How pilot error led to the crash of Luxair Flight 9642.
Exactly twenty years ago today, on November 6, 2002, Luxair Flight 9642 crashed while attempting to land killing 20 of the plane's 22 passengers and crew. The aircraft involved in the accident was a Dutch-built 11-year-old Fokker 50 with the registration LX-LGB.
Luxair Flight 9642 was a regularly scheduled flight between Berlin-Tempelhof Airport (THF) in Germany and Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX) in Luxembourg. In charge of the flight was Captain Claude Poeckes, assisted by First Officer John Arendt.
The flight took off on time at 07:40 local time for the 371-mile flight to Luxembourg. Onboard the aircraft were the two pilots, a flight attendant, and 19 passengers. While flying at cruising altitude at 08:55, the pilots checked the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) to see what the weather was like in Luxembourg.
They noticed that the visual range on the runway was down to 902 feet less than the 984 feet that was required for the Fokker to land. With heavy fog encompassing the area, the crew realized that they would have to delay the landing. They had two choices: flying a holding pattern, hoping the fog would lift, or diverting to an alternative airport.
Not wanting to inconvenience the passengers and themselves by diverting, the pilots decided to continue the flight to Luxembourg-Findel Airport (LUX). A couple of minutes later, the crew rechecked the ATIS information only to discover that conditions had not improved. The pair spoke about landing in fog but disagreed on a strategy. As a result, they were unable to conduct an approach briefing.
While First Officer Arendt was speaking with the passengers, the captain tried to contact Luxair officials about the weather. A Cargolux aircraft had just departed the airport, and Captain Poeckes was hoping for an update on the weather. Because of the fog, the crew was told to enter the Diekrich VOR, Findel's holding pattern, and wait until conditions improved.
Suddenly Air Traffic Control (ATC) radioed the plane telling it to descend to 3,000 feet and change its heading. The sudden contact by ATC caught the crew off guard and had Arendt asking Poeckes: "Is that for us?" To which the captain responded, "yes."
Still unsure of how to proceed, the ATC controller then told the crew to conduct an approach to the airport. This perplexed the crew as the weather conditions were still below what the Fokker 50 needed to land. Now flying as per ATC instructions, the pilots frantically prepared for landing.
As the flight approached its final radio beacon for the landing, Captain Poeckes told First Officer Arendt that they would conduct a missed approach if the visibility was still below 984 feet. After successfully capturing the airport's Instrument Landing System (ILS), they again checked the RVR only to discover that conditions had worsened.
As the first officer went through the approach checklist he put the ground idle stop in the off position, the last thing required on the checklist.
Still unhappy with the conditions at 09:04, Captain Poeckes requested a go-around. Ten seconds later, the ATC reported that the visibility had improved. This led the captain to change his mind and continue with the approach.
Flying a bit higher than the glideslope they needed to be on, the captain said that he would reduce the power so that the plane would lose altitude faster. The first officer voiced his concern saying that the aircraft would not be able to slow down fast enough. As the crew lowered the landing gear, they noticed an increase in the speed of the plane's propellors. As the aircraft's speed and altitude rapidly decreased, they realized the reverse thrust had been deployed and tried to regain lift. Despite their best efforts, the plane continued to lose altitude and crashed in a field 2,300 feet short of the runway.
Following a lengthy investigation in December 2003, Luxembourg AET published its final report. It concluded the cause of the crash as follows:
The crew's decision to land even though they were not adequately prepared. This led the pilots to perform a series of actions that ended in the prohibited override of the primary stop on the power levers, which led to an irreversible loss of control.
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Journalist – Mark is an experienced travel journalist having published work in the industry for more than seven years. His enthusiasm for aviation news and wealth of experience lends itself to some excellent insight, with his work cited in Forbes amongst other publications. Based in Alicante, Spain.