Paninternational Flight 112

Paninternational Flight 112 was a BAC One-Eleven operated by German airline Paninternational that crashed in Hamburg on 6 September 1971 while attempting to land on an autobahn following the failure of both engines. The accident killed 22 passengers and crew out of 121 on board.

Paninternational Flight 112
D-ALAR, the BAC One-Eleven involved, seen nine months before the accident
Accident
Date6 September 1971
SummaryDual engine failure following engine overheating
SiteBundesautobahn 7 near Hamburg, West Germany
53°42′10″N 09°56′33″E / 53.70278°N 9.94250°E / 53.70278; 9.94250
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBAC One-Eleven
OperatorPaninternational
RegistrationD-ALAR
Flight originHamburg Airport, Hamburg, West Germany
DestinationMálaga Airport, Málaga, Spain
Occupants121
Passengers115
Crew6
Fatalities22
Injuries99
Survivors99

Aircraft

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The aircraft involved was a BAC One-Eleven registered as D-ALAR and first flew one year before the accident.[1]

Accident

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Paninternational Flight 112 took off from Hamburg Airport in Hamburg, West Germany, on a flight to Málaga Airport in Málaga, Spain, with 115 passengers and six crew on board.[1] The captain was Reinhold Hüls, a former military pilot with more than 3,000 hours flying time; co-pilot Elisabeth Friske was the first woman jet pilot in West Germany, at the time with only 7 hours in the BAC One-Eleven.[2] After the takeoff, as the aircraft climbed through 300 metres (980 ft), both engines failed and the captain decided to make an emergency landing on a highway – Bundesautobahn 7 (also part of European route E45)[3] – about 4.5 km (2.8 mi; 2.4 nmi) from Hamburg Airport.[1] During the landing, on the south-bound carriageway to avoid heavy traffic out of Hamburg, the aircraft deflected to the left and collided with an overpass and multiple concrete pillars, causing the right wing, cockpit, and T-tail to shear off. The rest of the fuselage broke up and skidded to a halt resting against an oak tree, and subsequently caught fire.[1][2] The accident killed twenty-one passengers and one crew member.[1]

Cause of the crash

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Subsequent investigation showed that one or two of the five tanks for the water-injection engine thrust-augmentation system (used during take-off) had inadvertently been filled with kerosene instead of with demineralised water.[1][2] Spraying this additional jet fuel into the engines caused them to overheat and fail shortly after take-off.[1][2][4] Two maintenance workers for Paninternational were sentenced to prison terms in 1974.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident BAC One-Eleven 515FB D-ALAR Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel Airport (HAM)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Spaeth, Andreas (5 September 2021). "Absturz auf der Autobahn". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  3. ^ "Autobahnatlas.de information for A7". www.autobahnatlas-online.de (in German). Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  4. ^ "Absturz auf der A7: Ein Wartungsfehler mit tragischen Folgen" (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 6 September 2021.

Further reading

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