Paninternational Flight 112
1971 aviation accident in West Germany
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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.
D-ALAR, the aircraft involved in the accident, pictured in 1970 | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 6 September 1971 |
| Summary | Dual engine failure following engine overheating |
| Site | |
 | |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | BAC One-Eleven |
| Operator | Paninternational |
| Registration | D-ALAR |
| Flight origin | Hamburg Airport, Hamburg, West Germany |
| Destination | Málaga Airport, Málaga, Spain |
| Occupants | 121 |
| Passengers | 115 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 22 |
| Injuries | 99 |
| Survivors | 99 |
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a BAC One-Eleven registered as D-ALAR and first flew one year before the accident.[1]
Accident
Paninternational Flight 112 took off from Hamburg Airport in Hamburg, West Germany, on a flight to Málaga Airport in Málaga, Spain, with 115 passengers and six crew on board.[1] The captain was Reinhold Hüls, a former military pilot with more than 3,000 hours flying time; co-pilot Elisabeth Friske was the first woman jet pilot in West Germany, at the time with only 7 hours in the BAC One-Eleven.[2] After the takeoff, as the aircraft climbed through 300 metres (980 ft), both engines failed and the captain decided to make an emergency landing on a highway – Bundesautobahn 7 (also part of European route E45)[3] – about 4.5 km (2.8 mi; 2.4 nmi) from Hamburg Airport.[1] During the landing, on the south-bound carriageway to avoid heavy traffic out of Hamburg, the aircraft deflected to the left and collided with an overpass and multiple concrete pillars, causing the right wing, cockpit, and T-tail to shear off. The rest of the fuselage broke up and skidded to a halt resting against an oak tree, and subsequently caught fire.[1][2] Twenty-one passengers and one crew member died.[1]
Cause of the crash
Subsequent investigation showed that one or two of the five tanks for the water-injection engine thrust-augmentation system (used during take-off) had inadvertently been filled with kerosene instead of with demineralised water.[1][2] Spraying this additional jet fuel into the engines caused them to overheat and fail shortly after take-off.[1][2][4] Two maintenance workers for Paninternational were sentenced to prison terms in 1974.[2]
See also
- Southern Airways Flight 242 a Douglas DC-9, which crashed on April 4, 1977, during an emergency landing on a highway
- Dominicana DC-9 air crash in 1970 a DC-9 crashed due to engines contaminated with water