Lufthansa Flight 2904
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Airbus A320-211 | |
Aircraft name | Kulmbach |
---|---|
Operator | Lufthansa |
IATA flight No. | LH2904 |
ICAO flight No. | DLH2904 |
Call sign | LUFTHANSA 2904 |
Registration | D-AIPN |
Flight origin | Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany |
Destination | Warsaw Chopin Airport, Warsaw, Poland |
Occupants | 70 |
Passengers | 64 |
Crew | 6 |
Fatalities | 2 |
Injuries | 56 [1] |
Survivors | 68 |
Lufthansa Flight 2904 was an
Incident description
Lufthansa Flight 2904 was cleared to land at
The remaining length of the runway (left from the moment when braking systems had begun to work) was too short to enable the aircraft to stop. Seeing the approaching end of the runway and the obstacle behind it, the pilot steered the aircraft off the runway to the right. The aircraft departed the runway at a speed of 72 knots (133 km/h; 83 mph) and rolled 90 metres (300 ft) before it hit the embankment and an
Causes of the accident
The main cause of the accident was the incorrect decisions and actions of the flight crew.[1] Some of these decisions were made based on wind shear information that was received by the crew. The wind shear was produced by the front passing over the airport, accompanied by intensive variation of wind parameters, as well as by heavy rain on the runway itself.
Contributing to the cause was the lack of current wind information at the tower. For that reason, no up-to-date wind information could be transmitted to the crew.
Further additional causes involved certain design features of the aircraft. Computer logic prevented the activation of both ground spoilers and thrust reversers until a minimum compression load of at least 6.3 tons was sensed on each main landing gear strut, thus preventing the crew from achieving any braking action by the two systems before this condition was met.
Aircraft systems
To ensure that the thrust-reverse system and the spoilers are only activated in a landing situation, the software has to be sure the aeroplane is on the ground even if the systems are selected mid-air. The spoilers are only activated if there is at least 6.3 tons on each main landing gear strut or if the wheels of the plane are turning faster than 72 knots (133 km/h; 83 mph).
The thrust reversers are only activated if the first condition is true. There is no way for the pilots to override the software decision and activate either system manually.
In the case of the Warsaw accident, neither condition was fulfilled, so the most effective braking system was not activated. Because the plane landed inclined (to counteract the anticipated crosswind), the required pressure of 12 combined tons on both landing gears necessary to trigger the sensor was not reached. The plane's wheels did not reach the minimum rotation speed because of a
Only when the left landing gear touched the runway did the automatic aircraft systems allow the ground spoilers and engine thrust reversers to operate. Because of the braking distances in the heavy rain, the aircraft could not stop before the end of the runway. The computer did not actually recognize that the aircraft had landed until it was already 125 meters beyond the halfway point of Runway 11.
CVR on Lufthansa 2904
Source | Content |
---|---|
GPWS | 200. |
First Officer | From the right coming now. |
Captain | Now there comes the windshear. |
GPWS | 100 |
First Officer | Turns. turns. *Wind direction* |
GPWS | 50 |
GPWS | 30 |
GPWS | Retard, Retard. |
Captain | Assist me braking. |
Captain | Poor braking |
First Officer | Reverser open? |
Captain | Yes, full. |
First Officer | Hundred (knots) |
Captain | Continue braking. |
Captain | Shit! What shall we do? |
First Officer | You can't do anything. |
Captain | I don't want to crash into this. |
First Officer | Turn it away. |
Captain | Huh? |
First Officer | Turn it away. |
Captain | Shit! |
Crash Sounds | *Sound of Overrun* |
End of recording |
Passengers and crew
As a result of the impact, a fire broke out and penetrated into the cabin, killing one of the passengers. The co-pilot also died as a result of the collision. A total of 51 people were seriously injured (including two crew members), and five were slightly injured.
See also
- Air France Flight 358, an Airbus A340 (F-GLZQ) that overran the runway and crashed in 2005 at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
- TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320 (PR-MBK) that overran the runway and crashed into a gas station in 2007 at São Paulo–Congonhas Airport.
References
- ^ a b c "A320-211 Warsaw Accident Report". www.rvs.uni-bielefeld.de. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A320-211 D-AIPN Warszawa-Okecie Airport (WAW)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
- ^ Lufthansa Flight 2904 CVR Recording (With Subtitles), retrieved 16 April 2024
External links
- Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
- "Report on the Accident to Airbus A320-211 Aircraft in Warsaw on 14 September 1993" (Archive) – Main Commission Aircraft Accident Investigation
- Appendices (Archive) – CVR transcript, Documentation of the Braking System, excerpt from the Lufthansa A320 operating manual