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XL Airways Germany Flight 888T (GXL888T) was an
acceptance flight for an
Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus.
The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...
on 27 November 2008. The aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off
Canet-en-Roussillon
Canet-en-Roussillon (; ca, Canet de Rosselló, ; oc, Canet de Rosselhon, ) is a commune and town in the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, administrative region of Occitania.
Geography
Canet-en-Roussillon is located in the canto ...
on the French coast, close to the Spanish border, killing all seven people on board.
Background
Purpose of the test flight
The aircraft was on a
flight test
Flight testing is a branch of aeronautical engineering that develops specialist equipment required for testing aircraft behaviour and systems. Instrumentation systems are developed using proprietary transducers and data acquisition systems. D ...
(or "acceptance flight") that had taken off from
Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport
Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport de Perpignan – Rivesaltes) , also known as Llabanère Airport, as well as Aéroport de Perpignan - Sud de France, is a small international airport near Perpignan and Rivesaltes, both ...
, made an overflight of
Gaillac
Gaillac (; ) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants.
Its inhabitants are called Gaillacois.
Geography
Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Montauban. It has g ...
, and was flying back to Perpignan Airport approaching over the sea. The flight took place following light maintenance and repainting to
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...
livery in preparation for its transfer from
XL Airways Germany
XL Airways Germany GmbH was a German charter airline headquartered in Mörfelden-Walldorf, Hesse, operating charter and ad-hoc lease services, mostly out of Frankfurt Airport. The airline belonged, together with now defunct XL Airways France, t ...
, which had been
leasing
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...
the aircraft from Air New Zealand, the owner.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-232, registered D-AXLA, manufactured in 2005, and assigned a manufacturer's serial number of 2500. It first flew on 30 June 2005, and was delivered to Air New Zealand's low-cost subsidiary
Freedom Air
Freedom Air (legally ''Freedom Air International'') was a New Zealand low-cost airline which operated since 8 December 1995 to March 2008. It was part of the Air New Zealand Group which ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Austr ...
with the
registration
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), the ...
ZK-OJL. Star XL German Airlines (as XL Airways Germany was named at the time) took delivery of the aircraft on 25 May 2006. The aircraft had been overhauled by a local French company located at the Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport prior to its return off lease. At the time of the crash it was due to be delivered back to Air New Zealand and re-registered as ZK-OJL.
Passengers and crew
Seven people were on board, two Germans (the captain and first officer, from XL Airways) and five New Zealanders (one pilot, three aircraft engineers, and one member of the
Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA; Māori: ''Te Mana Rererangi Tūmatanui o Aotearoa'') is the government agency tasked with establishing civil aviation safety and security standards in New Zealand.
The CAA also monitors adherence ...
(CAA)).
The captain was 51-year-old Norbert Käppel, who had been with the airline since 24 August 1987. He became an Airbus A320 captain in February 2006. Käppel had logged a total of 12,709 flight hours, including 7,038 hours on the Airbus A320.
The first officer was 58-year-old Theodor Ketzer, who had been with the airline since 2 March 1988. He had been a first officer on the Airbus A320 since April 2006. Ketzer had 11,660 flight hours, with 5,529 of them on the Airbus A320.
The pilot from New Zealand was 52-year-old Brian Horrell, who had been with Air New Zealand since September 1986. He had been an Airbus A320 captain since 27 September 2004, and had 15,211 flight hours, including 2,078 hours on the Airbus A320. Horrell was seated in the cockpit jumpseat at the time of the accident. He did not speak nor understand German.
The three aircraft engineers were 37-year-old Murray White, 49-year-old Michael Gyles, and 35-year-old Noel Marsh.
The member of the CAA was 58-year-old Jeremy Cook.
Accident
The aircraft departed Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport at 14:44 UTC. The overflight at Gaillac was mostly normal. At 15:04, though, angle-of-attack sensor number 1 became blocked, and sensor number 2 became blocked two minutes later.
At 15:33, the aircraft started back towards Perpignan Airport, but at 15:46 UTC during final approach, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar screens.
The aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Étang de Canet-Saint-Nazaire near
Canet-en-Roussillon
Canet-en-Roussillon (; ca, Canet de Rosselló, ; oc, Canet de Rosselhon, ) is a commune and town in the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, administrative region of Occitania.
Geography
Canet-en-Roussillon is located in the canto ...
. All seven people on board were killed.
Recovery
Two bodies were recovered within hours of the crash; the others were found during later weeks. The extent of shattering of the wreckage indicated that the crash occurred at high speed.
The crash area was declared a
crime scene
A crime scene is any location that may be associated with a committed crime. Crime scenes contain physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation. This evidence is collected by crime scene investigators (CSI) and law enforcement ...
and the French justice system opened a
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
investigation.
Investigation
The
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(CVR) was quickly found and recovered, and on 30 November, divers recovered the second flight recorder–the
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
(FDR)–and a third body, unidentified at the time. Although the CVR was damaged, experts said a good probability existed of recovering data from it.
In late December, French investigators attempted to retrieve data from the CVR and FDR, but they could not be read. Usable data from the recorders was later
recovered by
Honeywell Aerospace
Honeywell Aerospace is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglome ...
in the United States.
The investigators' interest focused on the
air data inertial reference unit An Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU) is a key component of the integrated Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS), which supplies air data (airspeed, angle of attack and altitude) and inertial reference (position and attitude) informatio ...
(ADIRU) following recent similar incidents involving
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
s operated by Qantas, exhibiting sudden uncommanded manoeuvring (including
Qantas Flight 72
Qantas Flight 72 (QF72) was a scheduled flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Perth Airport by an Airbus A330. On 7 October 2008, the flight made an emergency landing at Learmonth Airport near the town of Exmouth, Western Australia following ...
). The investigation was led by the
Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...
(BEA), with the participation of its counterparts from the
(BFU), the New Zealand
Transport Accident Investigation Commission
The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC, mi, Te Kōmihana Tirotiro Aituā Waka) is a transport safety body of New Zealand. It has its headquarters on the 7th floor of 10 Brandon Street in Wellington. The agency investigates aviatio ...
(TAIC), and the United States
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...
(NTSB). Specialists from Airbus and from
International Aero Engines
IAE International Aero Engines AG is a Zürich-registered joint venture aero-engine manufacturing company.
It was founded during 1983 specifically to develop an aircraft engine to address the 150-seat single aisle aircraft market, the IAE V2500, ...
(IAE, the manufacturer of the aircraft's engines), from
XL Airways Germany
XL Airways Germany GmbH was a German charter airline headquartered in Mörfelden-Walldorf, Hesse, operating charter and ad-hoc lease services, mostly out of Frankfurt Airport. The airline belonged, together with now defunct XL Airways France, t ...
(operator of the aircraft), and from
Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...
(the owner of the aircraft), were associated with the work of the technical investigation.
Analysis of the data led to an interim finding that the crew lost control of the aircraft. The crew was not granted needed airspace to do their acceptance checklist of various test procedures, but they chose to conduct a number of the tests as they flew back to base. One of the tests that the crew unofficially fit into their flight was a test of low-speed flight, which they attempted after already dropping to a low altitude (rather than the normal ), while descending through on full autopilot for a
go-around
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unstab ...
. Landing gear was just extended when at 15:44:30 UTC the speed dropped from in 35 seconds. The
stall warning
In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil (fluid mechanics), foil as angle of attack increases.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...
sounded four times during violent manoeuvring to regain control. By 15:46:00, the warning had silenced as the aircraft regained speed in a rapid descent, but 6 seconds later, at , the aircraft had only elevation and was 14° nose down. A second later, the aircraft crashed into the water.
In September 2010, the BEA published its final report into the accident. One of the contributing causes was incorrect maintenance procedures, which allowed water to enter the
angle-of-attack
In fluid dynamics, angle of attack (AOA, α, or \alpha) is the angle between a reference line on a body (often the chord line of an airfoil) and the vector representing the relative motion between the body and the fluid through which it is mov ...
(AOA) sensors. During fuselage rinsing with water before painting, three days before the flight, the AOA sensors were unprotected. As specified in the ''Structure Repair Manual'' by Airbus, fitting a protection device on AOA sensors before these tasks is mandatory.
[ The water was able to penetrate inside the sensor bodies, then froze in flight, rendering two of three of the sensors inoperative, thus removing the protection they normally provided in the aircraft's ]flight management system
A flight management system (FMS) is a fundamental component of a modern airliner's avionics. An FMS is a specialized computer system that automates a wide variety of in-flight tasks, reducing the workload on the flight crew to the point that mode ...
.
The primary cause of the accident was that the crew attempted an improvised test of the AOA warning system, not knowing that it was not functioning properly due to the inoperative sensors. They also disregarded the proper speed limits for the tests they were performing, resulting in a stall.
The aircraft's computers received conflicting information from the three AOA sensors. The aircraft computer system's programming logic had been designed to reject one sensor value if it deviated significantly from the other two sensor values. In this specific case, this programming logic led to the rejection of the correct value from the one operative AOA sensor, and to the acceptance of the two consistent, but wrong, values from the two inoperative sensors. This resulted in the system's stall-protection functions responding incorrectly to the stall, making the situation worse, instead of better. In addition, the pilots also failed to recover from an aerodynamic stall
In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. This occurs when the ...
in a manual mode in which the stabilizer had to be set to an up position to trim the aircraft. Since the stick was applied only forward, the aircraft did not trim itself because it was switched to full manual mode. Seconds later, the plane crashed into the sea.
Moreover, the stall warning in normal law was not possible. The stall warning function, though, was still available, and was triggered during the last phase of the flight.["Imperfect Pitch." '']Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'' ocumentary TV series
Five safety recommendations were made following examination of the particulars of the crash.
Dramatisation
The story of the accident was featured on the 13th season of Canadian television show ''Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
'', an episode entitled " Imperfect Pitch".
See also
*
References
External links
Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...
Accident to an Airbus A320-232 registered D-AXLA operated by XL Airways Germany on November 27, 2008 near Canet-Plage
"
Archive
Interim report
Archive
Final report
Archive
Accident d'un Airbus A320-232 immatriculé D-AXLA exploité par XL Airways Germany survenu survenu le 27 novembre 2008 au large de Canet-Plage
Archive
– the French version is the report of record.
Interim Report
Archive
Final Report
Archive
Accidents and Incidents during Non-Revenue Flights — ''SKYbrary''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:XL Airways Germany accident, 2008
Aviation accidents and incidents in France
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2008
Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A320
2008 in France
Air New Zealand
November 2008 events in France
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by ice
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by stalls