riskant geflogen". Südostschweiz (in German). 30 August 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
- ^ "Pilots' risky flying blamed in Swiss vintage plane crash". www.msn.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
External links
- Media related to HB-HOT (aircraft) at Wikimedia Commons
- Video animation of accident flight (in English, published by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board).