Draft:Austrian Airlines Flight 111

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Austrian Airlines Flight 111

The plane a few days after the emergency landing.
Accident
Date	5 January 2004 (2004-01-05)
Summary	Emergency landing due to dual engine failure
Site	Eitting, Bavaria, Germany
Aircraft
OE-LFO, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 2001
Aircraft type	Fokker 70
Aircraft name	Wiener Neustadt
Operator	Austrian Airlines
IATA flight No.	OS111
ICAO flight No.	AUA111
Call sign	AUSTRIAN 111
Registration	OE-LFO
Flight origin	Vienna International Airport, Austria
Destination	Munich Airport, Germany
Occupants	32
Passengers	28
Crew	4
Fatalities	0
Injuries	3
Survivors	32

Austrian Airlines Flight 111 was a scheduled flight from Vienna to Munich, which was operated on 5 January 2004 by a Fokker 70. During the flight, the aircraft had to make an emergency landing on a field after a loss of thrust both engines a few kilometers before the runway in Munich.

Flight History

After the take-off in Vienna at 07:27 a.m., the Fokker 70, which was manned with 28 passengers and four crew members, flew over Salzburg in the direction of Munich. At 07:54 the flight was taken over by the Munich air traffic control and the pilots were instructed to sink to flight area 100 and reduce the speed to 220 knots. Already in the descent to flight area 100, which was reached at 07:59 a.m., the ice warning system responded and ice crystals formed on the edges of the front windows. The de-icing system was then activated. However, the pilots could not detect any ice on the wings.

Six minutes after reaching the flight surface, there was a temporary increase in vibrations on the right engine. In the descent to flight surface 90, there were then increased vibrations on the right engine, which caused the pilots to extend the air brake in order to maintain the speed at higher engine power. The increase in power (and thus in speed) serves to accelerate the detachment of ice in the engine. After there were no further error indications on the right engine, it was not stopped.

After loud noises and vibrations from the rear of the cabin and simultaneous vibrations of the right engine, one of the pilots declared an air emergency at 08:08:14 due to severe engine problems. The crew immediately got permission to sink to 5000ft. At the same time, the engine pressure ratio decreased (a measure of the power output of an engine; engl. Engine Pressure Ratio; EPR) on the left engine from 1.5 to values around 1.0. During the descent, the engine pressure ratio on the right engine also decreased within four minutes.

After the release for the sink to 3500 ft, the crew put the air brake again to reduce the speed to about 170 kn. At that time, the aircraft was 8 NM in front of the runway and was on course. The chassis and the landing flaps were extended. When trying to increase the power of the engines (to compensate for the increased air resistance), the crew noticed that this did not have the desired effect and that the engine pressure ratio and thus the power of both engines did not increase. In order to increase the speed, which had been reduced to 115 knots, the landing gear was retracted and the landing flaps were partially retracted again. After the speed had increased to 135 knots, the landing flaps were extended again.

At 08:16:10, the pilot informed the crew that the machine was 500 ft below the gliding path. A radar measurement only showed a height of 500 ft above ground and the GPWS issued warnings. The crew then informed the pilot that the runway could no longer be reached. At an altitude of 400 ft, the aircraft reached the lower edge of the cloud and 13 seconds before the impact, the landing gear lever was operated. Five seconds before landing, one of the pilots informed the cabin crew with the repeated exclamation of Brace for impact.

The machine landed at 08:16:35 a.m. about 4.5 kilometers before the runway on a snow-covered field between Travel and Snow and slipped 220 meters before it came to a standstill. The fully extended and locked bow landing gear was demolished and the aircraft was severely damaged, especially at the transition between the hull and the wings. The main chassis, which was not yet fully extended at the time of the impact, was then back in the chassis shaft. The hull itself remained intact. Three passengers were slightly injured on landing. All passengers were able to leave the machine through the front door without assistance.

Rescue Operation

The alarm was triggered by air traffic control at 08:09:31. The rescue forces (the Munich Airport Fire Department and additional units) subsequently took up their positions along the runway. Following the flight crew's announcement that the emergency landing would take place outside the airport grounds, the control tower issued a new alarm: "Accident outside airport grounds." However, the incident command—which was monitoring the radio traffic—had by that time already issued the order to exit the airport grounds to the east. Due to an erroneous report, the location of the emergency landing could not be immediately pinpointed. With the assistance of the flight crew, the control tower was then able to guide the rescue forces to the crash site, where the first responders arrived at 08:34.

Cause of Accident

In the engine in question (the Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15), so-called ice protection panels—made of foam encased in fiberglass—are bonded to the inner wall of the casing, adjacent to the fan and guide vanes. Their purpose is to protect the engine casing from ice breaking away from the fan.

Due to inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the repair instructions provided by the adhesive manufacturer and the engine manufacturer (regarding curing temperature and duration, fixation during curing, and cleaning and surface treatment prior to bonding), the panels were attached defectively. Over an extended period, the panels progressively detached further due to moisture ingress and the lack of flexibility of the adhesive.

Since only the southern runway was available at Munich Airport at the time of the approach (the northern runway was closed due to snow removal operations), the aircraft remained for an extended period within the zone up to Flight Level 140, where moderate icing—as forecast by the weather prediction—was present. Consequently, and due to the low engine RPM at that time, a layer of ice formed on the fan of both engines.

The imbalance caused by the ice—and the associated vibrations—combined with shedding ice and defective adhesive bonds on the ice protection panels, led to the detachment of said panels. The panels became wedged in front of the guide vanes, blocking the bypass airflow. Consequently, only minimal thrust remained available. However, the crew did not detect this until they called for increased power following the extension of the landing flaps and landing gear, as the aircraft had previously been in a descent, and the Flight Warning Computer was not designed to compare the ratio of engine speed to engine pressure ratio under such conditions. Due to the loss of thrust, it was no longer possible to reach the runway, and the crew was forced to execute an emergency landing in a field.

In the original version of the engine, the panels consisted of 36 segments. Several incidents also occurred involving these panels. However, these incidents were invariably attributable to (FOD), and in most cases, the engines had to be shut down anyway due to severe vibrations. None of these incidents resulted in a comparable loss of thrust, as the panels were small enough not to become wedged if they detached.

According to a service bulletin issued by the engine manufacturer, it was possible to replace the panels with new ones. These consisted of only six segments. This modification was carried out on the engines of the affected aircraft in 1999 and 2001, respectively. In January 2005, an incident involving such an engine on a Fokker 100 in Italy, dating back to 2003, came to light. Since only one of the aircraft's engines had been modified, it was able to land safely in Rome. During the inspection, the anti-icing panels were found wedged in front of the guide vanes. However, the cause of this was not identified during the subsequent investigations.

Salvage and Repair

A few days after the accident, the aircraft was moved from the field onto a nearby farm track. Over the following weeks, it was dismantled at that location, transported in sections to Woensdrecht, and placed in storage. In 2007, the decision was made to restore the aircraft to airworthy condition. Since 2008, the aircraft has been owned by Fokker Services; in mid-July 2010—bearing a new Dutch registration (PH-ZFT)—it completed its first flight in over six years. The aircraft was returned to service on September 15, 2010, and flew for a time as ZS-SKA for the South African carrier AirQuarius Aviation, which ceased flight operations on February 7, 2012.