Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460

Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460 was an international cargo flight that on 27 July 2010 crashed upon landing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both crew members, the only people on board, were injured but survived.[1]

Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460
D-ALCQ, the aircraft involved, photographed in February 2010
Accident
Date27 July 2010 (2010-07-27)
SummaryCrashed on landing following hard touchdown
SiteKing Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
24.9578°N 46.8656°E / 24.9578; 46.8656
Aircraft
Aircraft typeMcDonnell Douglas MD-11
OperatorLufthansa Cargo
RegistrationD-ALCQ
Flight originFrankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany
1st stopoverKing Khalid International Airport, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
2nd stopoverSharjah Airport, Sharjah United Arab Emirates
DestinationHong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong, China
Occupants2
Passengers0
Crew2
Fatalities0
Injuries2
Survivors2

Accident

Flight 8460 was an international scheduled cargo flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Hong Kong via Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.[2] The flight from Frankfurt to Riyadh was uneventful, and weather conditions at Riyadh were good, with sufficient visibility.[3][4]

On arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the plane landed heavily, bounced repeatedly and eventually broke up on the runway. Both the captain and first officer were able to evacuate the plane using the emergency slide, but were injured. After the crash, a fire consumed the midsection of the aircraft before it was brought under control by the airport emergency services.[4][5]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 registered D-ALCQ,[3] msn 48431, line number 534. The aircraft was delivered to Alitalia in 1993 as I-DUPB and converted to a cargo aircraft in 2004.[2] At the time of the accident, D-ALCQ had completed 10,075 cycles and accumulated 73,200 hours flying time.[6]

Investigation

The General Authority of Civil Aviation opened an investigation into the accident. The final report found that the cause of the accident was that the airplane touched down too hard, which caused it to bounce on the runway. The crew did not recognize the bounce and reacted in a way that made the plane bounce even harder. The third and final touchdown was so hard that the aft fuselage ruptured and the plane crashed.[4][5][7]

Before this accident, there were 29 other bounced or severe hard landings with MD-11 aircraft that caused substantial damage.[4] A similar accident had occurred on FedEx Express Flight 80 in the previous year, where both crew members were killed in a bounced landing.

It was known that flight crews found MD-11 bounced landings difficult to detect.[4] The final report made several recommendations to improve training, procedures and flight instruments to help crews to deal with bounced landings.[4]

See also

References

  1. "Lufthansa MD-11 Crash Lands at Riyadh". AirlineIndustryReview.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2019. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  2. Flyer, K. "Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 Crash Lands at Riyadh ( with Photos, Aircraft's History and Flight History )". Airline Industry Review. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  3. Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Lufthansa MD11 at Riyadh on Jul 27th 2010, cargo fire, broke up on landing". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
  4. "Final Accident Report" (PDF). Bundestelle für Fluguntersuchung. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  5. "Accident Description". Aviation Safety Net. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  6. "Lufthansa Cargo plane accident in Riyadh, 27 JUL 4.15 p. m. LT FRA". Lufthansa Cargo. Archived from the original on 1 August 2010. Retrieved 27 July 2010.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. "Accident report of Lufthansa Cargo – Mcdonnel Douglas – MD11F (D-ALCQ) flight GEC8460". Aviation Accident Database. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2018.
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