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Lufthansa Flight 005
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Lufthansa Flight 005
Lufthansa Flight 005 was a scheduled flight en route from Frankfurt to Hamburg with a stopover in Bremen. The aircraft crashed just beyond the runway in Bremen just before 19:00 on 28 January 1966, in a go-around after an aborted landing. All occupants — 42 passengers and 4 crew members — died in the accident.
Among others, seven swimmers from the Italy national swimming team, their coach, and an Italian reporter were on board the 53-passenger aircraft. The actress Ada Tschechowa, daughter of Olga Chekhova and mother of Vera Tschechowa, was also one of the victims.
The flight departed Frankfurt Airport on runway 25R at 5:41 PM after a slight delay of 8 minutes. The aircraft's weight at takeoff was 22,148 kilograms (24.414 short tons), only slightly under the maximum of 22,544 kilograms (24.851 short tons). The Convair CV-440 was fueled with 3,200 litres (850 US gal) of aviation gasoline, sufficient for a flight of 5 hours, 13 minutes. This extra reserve was necessary because the crew had chosen Stuttgart Airport as their alternate destination due to poor weather conditions.
At about 18:40, after about 30 minutes cruising at Flight Level 140 (14,000 ft or 4,300 m), the flight began its approach from the east to runway 27 at the Bremen Airport. The temperature was 4 degrees Celsius and the ceiling was less than 100 m (300 ft). The visibility was only approximately 700 m (2,300 ft) because of heavy rains. Wind speed was 9 knots from 140 degrees. The resulting tailwind affecting the aircraft was 6 knots. The minimum weather conditions at the Bremen Airport for that Convair 440 aircraft type permitted a tailwind of no more than 5 knots.
Capitan Heinz Saalfeld began his final descent, but commenced a go-around maneuver at an approximate height of 10 m (30 ft) above the ground. A few moments later, at 6:51 pm, the 21.5-ton aircraft spun to the left and crashed into a field 400 metres (1,300 ft) beyond the end of the runway. The remaining fuel (approximately 2,500 litres or 660 US gallons) ignited, causing a ground fire that was extinguished by the airport's Fire and Rescue only after 40 minutes.
At the time, the accident was the fourth total loss of a Lufthansa aircraft since the company's reestablishment in 1954: after the crash of a Lockheed Super Constellation on 11 January 1959 during approach at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport, the airline had also lost two Boeing 720-030B during training flights over West Germany in 1961 and 1964.
After the accident, an investigative commission was formed. The commission released its final report about a year later, concluding that the crash was caused by a chain of technical and human errors.
According to the report, an instrument in the cockpit displayed false information, causing the aircraft to deviate from the prescribed flight path specified by the instrument landing system, flying above its glide path. As the aircraft broke free of the cloud cover and switched from instrument controlled flight to visual control, the captain presumably estimated the altitude incorrectly due to darkness and poor visibility, causing the aircraft to come in too far, which made the final approach too late. The captain decided to abort because the little remaining runway would not have been sufficient to allow for braking the aircraft. At this point, he maneuvered the Convair into an extreme flight attitude, leading to a stall and the aircraft striking the ground with its left wing first. The aircraft burned completely except for the tail section and the right wing. When the rescue team arrived they could only sort through the wreckage.
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Lufthansa Flight 005
Lufthansa Flight 005 was a scheduled flight en route from Frankfurt to Hamburg with a stopover in Bremen. The aircraft crashed just beyond the runway in Bremen just before 19:00 on 28 January 1966, in a go-around after an aborted landing. All occupants — 42 passengers and 4 crew members — died in the accident.
Among others, seven swimmers from the Italy national swimming team, their coach, and an Italian reporter were on board the 53-passenger aircraft. The actress Ada Tschechowa, daughter of Olga Chekhova and mother of Vera Tschechowa, was also one of the victims.
The flight departed Frankfurt Airport on runway 25R at 5:41 PM after a slight delay of 8 minutes. The aircraft's weight at takeoff was 22,148 kilograms (24.414 short tons), only slightly under the maximum of 22,544 kilograms (24.851 short tons). The Convair CV-440 was fueled with 3,200 litres (850 US gal) of aviation gasoline, sufficient for a flight of 5 hours, 13 minutes. This extra reserve was necessary because the crew had chosen Stuttgart Airport as their alternate destination due to poor weather conditions.
At about 18:40, after about 30 minutes cruising at Flight Level 140 (14,000 ft or 4,300 m), the flight began its approach from the east to runway 27 at the Bremen Airport. The temperature was 4 degrees Celsius and the ceiling was less than 100 m (300 ft). The visibility was only approximately 700 m (2,300 ft) because of heavy rains. Wind speed was 9 knots from 140 degrees. The resulting tailwind affecting the aircraft was 6 knots. The minimum weather conditions at the Bremen Airport for that Convair 440 aircraft type permitted a tailwind of no more than 5 knots.
Capitan Heinz Saalfeld began his final descent, but commenced a go-around maneuver at an approximate height of 10 m (30 ft) above the ground. A few moments later, at 6:51 pm, the 21.5-ton aircraft spun to the left and crashed into a field 400 metres (1,300 ft) beyond the end of the runway. The remaining fuel (approximately 2,500 litres or 660 US gallons) ignited, causing a ground fire that was extinguished by the airport's Fire and Rescue only after 40 minutes.
At the time, the accident was the fourth total loss of a Lufthansa aircraft since the company's reestablishment in 1954: after the crash of a Lockheed Super Constellation on 11 January 1959 during approach at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport, the airline had also lost two Boeing 720-030B during training flights over West Germany in 1961 and 1964.
After the accident, an investigative commission was formed. The commission released its final report about a year later, concluding that the crash was caused by a chain of technical and human errors.
According to the report, an instrument in the cockpit displayed false information, causing the aircraft to deviate from the prescribed flight path specified by the instrument landing system, flying above its glide path. As the aircraft broke free of the cloud cover and switched from instrument controlled flight to visual control, the captain presumably estimated the altitude incorrectly due to darkness and poor visibility, causing the aircraft to come in too far, which made the final approach too late. The captain decided to abort because the little remaining runway would not have been sufficient to allow for braking the aircraft. At this point, he maneuvered the Convair into an extreme flight attitude, leading to a stall and the aircraft striking the ground with its left wing first. The aircraft burned completely except for the tail section and the right wing. When the rescue team arrived they could only sort through the wreckage.
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