Passengers 97 Fatalities 0 Date 25 April 2015 Injuries (nonfatal) 0 | Crew 5 Survivors 102 (all) Number of deaths 0 | |
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Summary Hard landing during first attempt, gear collapse and runway excursion during second attempt Site Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey Similar 2015 Pakistan Army Mil, 2015 Moncks Corner mi, Aviastar Flight 7503, 2015 Villa Castelli mid‑air co, Carson Air Flight 66 | ||
Turkish Airlines Flight 1878 was an international passenger flight from Milan–Malpensa Airport, Italy to Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey. On 25 April 2015, the aircraft rolled sharply just before landing causing a very hard touchdown resulting in substantial damage to the starboard wing and a fire. A go-around was initiated and the aircraft positioned for a second approach attempt but veered off the runway on the second landing. All 102 passengers and crew survived unharmed.
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Aircraft
The accident aircraft was an Airbus A320-200, registration TC-JPE, named Gümüşhane. The aircraft's manufacturer's serial number was 2941. It had first flown on 18 October 2006 and was repainted into the Star Alliance livery in 2014. The aircraft was subsequently written off.
Accident
Flight 1878 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Malpensa Airport, Milan, Italy to Atatürk Airport, Istanbul, Turkey. At 10:23 local time (07:23 UTC) on 25 April 2015, the aircraft operating the flight, an Airbus A320-200 registration TC-JPE, rolled to the right just before landing on runway 05 at Istanbul and touched down hard from a height of 100 feet (30 m) above ground level. A tail strike was followed by a hard landing on the starboard main gear. This caused substantial damage to the starboard wing, including the rupturing of fuel lines. The force of the landing was severe enough to cause some oxygen masks to deploy in the cabin.
The aircraft made a go-around, climbing to an altitude of 3,800 feet (1,200 m). During the approach to land on runway 35L, a passenger noticed the damaged wing was on fire. During the second landing, at 10:41 local time (07:41 UTC), the aircraft's right landing gear collapsed and the aircraft spun almost 180° off the runway. The airport's fire and rescue service attended the aircraft and the fire was extinguished. All on board evacuated the aircraft via the emergency slides. There were no injuries reported. The flight crew claimed that wake turbulence from a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which landed ahead of them may have been the reason for the initial roll and contact with the runway.
Following the accident, the airport was temporarily closed, with flights being diverted to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Istanbul. Turkish Airlines cancelled 95 flights from Istanbul.
Despite the accident, Turkish Airlines still operates Flight 1878 on the Milan - Istanbul route.
Investigation
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is responsible for investigating aviation accidents in Turkey and has commenced an investigation.