Summary Dual engine failure Passengers 115 Fatalities 22 Date 6 September 1971 Destination Málaga Airport Survivor 99 | Site Bundesautobahn 7 Crew 6 Injuries (non-fatal) 99 Number of deaths 22 Operator Paninternational Location Bundesautobahn 7 | |
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Similar Aviogenex Flight 130, Alaska Airlines Flight 1866, 1971 Indian Ocean Vi, Toa Domestic Airlines Fl, British European Airways F | ||
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.
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Aircraft
The aircraft, registered as D-ALAR, had its first flight the year before the accident.
Accident
Paninternational Flight 112 took off from Hamburg Airport in Hamburg, Germany, on a flight to Málaga Airport in Málaga, Spain, with 115 passengers and six crew on board. After the take-off, both engines failed and the pilots decided to make an emergency landing on a highway – Bundesautobahn 7 (also part of European route E45) – about 4.5 km (3 mi) from Hamburg Airport. During the landing the aircraft collided with a bridge, causing both wings to shear off; and caught fire. The accident killed twenty-one passengers and one crew member.
Cause of the crash
Subsequent investigation showed that the tank for the water-injection engine thrust-augmentation system (used during take-off) had inadvertently been filled with jet fuel instead of water. Spraying this additional jet fuel into the engines during take-off (together with the usual fuel intake and significantly increased rpm) quickly caused both engines to overheat and fail, resulting in the crash.