Summary Dual engine failure Passengers 115 Fatalities 22 Date 6 September 1971 Survivor 99 | Crew 6 Injuries (non-fatal) 99 Number of deaths 22 | |
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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.
Contents
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.