Turkish Airlines Flight 1951
Encyclopedia
Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 (also known as the Poldercrash) was a passenger flight which crashed during landing to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands
, on 25 February 2009, killing nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.
The aircraft, a Turkish Airlines
Boeing 737-800, crashed into a field approximately 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) north of runway 18R, prior to crossing the A9 motorway
inbound, at 9:31 UTC
(10:31 CET
), having flown from Istanbul
, Turkey
. The aircraft broke into three pieces on impact. The wreckage did not catch fire.
A preliminary investigation found that the crash was caused primarily by the aircraft's automated reaction which was triggered by a faulty radio altimeter, which had malfunctioned. This caused the autothrottle to decrease the engine power to idle during approach. The crew noticed this too late to take appropriate action to increase the throttle and recover the aircraft before it stalled and crashed. Boeing has since issued a bulletin to remind pilots of all 737 series and BBJ
aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude, advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies.
TC-JGE, named "Tekirdağ
". The model -8F2 denotes the configuration of the 737-800 built for use by Turkish Airlines. They have 51 aircraft of this model in service.
A former Turkish Air Force
fleet commander, Captain Arısan had been working for Turkish Airlines since 1996. He had over 5,000 hours of flight time on the F-4E Phantom
.
The other flight deck crew members were Olcay Özgür, safety pilot, sitting in the cockpit's center jump seat, and Murat Sezer, co-pilot under line training, flying as co-pilot. The cabin crew consisted of Figen Eren, Perihan Özden, Ulvi Murat Eskin, and Yasemin Vural.
The aircraft suffered significant damage. Although the fuselage broke into three pieces, it did not catch fire. Both engines separated and came to rest 100 metres (328.1 ft) from the fuselage.
An unconfirmed report by De Telegraaf
states that the firefighters were at first given the wrong location for the crash site, delaying their arrival. Lanes of the A4
and A9
motorways were closed to all traffic to allow emergency services to quickly reach the site of the crash.
The bodies of two cockpit crew members were the last to be removed from the plane, at around 20:00 that evening, because the cockpit had to be examined before it could be cut open to get to these crew members. Also, some of the survivors say that at least one of the pilots was alive after the crash. The relatives of the passengers on the flight were sent to Amsterdam by Turkish Airlines shortly after.
All flights in and out of Schiphol Airport were suspended, according to an airport spokeswoman. Several planes were diverted to Rotterdam The Hague Airport as well as to Brussels Airport
. At about 11:15 UTC, it was reported that the Kaagbaan runway (06/24) had been re-opened to air traffic, followed by the Buitenveldertbaan runway (09/27).
Initially, Turkish Transport minister Binali Yıldırım
and media claimed that there were no deaths in the incident, which was later contradicted by airport authorities in Amsterdam. A later statement corrected the casualty figures and provided contact numbers for family and friends.
Although it is a common practice for airlines to retire a flight number after an accident, Turkish Airlines continues to use Flight 1951 on its Istanbul (Ataturk) to Amsterdam route. It now uses an Airbus A321 instead of a Boeing 737.
( or OVV), but assisted by an expert team from Turkish Airlines and a representative team of the American NTSB, accompanied by advisors from Boeing and the FAA, Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(SHGM), the operator, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch
, and the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
(BEA). The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered quickly after the crash, after which they were transported to Paris to read out the data. The Dutch public prosecution initially asked the OVV to hand over the black boxes, but the OVV refused to do so. It stated that there was no indication of homicide, manslaughter, hijacking or terrorism, which would warrant an investigation by the prosecution.
A preliminary investigation of the data by the Dutch Safety Board released on 4 March 2009 reported that, while on final approach for landing, the aircraft was "fast and high on the glideslope", at about 2,000 ft (610 m) above ground, when the left-hand (captain's) radio altimeter suddenly changed from 1950 feet (594.4 m) to read −8 ft altitude, although the right-hand (co-pilots) radio altimeter functioned correctly. The voice recording showed that the crew was given an audible warning signal (“TOO LOW!, GEAR!”) that indicated that the aircraft's landing gear should be down, as the aircraft was flying too low. Later, the safety board's preliminary report modified this analysis, indicating that the flight data recorder history of the captain's radio altimeter showed 8191 feet (the maximum possible recorded) until the aircraft descended through 1950, then suddenly showed negative 8 feet.
The throttles were pulled back to idle thrust, but the autothrottle
unexpectedly reverted to "retard" mode, which is designed to automatically decrease thrust shortly before touching down on the runway at 27 feet (8.2 m) above runway height. At 144 kt, the pilots manually increased thrust to sustain that speed, but the autothrottle immediately returned the thrust lever to idle power because the first officer did not hold the throttle lever in position. The throttles remained at idle for about 100 seconds while the aircraft slowed to 83 kt, some 40 kt (75 km/h) below reference speed as the aircraft descended below the required height to stay on the glideslope. The stick-shaker activated at about 150 metres (492.1 ft) above the ground, indicating an imminent stall, the autothrottle advanced, and the captain attempted to apply full power. The engines responded, but there was not enough altitude or forward airspeed to recover; the aircraft hit the ground tail-first at 95 knots.
It is unknown if the pilots were aware of the decreasing speed, and if they were aware that the wrong altitude measurement directed autothrottle action. The autothrottle (and thus its retard mode) could have been switched off by pressing either the A/T disengage buttons or switching off the autothrottle "ARM" switch. The data from the flight recorder also showed that the same altimeter problem had happened twice during the previous eight landings but that on both occasions the crew had taken the correct action by disengaging the autothrottle and manually increasing the thrust. Investigations are underway to determine why more action had not been taken after the altimeter problem was detected. In response to the preliminary conclusions, Boeing issued a bulletin, Multi-Operator Message (MOM) 09-0063-01B, to remind pilots of all 737 series and BBJ
aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude (the "primary flight instruments"), advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies. Following the release of the preliminary report, Dutch and international press concluded that pilot inattention caused the accident, though several Turkish news publications still emphasized other possible causes.
On 9 March 2009, the recovery of the wreckage started. All parts of the plane were moved to an East Schiphol hangar for reconstruction.
It was reported that the First Officer survived the accident but rescuers were unable to reach him via the door to cockpit due to security measures introduced in the wake of the September 11 attacks of 2001. The rescuers eventually cut their way into the cockpit through the roof, by which time the First Officer had died.
On 6 May 2010 the final report was released.
Turkish Airlines disputes crash inquiry findings on stall recovery.
, including the pilot, the co-pilot, a trainee pilot and one member of the cabin crew. Four were Americans
, of whom three have been identified as Boeing
employees stationed in Ankara and working on an Airborne Early Warning and Control program for the Turkish military
.
Initial reports had six passengers in critical condition, 25 had sustained severe injuries, 24 minor injuries and 31 injuries of which the seriousness had still to be confirmed. By 9 March, there were still 23 in hospital, one of whom was in critical condition.
Within hours of the crash, Turkish Airlines published the passenger list. The Dutch authorities stated the following day that the plane carried 53 passengers from the Netherlands, 51 from Turkey, seven from the United States, three from the United Kingdom, one each from Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy, and one from either Thailand or Taiwan.
Among the passengers were the sisters Jihad and Hajar Alariachi, presenters of the Dutch television programme De Meiden van Halal
. Jihad and Hajar were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
show Mayday
(known as Air Emergency in the US, Mayday in Ireland and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and the rest of world). The episode is entitled "Who's In Control?" and "Mid-Air Landing ('09 Schiphol Disaster)".
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, on 25 February 2009, killing nine passengers and crew including all three pilots.
The aircraft, a Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building on the grounds of Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy, Bakirköy district, Istanbul...
Boeing 737-800, crashed into a field approximately 1.5 kilometre (0.93205910497471 mi) north of runway 18R, prior to crossing the A9 motorway
A9 motorway (Netherlands)
The A9 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. The motorway starts off by going from the A1 at Diemen to the A2 at junction 'Holendrecht'...
inbound, at 9:31 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
(10:31 CET
Central European Time
Central European Time , used in most parts of the European Union, is a standard time that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time . The time offset from UTC can be written as +01:00...
), having flown from Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The aircraft broke into three pieces on impact. The wreckage did not catch fire.
A preliminary investigation found that the crash was caused primarily by the aircraft's automated reaction which was triggered by a faulty radio altimeter, which had malfunctioned. This caused the autothrottle to decrease the engine power to idle during approach. The crew noticed this too late to take appropriate action to increase the throttle and recover the aircraft before it stalled and crashed. Boeing has since issued a bulletin to remind pilots of all 737 series and BBJ
Boeing Business Jet
|-External links:* .* .*...
aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude, advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies.
Aircraft
The aircraft, built in 2002, was a Next Generation Boeing 737-800 series model 8F2 with registeredAircraft registration
An aircraft registration is a unique alphanumeric string that identifies a civil aircraft, in similar fashion to a licence plate on an automobile...
TC-JGE, named "Tekirdağ
Tekirdag
Tekirdağ , the ancient Bisanthi , is a city in Eastern Thrace, in the European part of Turkey. Tekirdağ is the capital of Tekirdağ Province, felt by the local people to be a quieter and more pleasant town than the industrial centre of Çorlu, which it administers. The city population as of 2009 was...
". The model -8F2 denotes the configuration of the 737-800 built for use by Turkish Airlines. They have 51 aircraft of this model in service.
Flight
There were 128 passengers and seven crew members on board. The plane was under the command of Instructor Captain Hasan Tahsin Arısan, one of the airline's most experienced senior pilots.A former Turkish Air Force
Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. It ranks 3rd in NATO in terms of fleet size behind the USAF and Royal Air Force with a current inventory of 798 aircraft .-Initial stages:...
fleet commander, Captain Arısan had been working for Turkish Airlines since 1996. He had over 5,000 hours of flight time on the F-4E Phantom
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
.
The other flight deck crew members were Olcay Özgür, safety pilot, sitting in the cockpit's center jump seat, and Murat Sezer, co-pilot under line training, flying as co-pilot. The cabin crew consisted of Figen Eren, Perihan Özden, Ulvi Murat Eskin, and Yasemin Vural.
Landing and damage
The plane was cleared for an approach on runway 18R (also known as the Polderbaan runway) but came down short of the runway threshold, sliding through the wet clay of a plowed field.The aircraft suffered significant damage. Although the fuselage broke into three pieces, it did not catch fire. Both engines separated and came to rest 100 metres (328.1 ft) from the fuselage.
Aftermath
While several survivors and witnesses indicated that it took rescuers 20 to 30 minutes to arrive at the site after the crash, others have stated that the rescuers arrived quickly at the scene. About 60 ambulances arrived along with at least three LifeLiner helicopters (air ambulances, Eurocopter EC-135), and a fleet of fire engines.An unconfirmed report by De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf
De Telegraaf is the largest Dutch daily morning newspaper, with a daily circulation of approximately . De Telegraaf is based in Amsterdam...
states that the firefighters were at first given the wrong location for the crash site, delaying their arrival. Lanes of the A4
A4 motorway (Netherlands)
The A4 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands from Amsterdam to the Belgian border near Zandvliet. Some parts of the motorway are still not completed. The completed route as of 2006 is divided into three parts: from Amsterdam via The Hague to Delft, from Vlaardingen to Pernis, and finally from...
and A9
A9 motorway (Netherlands)
The A9 motorway is a motorway in the Netherlands. The motorway starts off by going from the A1 at Diemen to the A2 at junction 'Holendrecht'...
motorways were closed to all traffic to allow emergency services to quickly reach the site of the crash.
The bodies of two cockpit crew members were the last to be removed from the plane, at around 20:00 that evening, because the cockpit had to be examined before it could be cut open to get to these crew members. Also, some of the survivors say that at least one of the pilots was alive after the crash. The relatives of the passengers on the flight were sent to Amsterdam by Turkish Airlines shortly after.
All flights in and out of Schiphol Airport were suspended, according to an airport spokeswoman. Several planes were diverted to Rotterdam The Hague Airport as well as to Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport is an international airport northeast of Brussels, Belgium. The airport is partially in Zaventem and partially in the Diegem area of Machelen, both located in the Flemish Region of Belgium.Brussels Airport currently consists of 54 contact gates, and a total of 109 gates...
. At about 11:15 UTC, it was reported that the Kaagbaan runway (06/24) had been re-opened to air traffic, followed by the Buitenveldertbaan runway (09/27).
Initially, Turkish Transport minister Binali Yıldırım
Binali Yildirim
Binali Yıldırım is the current Minister of Transport of Turkey and a MP for Istanbul of the ruling Justice and Development Party.He was educated the Istanbul Technical University's School of Maritime...
and media claimed that there were no deaths in the incident, which was later contradicted by airport authorities in Amsterdam. A later statement corrected the casualty figures and provided contact numbers for family and friends.
Although it is a common practice for airlines to retire a flight number after an accident, Turkish Airlines continues to use Flight 1951 on its Istanbul (Ataturk) to Amsterdam route. It now uses an Airbus A321 instead of a Boeing 737.
Investigation
The investigation is being led by the Dutch Safety BoardDutch Safety Board
The Dutch Safety Board; Onderzoeksraad Voor Veiligheid , is based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The first chairman was Pieter van Vollenhoven, who served until February of 2011...
( or OVV), but assisted by an expert team from Turkish Airlines and a representative team of the American NTSB, accompanied by advisors from Boeing and the FAA, Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (Turkey)
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is the civil aviation agency of Turkey. It has its head office in Ankara. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Transport and Communication.-External links:* *...
(SHGM), the operator, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch
Air Accidents Investigation Branch
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigates air accidents in the United Kingdom. It is a branch of the Department for Transport and is based on the grounds of Farnborough Airport near Aldershot, Rushmoor, Hampshire.-History:...
, and the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
The Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those investigations. It is headquartered in Building 153 on the grounds...
(BEA). The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered quickly after the crash, after which they were transported to Paris to read out the data. The Dutch public prosecution initially asked the OVV to hand over the black boxes, but the OVV refused to do so. It stated that there was no indication of homicide, manslaughter, hijacking or terrorism, which would warrant an investigation by the prosecution.
A preliminary investigation of the data by the Dutch Safety Board released on 4 March 2009 reported that, while on final approach for landing, the aircraft was "fast and high on the glideslope", at about 2,000 ft (610 m) above ground, when the left-hand (captain's) radio altimeter suddenly changed from 1950 feet (594.4 m) to read −8 ft altitude, although the right-hand (co-pilots) radio altimeter functioned correctly. The voice recording showed that the crew was given an audible warning signal (“TOO LOW!, GEAR!”) that indicated that the aircraft's landing gear should be down, as the aircraft was flying too low. Later, the safety board's preliminary report modified this analysis, indicating that the flight data recorder history of the captain's radio altimeter showed 8191 feet (the maximum possible recorded) until the aircraft descended through 1950, then suddenly showed negative 8 feet.
The throttles were pulled back to idle thrust, but the autothrottle
Autothrottle
An autothrottle allows a pilot to control the power setting of an aircraft's engines by specifying a desired flight characteristic, rather than manually controlling fuel flow...
unexpectedly reverted to "retard" mode, which is designed to automatically decrease thrust shortly before touching down on the runway at 27 feet (8.2 m) above runway height. At 144 kt, the pilots manually increased thrust to sustain that speed, but the autothrottle immediately returned the thrust lever to idle power because the first officer did not hold the throttle lever in position. The throttles remained at idle for about 100 seconds while the aircraft slowed to 83 kt, some 40 kt (75 km/h) below reference speed as the aircraft descended below the required height to stay on the glideslope. The stick-shaker activated at about 150 metres (492.1 ft) above the ground, indicating an imminent stall, the autothrottle advanced, and the captain attempted to apply full power. The engines responded, but there was not enough altitude or forward airspeed to recover; the aircraft hit the ground tail-first at 95 knots.
It is unknown if the pilots were aware of the decreasing speed, and if they were aware that the wrong altitude measurement directed autothrottle action. The autothrottle (and thus its retard mode) could have been switched off by pressing either the A/T disengage buttons or switching off the autothrottle "ARM" switch. The data from the flight recorder also showed that the same altimeter problem had happened twice during the previous eight landings but that on both occasions the crew had taken the correct action by disengaging the autothrottle and manually increasing the thrust. Investigations are underway to determine why more action had not been taken after the altimeter problem was detected. In response to the preliminary conclusions, Boeing issued a bulletin, Multi-Operator Message (MOM) 09-0063-01B, to remind pilots of all 737 series and BBJ
Boeing Business Jet
|-External links:* .* .*...
aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude (the "primary flight instruments"), advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies. Following the release of the preliminary report, Dutch and international press concluded that pilot inattention caused the accident, though several Turkish news publications still emphasized other possible causes.
On 9 March 2009, the recovery of the wreckage started. All parts of the plane were moved to an East Schiphol hangar for reconstruction.
It was reported that the First Officer survived the accident but rescuers were unable to reach him via the door to cockpit due to security measures introduced in the wake of the September 11 attacks of 2001. The rescuers eventually cut their way into the cockpit through the roof, by which time the First Officer had died.
On 6 May 2010 the final report was released.
Turkish Airlines disputes crash inquiry findings on stall recovery.
Passengers
The Schiphol authorities confirmed nine fatalities and a total of 86 injuries during a press conference. Five of the deceased victims were Turkish citizensTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, including the pilot, the co-pilot, a trainee pilot and one member of the cabin crew. Four were Americans
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, of whom three have been identified as Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
employees stationed in Ankara and working on an Airborne Early Warning and Control program for the Turkish military
Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. They consist of the Army, the Navy , and the Air Force...
.
Initial reports had six passengers in critical condition, 25 had sustained severe injuries, 24 minor injuries and 31 injuries of which the seriousness had still to be confirmed. By 9 March, there were still 23 in hospital, one of whom was in critical condition.
Within hours of the crash, Turkish Airlines published the passenger list. The Dutch authorities stated the following day that the plane carried 53 passengers from the Netherlands, 51 from Turkey, seven from the United States, three from the United Kingdom, one each from Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy, and one from either Thailand or Taiwan.
Among the passengers were the sisters Jihad and Hajar Alariachi, presenters of the Dutch television programme De Meiden van Halal
De Meiden van Halal
De Meiden van Halal is a Dutch television programme of the Dutch broadcasting foundation NPS. The show is about Islamic Dutch people interacting with people from other religions and cultures...
. Jihad and Hajar were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
| Nationality | Passengers/Crew | Fatalities |
| 53 | 0 | |
| 51 (inc. 7 crew) | 5 (inc. 4 crew) | |
| 7 | 4 | |
| 3 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 118 | 9 |
Dramatization
The story of the disaster was featured on the tenth season of Canadian National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
show Mayday
Mayday (TV series)
Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters...
(known as Air Emergency in the US, Mayday in Ireland and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and the rest of world). The episode is entitled "Who's In Control?" and "Mid-Air Landing ('09 Schiphol Disaster)".
External links
- Dutch Safety BoardDutch Safety BoardThe Dutch Safety Board; Onderzoeksraad Voor Veiligheid , is based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The first chairman was Pieter van Vollenhoven, who served until February of 2011...
- Turkish Airlines Special Issues (official announcements)
- Passenger List
- Dutch Safety Board Report Summary on SKYbrary
- Google Earth flight path
- Google Maps flight path (openATC)
- Flight tracker
- Aviation Safety Network
- The record of last radio call between ATC and the crew. (site in Turkish)
- Radartrack crashed airplane
- Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
: (video) - BBC World News: (video)