Revision as of 18:42, 11 February 2014 edit200.120.73.176 (talk) tenerife accident is not relevant in the lead. also, the fire was part of the disaster, it's tautological to say that the disaster was made worse by the disaster.← Previous edit | Latest revision as of 08:24, 20 November 2024 edit undoFrog4D (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users582 edits Reverting edit(s) by 121.74.31.93 (talk) to rev. 1258092322 by Yoshi24517: Unnecessary or inappropriate external links (UV 0.1.6)Tags: Ultraviolet Undo | ||
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{{short description|1992 plane crash in the Netherlands}} | |||
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{{Infobox |
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence | ||
|image = Bijlmerramp2 |
| image = Bijlmerramp2 cropped.jpg | ||
| image_upright = 1.15 | |||
|caption = Aftermath of the disaster. | |||
| |
| alt = | ||
| caption = Aftermath of the disaster | |||
|type = Engine detachment resulting from metal fatigue | |||
| date = {{start date|1992|10|04|df=y}} | |||
|occurrence_type = Accident | |||
| type = Crashed following dual engine separation and loss of control | |||
|site = ] | |||
| occurrence_type = Accident | |||
|passengers = 1 | |||
| site = ] Near ], Netherlands | |||
|crew = 3 | |||
| coordinates = {{Coord|52|19|8|N|4|58|30|E|type:event|display=inline,title}} | |||
|injuries = 11 serious, 15 minor (all on ground) | |||
| occupants = 4 | |||
|fatalities = 43 (4 on board, 39 on ground) | |||
| passengers = 1 | |||
|Survivors = 0 | |||
| crew = 3 | |||
|origin = <div style="padding-right:1.0em; white-space:nowrap;">]</div>{{pad|1.9em}}], USA | |||
| ground_injuries = 26 (11 serious, 15 minor) | |||
|stopover = ]<br/>{{pad|1.9em}}], the Netherlands | |||
| total_fatalities = 47 | |||
|destination = ]<br/>{{pad|1.9em}}], Israel | |||
| total_injuries = 26 | |||
|aircraft_type = ] | |||
| ground_fatalities = 43 | |||
|operator = ] | |||
| fatalities = 4 | |||
|tail_number = | |||
| Survivors = 0 | |||
| origin = ], ], United States | |||
| stopover = ], Netherlands | |||
| destination = ], ], Israel | |||
| aircraft_type = ] | |||
| operator = ] | |||
| IATA = LY1862 | |||
| ICAO = ELY1862 | |||
| callsign = ELAL 1862 | |||
| tail_number = 4X-AXG | |||
}} | }} | ||
{{Coord|52|19|8|N|4|58|30|E|type:landmark|display=title}} | |||
On 4 October 1992, '''El Al Flight 1862''', a ] cargo aircraft of the Israeli airline ], crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the ] (colloquially "Bijlmer") neighbourhood of ], the Netherlands. The accident is known in ] as the '''{{lang|nl|Bijlmerramp}}''' (Bijlmer disaster). | |||
On 4 October 1992, '''El Al Flight 1862''', a ] cargo plane of the state-run ]i airline ], crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the ] (colloquially "Bijlmer") neighbourhood (part of '']'') of ], the Netherlands. For the location in the Bijlmermeer, the crash is known in ] as the '''Bijlmerramp''' (''Bijlmer disaster''). A total of 43 people were killed, including the plane's crew of three, a non-revenue passenger in a ], and 39 people on the ground.<!--Note: the death toll of 47 comes from the official report. ASN gives a lower figure of 43. --><ref>NASB final report, page 9</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19921004-2|title=Aviation-savety.net|accessdate=6 July 2012|publisher=Avation-savety}}</ref> Many more were injured.<ref>{{ASN accident| id=19921004-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.flightsafety.org/ap/ap_jan96.pdf| format=PDF|title=Two engines separate from the right wing and result in loss of control and crash of Boeing 747 freighter| publisher=flightsafety.org}}</ref><ref name=final>{{cite web| url=http://english.verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/kennisplein/page_kennisplein.aspx?id=39448&DossierURI=tcm:195-17547-4 | title=Aircraft accident report 92-11 : El Al Flight 1862 Boeing 747-258F 4X-AXG Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam 4 October 1992| publisher=] |date = 24 February 1994 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080626181929/http://verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/kennisplein/uploaded/MIN/2005-07/39448/ElAl_flight_1862.pdf |archivedate = 26 June 2008}}</ref> This accident remains the deadliest aviation accident to ever occur in the Netherlands. | |||
Forty-seven<ref>{{Cite web|title=Crash of a Boeing 747-258F in Amsterdam: 47 killed|url=https://www.baaa-acro.com/index.php/crash/crash-boeing-747-258f-amsterdam-47-killed|access-date=2021-11-24|website=www.baaa-acro.com|publisher=Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives}}</ref> people were killed, including all 4 on board and 43<ref>{{Cite web|title=Crash of a Boeing 747-258F in Amsterdam: 47 killed {{!}} Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives|url=https://www.baaa-acro.com/index.php/crash/crash-boeing-747-258f-amsterdam-47-killed|access-date=2021-11-24|website=www.baaa-acro.com}}</ref> on the ground.<!--Note: the death toll of 47 comes from the official report. ASN gives a lower figure of 43. --><ref name="final">{{cite web|url=http://english.verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/kennisplein/page_kennisplein.aspx?id=39448&DossierURI=tcm:195-17547-4|title=Aircraft accident report 92-11 : El Al Flight 1862 Boeing 747-258F 4X-AXG Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam 4 October 1992|date=24 February 1994|publisher=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626181929/http://verkeerenwaterstaat.nl/kennisplein/uploaded/MIN/2005-07/39448/ElAl_flight_1862.pdf|archive-date=26 June 2008}}</ref>{{Rp|9}}<ref name="ASN"/> Eleven people were seriously injured and 15 received minor injuries.<ref name="final" /><ref name="ASN">{{ASN accident| id=19921004-2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.flightsafety.org/ap/ap_jan96.pdf|title=Two engines separate from the right wing and result in loss of control and crash of Boeing 747 freighter| publisher=Flight Safety Foundation |website=flightsafety.org}}</ref> The exact number killed on the ground is uncertain, as the building housed many unregistered residents.<ref name="nos">{{cite news|url=http://nos.nl/artikel/425564-20-jaar-bijlmerramp.html |title=20 jaar Bijlmerramp |publisher=Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) |date=4 October 2012 |access-date=7 January 2015|language=nl}}</ref> The accident is the deadliest aviation disaster to have occurred in the Netherlands.<ref name="ASN" /> | |||
==Fatal flight== | |||
{{refimprove section|date=October 2012}} | |||
] | |||
On 4 October 1992, the aircraft, a ], registration ''4X-AXG'', was traveling from ] to ] and made a stopover at ]. During the flight from New York to Schiphol, three issues were noted: fluctuations in the ] speed regulation, problems with the ], and fluctuations in the voltage of ] three, the inboard engine on the right wing. | |||
==Aircraft== | |||
The jet landed at Schiphol at 2:31 pm local time. New cargo was loaded into the plane; the cargo had been approved by customs authorities, but as was realized later, had not been physically inspected. The aircraft was refueled and the observed issues were repaired, at least provisionally. ] Yitzhak Fuchs, ] Arnon Ohad, and ] Gedalya Sofer crewed the aircraft. Anat Solomon, the only passenger on board, was traveling to Tel Aviv to marry an El Al employee. Yitzhak Fuchs was an experienced aviator, having previously flown as a fighter-bomber pilot, flying the ] in the late 1950s Israeli Air Force.<ref>Aloni, Shlomo. "Last of the fighting 'Wooden Wonders': The DH Mosquito in Israeli service" September/October 1999 article with photo in ''Air Enthusiast'' #83.</ref> | |||
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-258F, ] 21737, ] as 4X-AXG. It had flown 45,746 hours and completed 10,107 flight cycles before the accident. It was equipped with four ] engines.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aircraft Accident Report 92-11 - El Al Flight 1862 |url=https://reports.aviation-safety.net/1992/19921004-2_B742_4X-AXG.pdf |publisher=Nederlands Aviation Safety Board |date=24 February 1993 |accessdate=21 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Accident Boeing 747-258F 4X-AXG |url=https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/325426 |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=aviation-safety.net}}</ref> | |||
===Flight and crash=== | |||
Flight 1862 was scheduled to depart at 5:30 pm, but the flight was delayed until 6:20 pm. At 6:22 pm, Flight 1862 departed from runway 01L on a northerly heading. Once airborne, the plane turned to the right in order to follow the Pampus departure route, aided by the Pampus ]/] navigation station. | |||
==Accident== | |||
Soon after the turn, at 6:27 pm, above the ], a lake near Amsterdam, a sharp bang was heard while the aircraft was climbing through 1.950 meters (6.500 feet). The two fuse pins on engine number three failed. The engine separated from the right wing of the aircraft, shot forward, damaged the wing flaps, and struck engine number four, which then also separated from the wing. The two engines fell away from the plane, also ripping out a 9 meter (30 foot) stretch of the wing's leading edge. They attracted the attention of some pleasure boaters who had been startled by the loud noise. The boaters notified the ] of two objects they had seen falling from the sky. Captain Fuchs made a ] call to ] (ATC) and indicated that he wanted to return to Schiphol. At 6:28:45 pm, the captain reported: "El Al 1862, lost number three and number four engine, number three and number four engine." | |||
] | |||
] on 23 August 1992, over a month before the accident.]]{{hatnote|All times in this article are ] (]).}} | |||
ATC and the flight crew did not yet grasp the severity of the situation. Although the flight crew knew they had lost power to the engines, they did not see that the engines had completely broken off and that the wing had been damaged (in aviation, the term "lost" when dealing with engine failure refers to the engines simply having mechanical issues and ceasing to provide thrust, rather than the engines physically separating from the plane). The outboard engine on the wing of a 747 is visible from the cockpit only with difficulty and the inboard engine on the wing is not visible at all. Given the choices that the captain and crew made following the loss of engine power, the Dutch parliamentary inquiry commission that later studied the crash concluded that the crew did not know that both engines had broken away from the right wing. | |||
On 4 October 1992, the cargo aircraft, a Boeing 747-258F,{{efn|The aircraft was a Boeing 747-200F (for Freighter) model; Boeing used to assign a ] for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which was applied as a suffix in the model number at the time the aircraft is built. The code for El Al is "58", hence "747-258F".}} ] as {{airreg|4X|AXG}}, travelling from ] in New York to ] in Israel, made a stopover at ]. During the flight from New York to Schiphol, three issues were noted: fluctuations in the ] speed regulation, problems with a radio, and fluctuations in the voltage of the electrical generator on ] three, the inboard engine on the right wing that would later detach from the aircraft and initiate the accident.<ref name="final" /> | |||
The jet landed in Schiphol at 14:40 for cargo loading and crew change.<ref name=final/>{{rp|7}} The aircraft was refueled and the observed issues were repaired, at least provisionally. The crew consisted of ] Yitzhak Fuchs (59), ] Arnon Ohad (32), and ] Gedalya Sofer (61). A single passenger named Anat Solomon (23) was on board. She was an El Al employee based in Amsterdam, and was travelling to Tel Aviv to marry another El Al employee.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/ead005e3cdf901ae853d15749805ec18|title=Sole El Al Passenger Was Going Home To Get Married With AM-Netherlands-Crash, Bjt|last=Socolovsky|first=Jerome|date=6 October 1992|work=AP NEWS|access-date=9 November 2019|publisher=Associated Press}}</ref> Captain Fuchs was an experienced aviator, having flown as a fighter-bomber pilot in the Israeli air force in the late 1950s.<ref>Aloni, Shlomo. "Last of the fighting 'Wooden Wonders': The DH Mosquito in Israeli service" September/October 1999 article with photo in ''Air Enthusiast'' No. 83.</ref> He had over 25,000 flight hours, including 9,500 hours on the Boeing 747.<ref name="final" />{{Rp|9}} First Officer Ohad had less experience than the other two crew members, having logged 4,288 flight hours, 612 of them on the Boeing 747.<ref name="final" />{{Rp|10}} Flight Engineer Sofer was the most experienced crew member on the flight, with more than 26,000 hours of flight experience, of which 15,000 were on the Boeing 747.<ref name="final" />{{Rp|10–11}} | |||
Captain Yitzhak Fuchs had flown for El Al for 28 years and had previously served in the ] for 10 years. First Officer Arnon Ohad had flown for El Al for 10 years, Flight Engineer Gedalya Sofer for 37 years. | |||
On the night of the crash, the landing runway in use at Schiphol was runway 06. Captain Fuchs requested runway 27 for an emergency landing, even though that meant landing with a 21-knot quartering tailwind.<ref name=final/><ref>The wind was initially from 40 degrees at 21 kt, and then 50 at 22. Runway 27 is aligned due west.</ref> | |||
===Flight=== | |||
The plane was still too high and close in to land when it circled back to the airport. The captain was forced to continue circling Amsterdam until he could reduce his altitude to that required for a final approach to landing. During the second circle, the captain instructed the first officer to extend the wing flaps. The inboard trailing edge flaps extended, since they were powered by the number one hydraulic system, which was still functioning, but the outboard trailing edge flaps did not extend, because they were powered by the number four hydraulic system, which failed when the number four engine was torn off the wing. That partial flap condition meant that the plane would have a higher pitch attitude than normal, as the plane slowed down. The leading edge flaps (powered by the pneumatic system) extended on the left wing, but not on the right wing, because of the intensive damage sustained when the engines broke off, which had severely disrupted air flow over the wing. That differential configuration caused the left wing to generate significantly more ] than the damaged right wing, especially when the pitch attitude increased as the airspeed decreased. The increased lift on the left side increased the tendency to roll further to the right, both because the right outboard aileron was inoperative and because the captain elected to increase the thrust on the left engines in an attempt to reduce his very high sink rate. As the aircraft slowed, the ability of the remaining controls to counteract the right roll diminished. The captain finally lost all ability to prevent the plane from rolling to the right. The roll reached 90 degrees just before the impact with the apartment houses. | |||
El Al Flight 1862 was scheduled to depart at 17:30, but was delayed until 18:20. It departed from runway 01L Zwanenburgbaan (now known as runway 36C) on a northerly heading at 18:22. Once airborne, the aircraft turned to the right. Soon after the turn, at 18:27, above the ], a lake near Amsterdam, witnesses on the ground heard a sharp bang and saw falling debris, a trail of smoke, and a momentary flash of fire on the right wing while the aircraft was climbing through {{Convert|1950|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name=final/>{{rp|7}} Engine No.{{tsp}}3 (right wing, nearest to ]) separated from the right wing of the aircraft, shot forward, damaged the ], then fell back and struck engine No.{{tsp}}4 (right wing, farthest from fuselage), tearing it from the wing. The two engines fell away from the aircraft, also ripping out a {{cvt|10|m|ft}} stretch of the wing's leading edge. The loud noise attracted the attention of some pleasure boaters on the Gooimeer. The boaters notified the ] of two objects they had seen falling from the sky. One boater, a police officer, said he initially thought the two falling objects were parachutists, but as they fell closer he could see that they were plane engines.<ref name="seconds">"Amsterdam Air Crash" ] Season 2, Episode 15</ref> | |||
[[File:Bijlmerramproute.png|thumb|A map of Amsterdam showing the aircraft's flight path{{break}} | |||
At 6:35:25 pm, the first officer radioed to ATC: "Going down, 1862, going down, going down, copied, going down." In the background, the captain was heard instructing the first officer in Hebrew to raise the flaps and lower the landing gear. | |||
marked in green:{{break}} | |||
1. Engine nos.{{tsp}}3 and 4 break off{{break}} | |||
2. Engine nos.{{tsp}}3 and 4 come down{{break}} | |||
3. First ] broadcast by pilot{{break}} | |||
4. Pilot reports fire in the engine{{break}} | |||
5. Pilot reports problems with the flaps{{break}} | |||
6. Aircraft becomes totally uncontrollable{{break}} | |||
7. Aircraft crashes]] | |||
The first officer made a ] call to ] (ATC) and indicated that they wanted to return to Schiphol.{{efn|Initially, the first officer was the pilot flying while the captain was making calls to ATC. These roles were immediately swapped following the engine separation.<ref name=final/>{{rp|41}}}} At 18:28:45, the first officer reported: "El Al 1862, lost number three and number four engine, number three and number four engine." ATC and the flight crew did not yet grasp the severity of the situation. Although the flight crew knew they had lost power from the engines, they did not see that the engines themselves had completely broken off and that the wing had been damaged.{{efn|In aviation, the term "lost" in this context means "engine failure", referring to an engine ceasing to provide thrust, rather than physically separating from the aircraft.}} The outboard engine on the wing of a 747 is visible from the ] only with difficulty and the inboard engine on the wing is not visible at all. Given the choices that the captain and crew made following the loss of engine power, the Dutch parliamentary inquiry commission that later studied the crash concluded that the crew did not know that both engines had broken away from the right wing. | |||
On the night of the crash, the landing runway in use at Schiphol was runway 06. The crew requested runway 27 – Schiphol's longest – for an emergency landing,<ref name=final/>{{rp|41–42}} even though it meant landing with a {{convert|21|knots|m/s km/h mph|1|adj=on}} quartering tailwind.{{efn|The wind was initially from 40 degrees at {{convert|21|knots|m/s km/h mph|1}}, and then 50 at {{convert|22|knots|m/s km/h mph|1}}. Runway 27 is aligned due west.}} | |||
At 6:35 pm local time, the plane turned over in an over-90 degree bank and with a nose-down attitude of about 70 degrees, and took a nosedive into two high-rise ]es in the ] neighborhood, at the corner of a building where the Groeneveen complex met the Klein-Kruitberg complex. The plane exploded and set fire to the building, which partially collapsed inward, destroying dozens of apartments. The cockpit came to rest east of the flats, between the building and the viaduct of Amsterdam Metro Line 53, and the tail snapped off, and was blown back by the force of the explosion. | |||
The aircraft was still too high and close to land when it circled back to the airport. It was forced to continue circling Amsterdam until it could reduce altitude to that required for a final approach to landing. During the second circle, the wing flaps were extended. The inboard trailing edge flaps extended, since they were powered by the number one hydraulic system, which was still functioning, but the outboard trailing edge flaps did not, because they were powered by the number four hydraulic system, which had failed when the number four engine broke away. The partial flap condition meant that the aircraft would have a higher pitch attitude than normal as it slowed down. The leading edge slats extended on the left wing, but not on the right wing, because of the extensive damage sustained when the engines separated, which had also severely disrupted the air flow over the right wing. That differential configuration caused the left wing to generate significantly more ] than the right, especially when the pitch attitude increased as the airspeed decreased. The increased lift on the left side increased the tendency to roll further to the right, both because the right outboard ] was inoperative and because the thrust of the left engines was increased in an attempt to reduce the aircraft's very high sink rate. As the aircraft slowed, the ability of the remaining controls to counteract the right roll diminished. The crew finally lost almost all ability to prevent the aircraft from rolling to the right. The roll reached 90° just before the impact with the apartments.<ref name=final/>{{rp|39–40}} | |||
During the last moments of the flight, the arrival traffic controllers made several desperate attempts to contact the aircraft. The Schiphol arrival controllers work from a closed building at Schiphol-East, not from the control tower. At 6:35:45 pm, however, the control tower reported to the arrival controllers: ''"Het is gebeurd"'' (lit., "It has happened", but often meaning "It is over"). At that moment a large smoke plume emitting from the crash scene was visible from the control tower. The plane had disappeared from arrival control radar. The arrival controllers reported that the aircraft had last been located 1,5 kilometers (1 mile) west of ] and emergency personnel were sent immediately. | |||
At 18:35:25, the first officer radioed to ATC: "Going down, 1862, going down, going down, copied, going down." In the background, the captain was heard instructing the first officer in Hebrew to raise the flaps and lower the landing gear.<ref name=final/>{{rp|8}} | |||
At the time of the crash, two police officers were in the ] checking on a burglary report. They saw the aircraft plummet and immediately sounded an alarm. The first fire trucks and rescue services arrived within a few minutes of the crash. Nearby hospitals were advised to prepare for hundreds of casualties. The flats were partly inhabited by undocumented ]s, and the ] would be difficult to estimate in the hours after the crash. | |||
===Crash=== | |||
<!-- Deleted image removed: ] --> | |||
] | |||
In the days immediately following the disaster, the bodies of the victims and the remains of the plane were recovered from the crash site. The remains of the plane were transported to ] for analysis. The parts were not used by investigators to reconstruct the aircraft. | |||
] | |||
At 18:35:42 local time, the aircraft nose-dived from the sky and crashed into two high-rise ]es in the ] neighbourhood of Amsterdam, at the corner of a building where the Groeneveen complex met the Klein-Kruitberg complex. It exploded in a fireball, which caused the building to partially collapse inward, destroying dozens of apartments. The cockpit came to rest east of the building, between the building and the viaduct of Amsterdam Metro Line 53; the tail broke off and was blown back by the force of the explosion.<ref name="final" /> | |||
During the last moments of the flight, the ATCs made several desperate attempts to contact the aircraft. The Schiphol arrival controllers work from a closed building at Schiphol-East, not from the control tower. At 18:35:45, the control tower reported to the arrival controllers: ''"Het is gebeurd"'' (literally "It has happened", but colloquially "It is over"). At that moment a large smoke plume emanating from the crash scene was visible from the control tower. The aircraft had disappeared from arrival control radar. The arrival controllers reported that the aircraft had last been located {{Convert|1.5|km|mi nmi|abbr=}} west of ], and emergency personnel were sent immediately.<ref name=final/>{{rp|29}} | |||
The aircraft's ] was recovered from the crash site, with its data intact. Despite intensive search activities to recover the ] from the wreckage area, the recorder was not found, although El Al employees stated that it had been installed in the aircraft.<ref name=final/> | |||
At the time of the crash, two police officers were in Bijlmermeer checking on a burglary report. They saw the aircraft plummet and immediately sounded an alarm. The first fire trucks and rescue services arrived within a few minutes of the crash. Nearby hospitals were advised to prepare for hundreds of casualties. The complex was partly inhabited by immigrants from Suriname and Aruba, both former Dutch colonies, and the death toll was difficult to estimate in the hours after the crash.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/11/weekinreview/oct-4-10-el-al-crash-netherlands-struggle-immigrants-sudden-disaster.html |title=The El Al Crash; In the Netherlands, The Struggle of Immigrants And Sudden Disaster |work=] |date=11 October 1992|access-date=7 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="nyt2">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/06/world/dutch-search-for-their-dead-where-el-al-plane-fell.html|title=Dutch Search for Their Dead Where El Al Plane Fell|author=Montgomery|first=Paul L.|date=6 October 1992|access-date=7 January 2015|work=]}}</ref> | |||
===Aftermath=== | |||
] | |||
The crash was also witnessed by people in a nearby fire station on Flierbosdreef. First responders came upon a rapidly spreading fire of "gigantic proportions" that consumed all 11 floors of the buildings and was {{Convert|120|m|ft|abbr=}} wide. No one survived from the crash point, but some managed to escape from the remainder of the building.<ref name="nbdc">{{cite news|url=http://www.nbdc.nl/cms/show/id=438453 |title=Bijlmerramp |work=National Fire Service Documentation Centre |access-date=7 January 2015 |language=nl |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150107132748/http://www.nbdc.nl/cms/show/id%3D438453 |archive-date=7 January 2015 }}</ref> Witnesses reported seeing people jumping out of the building to escape the fire.<ref name="bbc">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/4/newsid_4617000/4617395.stm |title=El Al jumbo crashes in Amsterdam |work=]|date=4 October 1992|access-date=6 January 2015}}</ref> | |||
Hundreds of people were left homeless by the crash; the city's municipal buses were used to transport survivors to emergency shelters. Firefighters and police were also forced to deal with reports of looting in the area.<ref name="nbdc" /> | |||
Prime Minister ] and ] visited the scene of the disaster the following afternoon. The prime minister said, "This is a disaster that has shaken the whole country."<ref name="nyt2" /> | |||
In the days immediately following the disaster, bodies of victims were recovered from the crash site. The mayor ordered rubble and aircraft wreckage removed, and investigators found the critical engine pylon fuse pins in the ]. The two fallen engines were recovered from the Gooimeer, as were pieces of a {{convert|30|ft|m|order=flip|adj=on|0}} section of the right wing's leading edge.<ref name="seconds" /> The remains of the aircraft were transported to Schiphol for analysis. | |||
The aircraft's ] was recovered from the crash site and was heavily damaged, with the tape broken in four places. The section containing the data from the last two and a half minutes of the flight was particularly damaged. The recorder was sent to the United States for recovery and the data was successfully extracted.<ref name="seconds" /> Despite intensive search activities to recover the ] from the wreckage area, it was never found, though El Al employees stated that it had been installed in the aircraft.<ref name=final/>{{rp|23}} | |||
==Causes== | ==Causes== | ||
When Boeing 747 engine or engine ] experience excessive load, the fuse pins holding the engine ] to the wing are designed to fracture cleanly, allowing the engine to separate from the aircraft without damaging the wing or wing fuel tank. Airliners are generally designed to remain airworthy in the event of an engine failure or separation, so they can be landed safely. | |||
However, damage to a wing or wing fuel tank can have disastrous consequences. The ] found that the fuse pins had not failed properly, but instead had ] prior to overload failure.<ref name="seconds" /> The board developed a scenario of a probable sequence of events for the loss of engine three: | |||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
#Gradual failure by ] and then overload failure of the inboard |
#Gradual failure by ] and then overload failure of the inboard midspar fuse pin at the inboard thin-walled location | ||
#Overload failure of the outer lug of the inboard |
#Overload failure of the outer lug of the inboard midspar pylon fitting | ||
#Overload failure of the outboard |
#Overload failure of the outboard midspar fuse pin at the outboard thin-walled and fatigue-cracked location | ||
#Overload failure of the outboard |
#Overload failure of the outboard midspar fuse pin at the inboard thin-walled location<ref name=final/>{{rp|46}} | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
This sequence of consecutive failures caused the inboard engine and pylon to break free. By sheer chance, its trajectory after breaking off the wing cause it to slam into the outboard engine and rip it and its pylon off the wing as well, and serious damage was also inflicted on the leading edge of the right wing. Both loss of hydraulic power and damage to the right wing prevented correct operation of the flaps that Captain Fuchs later tried to extend in flight. | |||
This sequence of consecutive failures caused the inboard engine and pylon to break free. Its trajectory after breaking off the wing caused it to slam into the outboard engine and rip it and its pylon off the wing. Serious damage was also caused to the leading edge of the right wing.<ref name="seconds" /> Both loss of hydraulic power and damage to the right wing prevented correct operation of the flaps that the crew later tried to extend in flight. | |||
Research indicated that the plane had only managed to maintain level flight at first due to its high air speed (280 knots). The damage to the right wing, resulting in reduced lift, had made it much more difficult to keep the plane level. At {{convert|280|kn|km/h}}, there was nevertheless sufficient lift on the right wing to keep the plane aloft. Once the plane had to reduce speed for landing, however, it was doomed; there was too little lift on the right wing to enable stable flight, and the plane banked sharply to the right without any chance of recovery. | |||
Research indicated that the crew were able to keep the aircraft in the air at first due to its high air speed (280 knots), though the damage to the right wing, resulting in reduced lift, had made keeping level more difficult. At {{convert|280|kn|km/h mph|abbr=on}}, nevertheless, lift on the right wing was sufficient to keep the aircraft aloft. Once it had to reduce speed for landing, the amount of lift on the right wing was insufficient to enable stable flight, so a safe landing would have been very difficult to achieve. The aircraft then banked sharply to the right with very little chance of recovery. | |||
The official probable causes were determined to be:<ref name=final/> | The official probable causes were determined to be:<ref name=final/>{{rp|46}} | ||
{{ |
{{blockquote|The design and certification of the ]-747 pylon was found to be inadequate to provide the required level of safety. Furthermore the system to ensure structural integrity by inspection failed. This ultimately caused – probably initiated by fatigue in the inboard midspar fuse-pin – the no. 3 pylon and engine to separate from the wing in such a way that the no. 4 pylon and engine were torn off, part of the leading edge of the wing was damaged and the use of several systems was lost or limited. | ||
This subsequently left the flight crew with very limited control of the airplane. Because of the marginal controllability a safe landing became highly improbable, if not virtually impossible.}} | This subsequently left the flight crew with very limited control of the airplane. Because of the marginal controllability a safe landing became highly improbable, if not virtually impossible.}} | ||
==Victims== | ==Victims== | ||
]"]] | |||
Immediately after the crash, 1,500 people were considered missing. The Dutch government originally estimated a death toll of over 200.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}} In the end, the official death toll stood at 43, including all 4 occupants of the plane (3 crew and 1 non-revenue passenger) and 39 people on the ground,<ref name="final" /> considerably lower than expected. At the time of the crash many potential victims were not at home, possibly because of the pleasant weather on the evening of the crash. Twenty-six people sustained non-fatal injuries; eleven of these were injured seriously enough to require hospital treatment. | |||
] | |||
Forty-seven people were killed in the disaster: all four occupants of the aircraft (three crew members and one nonrevenue passenger) and 43 people on the ground.<ref name=final/>{{rp|9}} This was considerably lower than expected; the police had originally estimated a death toll over 200<ref name="bbc" /> and Amsterdam Mayor ] had said that 240 people were missing.<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="nyt2" /> Twenty-six people sustained nonfatal injuries; 11 of these were injured seriously enough to require hospital treatment.<ref name=final/>{{rp|9}} | |||
A belief has persisted that the actual number of victims killed in the crash was considerably higher. Bijlmermeer has a high number of residents living there illegally, particularly from ] and ], and members of the Ghanaian community stated that they lost a considerable number of undocumented occupants who were not counted among the dead.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.amsterdamtourism.net/the_bijlmer.html |work=Amsterdam Tourism |title=The Bijlmer |access-date=7 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120100021/http://www.amsterdamtourism.net/the_bijlmer.html |archive-date=20 January 2015 }}</ref> | |||
===Memorial=== | ===Memorial=== | ||
A memorial, designed by architects ] and Georges Descombes, was built near the crash site with |
A memorial, designed by architects ] and Georges Descombes, was built near the crash site with the names of the victims.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mrld.net/pdfs/descombes.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=26 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529101012/http://www.mrld.net/pdfs/descombes.pdf |archive-date=29 May 2008 }}</ref> Flowers are laid at a grey poplar tree that survived the disaster, referred to as "]" (''de boom die alles zag''). A public memorial is held annually to mark the disaster; no planes fly over the area for one hour out of respect for the victims.<ref name="nos"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://frontpage.fok.nl/nieuws/233514/1/1/50/bijlmerramp-voor-zestiende-keer-herdacht.html|title=Bijlmerramp voor zestiende keer herdacht|date=4 October 2008|access-date=7 January 2015|language=nl|trans-title=Bijlmer disaster commemorated for sixteenth time}}</ref> | ||
==Health issues== | ==Health issues== | ||
{{more citations needed|section|date=October 2019}} | |||
Mental health care was available after the crash to all affected residents and service personnel. After about a year, however, many residents and service personnel began approaching doctors with physical health complaints, which the affected patients blamed on the El Al crash. Insomnia, chronic respiratory infections, general pain and discomfort, impotence, flatulence, and bowel complaints were all reported. 67% of the affected patients were found to be infected with ], and suffered from symptoms similar to the ] or ]-like symptoms. | |||
] | |||
Mental health care was available after the crash to all affected residents and service personnel. After about a year, many residents and service personnel began approaching doctors with physical health symptoms, which the affected patients blamed on the El Al crash. Insomnia, chronic respiratory infections, general pain and discomfort, impotence, flatulence, and bowel symptoms were all reported. About 67% of the affected patients were found to be infected with '']'', and suffered from symptoms similar to the ] or ]-like symptoms. | |||
Dutch officials from government departments of transport and of public health asserted that at the time of the crash |
Dutch officials from government departments of transport and of public health asserted that at the time of the crash, they understood that no health risks existed from any cargo on the aircraft; ], minister of public health, stated that "no extremely toxic, very dangerous, or ] materials" had been on board. In October 1993, the nuclear energy research foundation Laka reported that the tail contained {{convert|282|kg|lb}} of ] as counterweight, as did all Boeing 747s at the time; this was not known during the rescue and recovery process.<ref>{{Cite journal| url=http://www.rivm.nl/bibliotheek/digitaaldepot/risico_uranium_bijlmerramp.pdf | title=Evaluating the risk from depleted uranium after the Boeing 747-258F crash in Amsterdam, 1992 | author=Uijt de Haag P.A. and Smetsers R.C. and Witlox H.W. and Krus H.W. and Eisenga A.H. | journal=Journal of Hazardous Materials | volume=76 | issue=1 | pages=39–58 |date=28 August 2000 | access-date=16 May 2007 | doi=10.1016/S0304-3894(00)00183-7 | pmid=10863013| bibcode=2000JHzM...76...39U }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ratical.org/radiation/dhap/dhap997.html | title=Uranium Pollution from the Amsterdam 1992 Plane Crash | author=Henk van der Keur | publisher=Laka Foundation |date=May 1999 | access-date=16 May 2007}}</ref> | ||
Studies were suggested to be undertaken on the symptoms of the affected survivors and service personnel, but for several years, these suggestions were ignored on the basis that no practical reason would lead one to believe in any link between the health symptoms of the survivors and the Bijlmer crash site. In 1997, an expert testified in the Israeli ] that dangerous products would have been released during combustion of the depleted uranium in the tail of the Boeing 747.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}} - an eventuality given consideration, but ruled out as improbable, in the Netherlands Air Safety Board's 1994 final report of the accident.<ref name=final/>{{rp|33–34}} | |||
The first studies on the symptoms reported by survivors, performed by the ] (AMC), began in May 1998. The AMC eventually concluded that up to a dozen cases of ]s among the survivors could be directly attributed to the crash, and health notices were distributed to doctors throughout the Netherlands requesting that extra attention be paid to symptoms of autoimmune disorder, particularly if the patient had a link with the Bijlmer crash site. Another study, performed by the ], concluded that although toxic products had been released at the time of the crash, the added risks of cancer were small, about one or two additional cases per 10,000 exposed persons. The institute also concluded that the chances of uranium poisoning were minimal. | |||
In 1997, however, an expert testified in the ]i ] that dangerous products would have been released during combustion of the depleted uranium in the tail of the Boeing 747. | |||
The first studies on the symptoms reported by survivors, performed by the ], began in May 1998. The AMC eventually concluded that up to a dozen cases of ]s among the survivors could be directly attributed to the crash, and health notices were distributed to doctors throughout the Netherlands requesting that extra attention be paid to symptoms of auto-immune disorder, particularly if the patient had a link with the Bijlmer crash site. Another study, performed by the ], concluded that although toxic products had been released at the time of the crash, the added risks of cancer were small, approximately one or two additional cases per ten thousand exposed persons. The RIVM also concluded that the chances of uranium poisoning were minimal. | |||
==Cargo== | ==Cargo== | ||
Soon after the disaster it was announced that the |
Soon after the disaster, it was announced that the aircraft had contained fruit, perfumes, and computer components.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Genzmer |first1=Herber |title=Great Disasters |last2=Kershner |first2=Sybille |last3=Schutz |first3=Christian |date=21 January 1989 |publisher=Parragon |isbn=9781445410968}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=April 2024}} Dutch Minister ] asserted that she was certain that it contained no military cargo. | ||
The survivors' health complaints following the crash increased the number of questions about the cargo. In 1998, El Al spokesman Nachman Klieman publicly revealed that 190L of ], a ], had been included in the cargo. The chemical's primary commercial use is as a flame retardant. Other commercial uses include being a preignition additive for gasoline, anti-foaming agent, plasticizer, stabilizer, textile conditioner, antistatic agent, an additive for solvents and low-temperature hydraulic fluids, and as a catalyst/reagent in the organic synthesis of ] and ] nerve gases. The State of Israel noted that the chemical had been listed on the cargo manifest in accordance with international regulations, the material was nontoxic, and its intended use was to test the filters of ] detectors. The Dutch foreign ministry confirmed that it had already known about the presence of chemicals on the aircraft. The shipment was from a US chemical plant to the ] under a ] license.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Israel says El Al crash chemical 'non-toxic'|date=2 October 1998|publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |access-date=2 July 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030818042548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |archive-date = 18 August 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Joel|last=Greenberg|title= Nerve-Gas Element Was in El Al Plane Lost in 1992 Crash|date=2 October 1998|work=]|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E5D91538F931A35753C1A96E958260&pagewanted=all|access-date=11 October 2007}}</ref> According to the chemical weapons website CWInfo, the quantity involved was "too small for the preparation of a militarily useful quantity of Sarin, but would be consistent with making small quantities for testing detection methods and protective clothing."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cbwinfo.com/Chemical/Precursors/p3.html|title=Nerve Agent Precursor: Dimethyl Methyl Phosphonate|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904050222/http://cbwinfo.com/Chemical/Precursors/p3.html|archive-date=4 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://retro.nrc.nl/W2/Nieuws/1998/09/30/Vp/01.html|title=Grondstof gifgas in Boeing El Al|last1=Van Den Burg|first1=Harm|date=30 September 1998|work=NRC Handelsblad|access-date=9 November 2019|last2=Knip|first2=Karel|location=Rotterdam|language=nl|trans-title=Raw material poison gas in Boeing El Al}}</ref> | |||
In September 1993, the media reported that the El Al Boeing contained dangerous cargo. Some portion of the cargo proved to be ]i national defense materials.{{Citation needed|date=January 2011}} It was also reported{{Who|date=January 2011}} that a third of the cargo had not been physically inspected and that the cargo listings had not been checked.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} | |||
==Related accidents and aftermath == | |||
The survivors' health complaints following the crash increased the number of questions about the cargo. | |||
This was one of several accidents caused by problems with ] and 747 engine pylons, which were nearly identical in design.<ref name=final/>{{rp|38}} | |||
On 8 April 1968, an engine and pylon had fallen off a Boeing 707, being operated as ], resulting in five deaths. | |||
In 1998 it was publicly revealed by El-Al spokesman Nachman Klieman that 190 liters of ], a ] which, among many other uses, can be used for the synthesis of ] nerve gas, had been included in the cargo. Israel stated that the material was non-toxic, was to have been used to test filters that protect against chemical weapons, and that it had been clearly listed on the cargo manifest in accordance with international regulations. The Dutch foreign ministry confirmed that it had already known about the presence of chemicals on the plane. The shipment was from a U.S. chemical plant to the ] under a ] license.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Israel says El Al crash chemical 'non-toxic'|date=2 October 1998|publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |accessdate=2006-07-02 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20030818042548/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/185199.stm |archivedate = 18 August 2003}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Israel says El Al crash chemical 'non-toxic'|date=2 October 1998|publisher=BBC |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/185199.stm|accessdate=2006-07-02}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Joel|last=Greenberg|title= Nerve-Gas Element Was in El Al Plane Lost in 1992 Crash|date=2 October 1998|work=New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E5D91538F931A35753C1A96E958260&pagewanted=all|accessdate=2007-10-11}}</ref> According to the Chemical weapons site CWInfo the quantity involved was "too small for the preparation of a militarily useful quantity of Sarin, but would be consistent with making small quantities for testing detection methods and protective clothing".<ref>http://cbwinfo.com/Chemical/Precursors/p3.html</ref> | |||
On 16 January 1987, a Transbrasil Boeing 707 (PT-TCP) lost its No. 2 engine with 150 people on board. It landed without incident and was later ferried on three engines for repair. | |||
==Alterations to Boeing aircraft== | |||
After the crash investigation, Boeing issued a service directive to all airlines regarding the faulty fuse pins on Boeing 747 aircraft. The 747s had their engines taken off and examined for cracks in the fuse pins. If cracks were present, the fuse pins were to be replaced. | |||
On 29 December 1991, ] had crashed when its No. 3 and No. 4 engines fell off shortly after takeoff from Taipei, resulting in the death of all five occupants.<ref name=final/>{{rp|32}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19911229-0|title=Accident description, Sunday 29 December 1991, China Airlines Boeing 747-2R7F|work=ASN|access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
On 31 March 1992, a similar scenario occurred with ]. Engines No. 3 and No. 4 (Both right wing engines) detached from the aircraft – this time on a Boeing 707. Again, No. 3 engine detached and collided with No. 4 engine, tearing it off as well. On this occasion, the crew was able to land safely at ] in the south of France.<ref name=final/>{{rp|32}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920331-0|title=Accident description, Tuesday 31 March 1992, Trans-Air Service Boeing 707-321C|work=ASN|access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
In April 1992, a ] 707 cargo flight was forced to return to Miami, when the No. 3 engine separated shortly after takeoff.<ref name=final/>{{rp|32}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19920425-0|title=Accident description, Saturday 25 April 1992, Tampa Columbia Boeing 707-324C|work=ASN|access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
On 31 March 1993, ], a Boeing 747-121F (freighter), operated by ] returned to ] after the No. 2 engine (inner-most left engine) detached.<ref name=final/>{{rp|33}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19930331-0|title=Accident description, Wednesday 31 March 1993, Japan Air Lines Boeing 747-121|work=ASN|access-date=20 March 2015}}</ref> | |||
After this accident, Boeing issued a service directive to all owners of the 747 regarding its fuse pins. Engines and pylons had to be removed from 747s and the fuse pins examined for defects. If cracks were present, the pins were to be replaced. | |||
==Depictions== | |||
The crash was depicted in the ] documentary series '']'' (in the 2006 episode "Amsterdam Air Crash") and '']'', known as ''Air Crash Investigation'' outside North America (in the 2016 episode "High Rise Catastrophe").<ref>{{Citation |title=Mayday - Air Crash Investigation (S01-S22) |url=http://archive.org/details/mayday-aci |access-date=2024-02-16}}</ref> | |||
The crash and its aftermath were the basis for a five-part Dutch TV ] series titled ''Rampvlucht'' (‘Disaster Flight’) (]), which premiered on Dutch public broadcaster ] on October 4, 2022, the thirty-year anniversary of the crash. It follows a Bijlmermeer-based veterinarian and two journalists who find themselves drawn into a years-long investigation into the many puzzling questions surrounding the official narrative about the crash. The series was awarded the 2022 ] for Best TV Series.<ref>, ], Oct 19, 2022, ]</ref> | |||
==See also== | ==See also== | ||
{{Portal|Israel| |
{{Portal|Israel|Netherlands|Aviation|1990s}} | ||
*] | |||
*] | |||
*] |
*] - 1991 air disaster also involving loss of control due to an in-flight separation of two engines in near identical circumstances | ||
*] - 1992 air incident also involving an in-flight separation of two engines | |||
*] – 25 May 1979 – engine and ] loss on one wing during takeoff. | |||
*] - 6 February 1991 air incident also involving an in-flight separation of two engines | |||
*] | |||
*] - 1979 air disaster also involving loss of control due to engine detachment | |||
{{-}} | |||
*] - 1993 air incident involving another 747 freighter with an engine detachment | |||
*] | |||
*] - 1989 aircraft crash involving several passengers from Bijlmer | |||
*] | |||
==Notes== | |||
{{notelist}} | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{Reflist}} | {{Reflist|30em}} | ||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
Line 118: | Line 180: | ||
* Vincent Dekker, ''Going down, going down: De ware toedracht van de Bijlmerramp.'' Amsterdam: Pandora, 1999. | * Vincent Dekker, ''Going down, going down: De ware toedracht van de Bijlmerramp.'' Amsterdam: Pandora, 1999. | ||
* ''Een beladen vlucht: eindrapport Bijlmer enquête.'' Sdu Uitgevers, 1999. | * ''Een beladen vlucht: eindrapport Bijlmer enquête.'' Sdu Uitgevers, 1999. | ||
* Pierre Heijboer, ''Doemvlucht: de verzwegen geheimen van de Bijlmerramp.'' Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 2002. | * ], ''Doemvlucht: de verzwegen geheimen van de Bijlmerramp.'' Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 2002. | ||
* R. J. H. Wanhill and A. Oldersma, '''', Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR TP 96719). | * R. J. H. Wanhill and A. Oldersma, '''', Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR TP 96719). () | ||
* This event is featured on the ] show '']''. | * This event is featured on the ] show '']''. | ||
* The crash was featured on the 15th season of the ] and ] show ] or ''Air Crash Investigation''. The episode is called High Rise Catastrophe. The computer graphics in the documentary wrongly painted the aircraft in El Al's passenger aircraft livery, while in reality, the crashed aircraft lacks the painting of Israel flag and airline identity, and only the word "Cargo" appear on both sides of the aircraft. | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Commons category|El Al Flight 1862}} | {{Commons category|El Al Flight 1862}} | ||
* |
*{{Dead link|date=December 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} () ]. Originally issued in English, with a Dutch translation to be issued at a later time. | ||
* | * | ||
* | *{{usurped|}} | ||
* | * | ||
* | * | ||
* | |||
{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1992}} | |||
*. Planecrashinfo.com (4 October 1992). Retrieved on 9 September 2011. | *. Planecrashinfo.com (4 October 1992). Retrieved on 9 September 2011. | ||
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the Netherlands}} | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2011}} | |||
{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1992}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 08:24, 20 November 2024
1992 plane crash in the Netherlands
Aftermath of the disaster | |
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 4 October 1992 (1992-10-04) |
Summary | Crashed following dual engine separation and loss of control |
Site | Amsterdam-Zuidoost Near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands 52°19′8″N 4°58′30″E / 52.31889°N 4.97500°E / 52.31889; 4.97500 |
Total fatalities | 47 |
Total injuries | 26 |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing 747-258F |
Operator | El Al |
IATA flight No. | LY1862 |
ICAO flight No. | ELY1862 |
Call sign | ELAL 1862 |
Registration | 4X-AXG |
Flight origin | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, United States |
Stopover | Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands |
Destination | Ben Gurion International Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel |
Occupants | 4 |
Passengers | 1 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 4 |
Survivors | 0 |
Ground casualties | |
Ground fatalities | 43 |
Ground injuries | 26 (11 serious, 15 minor) |
On 4 October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft of the Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the Bijlmermeer (colloquially "Bijlmer") neighbourhood of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The accident is known in Dutch as the Bijlmerramp (Bijlmer disaster).
Forty-seven people were killed, including all 4 on board and 43 on the ground. Eleven people were seriously injured and 15 received minor injuries. The exact number killed on the ground is uncertain, as the building housed many unregistered residents. The accident is the deadliest aviation disaster to have occurred in the Netherlands.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-258F, MSN 21737, registered as 4X-AXG. It had flown 45,746 hours and completed 10,107 flight cycles before the accident. It was equipped with four Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7J engines.
Accident
All times in this article are Central European Time (UTC+1).On 4 October 1992, the cargo aircraft, a Boeing 747-258F, registered as 4X-AXG, travelling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel, made a stopover at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. During the flight from New York to Schiphol, three issues were noted: fluctuations in the autopilot speed regulation, problems with a radio, and fluctuations in the voltage of the electrical generator on engine number three, the inboard engine on the right wing that would later detach from the aircraft and initiate the accident.
The jet landed in Schiphol at 14:40 for cargo loading and crew change. The aircraft was refueled and the observed issues were repaired, at least provisionally. The crew consisted of Captain Yitzhak Fuchs (59), First Officer Arnon Ohad (32), and Flight Engineer Gedalya Sofer (61). A single passenger named Anat Solomon (23) was on board. She was an El Al employee based in Amsterdam, and was travelling to Tel Aviv to marry another El Al employee. Captain Fuchs was an experienced aviator, having flown as a fighter-bomber pilot in the Israeli air force in the late 1950s. He had over 25,000 flight hours, including 9,500 hours on the Boeing 747. First Officer Ohad had less experience than the other two crew members, having logged 4,288 flight hours, 612 of them on the Boeing 747. Flight Engineer Sofer was the most experienced crew member on the flight, with more than 26,000 hours of flight experience, of which 15,000 were on the Boeing 747.
Captain Yitzhak Fuchs had flown for El Al for 28 years and had previously served in the Israeli Air Force for 10 years. First Officer Arnon Ohad had flown for El Al for 10 years, Flight Engineer Gedalya Sofer for 37 years.
Flight
El Al Flight 1862 was scheduled to depart at 17:30, but was delayed until 18:20. It departed from runway 01L Zwanenburgbaan (now known as runway 36C) on a northerly heading at 18:22. Once airborne, the aircraft turned to the right. Soon after the turn, at 18:27, above the Gooimeer, a lake near Amsterdam, witnesses on the ground heard a sharp bang and saw falling debris, a trail of smoke, and a momentary flash of fire on the right wing while the aircraft was climbing through 1,950 m (6,400 ft). Engine No. 3 (right wing, nearest to fuselage) separated from the right wing of the aircraft, shot forward, damaged the wing slats, then fell back and struck engine No. 4 (right wing, farthest from fuselage), tearing it from the wing. The two engines fell away from the aircraft, also ripping out a 10 m (33 ft) stretch of the wing's leading edge. The loud noise attracted the attention of some pleasure boaters on the Gooimeer. The boaters notified the Netherlands Coastguard of two objects they had seen falling from the sky. One boater, a police officer, said he initially thought the two falling objects were parachutists, but as they fell closer he could see that they were plane engines.
The first officer made a Mayday call to air traffic control (ATC) and indicated that they wanted to return to Schiphol. At 18:28:45, the first officer reported: "El Al 1862, lost number three and number four engine, number three and number four engine." ATC and the flight crew did not yet grasp the severity of the situation. Although the flight crew knew they had lost power from the engines, they did not see that the engines themselves had completely broken off and that the wing had been damaged. The outboard engine on the wing of a 747 is visible from the cockpit only with difficulty and the inboard engine on the wing is not visible at all. Given the choices that the captain and crew made following the loss of engine power, the Dutch parliamentary inquiry commission that later studied the crash concluded that the crew did not know that both engines had broken away from the right wing.
On the night of the crash, the landing runway in use at Schiphol was runway 06. The crew requested runway 27 – Schiphol's longest – for an emergency landing, even though it meant landing with a 21-knot (10.8 m/s; 38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph) quartering tailwind.
The aircraft was still too high and close to land when it circled back to the airport. It was forced to continue circling Amsterdam until it could reduce altitude to that required for a final approach to landing. During the second circle, the wing flaps were extended. The inboard trailing edge flaps extended, since they were powered by the number one hydraulic system, which was still functioning, but the outboard trailing edge flaps did not, because they were powered by the number four hydraulic system, which had failed when the number four engine broke away. The partial flap condition meant that the aircraft would have a higher pitch attitude than normal as it slowed down. The leading edge slats extended on the left wing, but not on the right wing, because of the extensive damage sustained when the engines separated, which had also severely disrupted the air flow over the right wing. That differential configuration caused the left wing to generate significantly more lift than the right, especially when the pitch attitude increased as the airspeed decreased. The increased lift on the left side increased the tendency to roll further to the right, both because the right outboard aileron was inoperative and because the thrust of the left engines was increased in an attempt to reduce the aircraft's very high sink rate. As the aircraft slowed, the ability of the remaining controls to counteract the right roll diminished. The crew finally lost almost all ability to prevent the aircraft from rolling to the right. The roll reached 90° just before the impact with the apartments.
At 18:35:25, the first officer radioed to ATC: "Going down, 1862, going down, going down, copied, going down." In the background, the captain was heard instructing the first officer in Hebrew to raise the flaps and lower the landing gear.
Crash
At 18:35:42 local time, the aircraft nose-dived from the sky and crashed into two high-rise apartment complexes in the Bijlmermeer neighbourhood of Amsterdam, at the corner of a building where the Groeneveen complex met the Klein-Kruitberg complex. It exploded in a fireball, which caused the building to partially collapse inward, destroying dozens of apartments. The cockpit came to rest east of the building, between the building and the viaduct of Amsterdam Metro Line 53; the tail broke off and was blown back by the force of the explosion.
During the last moments of the flight, the ATCs made several desperate attempts to contact the aircraft. The Schiphol arrival controllers work from a closed building at Schiphol-East, not from the control tower. At 18:35:45, the control tower reported to the arrival controllers: "Het is gebeurd" (literally "It has happened", but colloquially "It is over"). At that moment a large smoke plume emanating from the crash scene was visible from the control tower. The aircraft had disappeared from arrival control radar. The arrival controllers reported that the aircraft had last been located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi; 0.81 nmi) west of Weesp, and emergency personnel were sent immediately.
At the time of the crash, two police officers were in Bijlmermeer checking on a burglary report. They saw the aircraft plummet and immediately sounded an alarm. The first fire trucks and rescue services arrived within a few minutes of the crash. Nearby hospitals were advised to prepare for hundreds of casualties. The complex was partly inhabited by immigrants from Suriname and Aruba, both former Dutch colonies, and the death toll was difficult to estimate in the hours after the crash.
Aftermath
The crash was also witnessed by people in a nearby fire station on Flierbosdreef. First responders came upon a rapidly spreading fire of "gigantic proportions" that consumed all 11 floors of the buildings and was 120 metres (390 ft) wide. No one survived from the crash point, but some managed to escape from the remainder of the building. Witnesses reported seeing people jumping out of the building to escape the fire.
Hundreds of people were left homeless by the crash; the city's municipal buses were used to transport survivors to emergency shelters. Firefighters and police were also forced to deal with reports of looting in the area.
Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and Queen Beatrix visited the scene of the disaster the following afternoon. The prime minister said, "This is a disaster that has shaken the whole country."
In the days immediately following the disaster, bodies of victims were recovered from the crash site. The mayor ordered rubble and aircraft wreckage removed, and investigators found the critical engine pylon fuse pins in the landfill. The two fallen engines were recovered from the Gooimeer, as were pieces of a 9-metre (30 ft) section of the right wing's leading edge. The remains of the aircraft were transported to Schiphol for analysis.
The aircraft's flight data recorder was recovered from the crash site and was heavily damaged, with the tape broken in four places. The section containing the data from the last two and a half minutes of the flight was particularly damaged. The recorder was sent to the United States for recovery and the data was successfully extracted. Despite intensive search activities to recover the cockpit voice recorder from the wreckage area, it was never found, though El Al employees stated that it had been installed in the aircraft.
Causes
When Boeing 747 engine or engine pylons experience excessive load, the fuse pins holding the engine nacelle to the wing are designed to fracture cleanly, allowing the engine to separate from the aircraft without damaging the wing or wing fuel tank. Airliners are generally designed to remain airworthy in the event of an engine failure or separation, so they can be landed safely.
However, damage to a wing or wing fuel tank can have disastrous consequences. The Netherlands Aviation Safety Board found that the fuse pins had not failed properly, but instead had fatigue cracks prior to overload failure. The board developed a scenario of a probable sequence of events for the loss of engine three:
- Gradual failure by fatigue and then overload failure of the inboard midspar fuse pin at the inboard thin-walled location
- Overload failure of the outer lug of the inboard midspar pylon fitting
- Overload failure of the outboard midspar fuse pin at the outboard thin-walled and fatigue-cracked location
- Overload failure of the outboard midspar fuse pin at the inboard thin-walled location
This sequence of consecutive failures caused the inboard engine and pylon to break free. Its trajectory after breaking off the wing caused it to slam into the outboard engine and rip it and its pylon off the wing. Serious damage was also caused to the leading edge of the right wing. Both loss of hydraulic power and damage to the right wing prevented correct operation of the flaps that the crew later tried to extend in flight.
Research indicated that the crew were able to keep the aircraft in the air at first due to its high air speed (280 knots), though the damage to the right wing, resulting in reduced lift, had made keeping level more difficult. At 280 kn (520 km/h; 320 mph), nevertheless, lift on the right wing was sufficient to keep the aircraft aloft. Once it had to reduce speed for landing, the amount of lift on the right wing was insufficient to enable stable flight, so a safe landing would have been very difficult to achieve. The aircraft then banked sharply to the right with very little chance of recovery.
The official probable causes were determined to be:
The design and certification of the Boeing-747 pylon was found to be inadequate to provide the required level of safety. Furthermore the system to ensure structural integrity by inspection failed. This ultimately caused – probably initiated by fatigue in the inboard midspar fuse-pin – the no. 3 pylon and engine to separate from the wing in such a way that the no. 4 pylon and engine were torn off, part of the leading edge of the wing was damaged and the use of several systems was lost or limited. This subsequently left the flight crew with very limited control of the airplane. Because of the marginal controllability a safe landing became highly improbable, if not virtually impossible.
Victims
Forty-seven people were killed in the disaster: all four occupants of the aircraft (three crew members and one nonrevenue passenger) and 43 people on the ground. This was considerably lower than expected; the police had originally estimated a death toll over 200 and Amsterdam Mayor Ed van Thijn had said that 240 people were missing. Twenty-six people sustained nonfatal injuries; 11 of these were injured seriously enough to require hospital treatment.
A belief has persisted that the actual number of victims killed in the crash was considerably higher. Bijlmermeer has a high number of residents living there illegally, particularly from Ghana and Suriname, and members of the Ghanaian community stated that they lost a considerable number of undocumented occupants who were not counted among the dead.
Memorial
A memorial, designed by architects Herman Hertzberger and Georges Descombes, was built near the crash site with the names of the victims. Flowers are laid at a grey poplar tree that survived the disaster, referred to as "the tree that saw it all" (de boom die alles zag). A public memorial is held annually to mark the disaster; no planes fly over the area for one hour out of respect for the victims.
Health issues
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Mental health care was available after the crash to all affected residents and service personnel. After about a year, many residents and service personnel began approaching doctors with physical health symptoms, which the affected patients blamed on the El Al crash. Insomnia, chronic respiratory infections, general pain and discomfort, impotence, flatulence, and bowel symptoms were all reported. About 67% of the affected patients were found to be infected with Mycoplasma, and suffered from symptoms similar to the Gulf War syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome-like symptoms.
Dutch officials from government departments of transport and of public health asserted that at the time of the crash, they understood that no health risks existed from any cargo on the aircraft; Els Borst, minister of public health, stated that "no extremely toxic, very dangerous, or radioactive materials" had been on board. In October 1993, the nuclear energy research foundation Laka reported that the tail contained 282 kilograms (622 lb) of depleted uranium as counterweight, as did all Boeing 747s at the time; this was not known during the rescue and recovery process.
Studies were suggested to be undertaken on the symptoms of the affected survivors and service personnel, but for several years, these suggestions were ignored on the basis that no practical reason would lead one to believe in any link between the health symptoms of the survivors and the Bijlmer crash site. In 1997, an expert testified in the Israeli parliament that dangerous products would have been released during combustion of the depleted uranium in the tail of the Boeing 747. - an eventuality given consideration, but ruled out as improbable, in the Netherlands Air Safety Board's 1994 final report of the accident.
The first studies on the symptoms reported by survivors, performed by the Academisch Medisch Centrum (AMC), began in May 1998. The AMC eventually concluded that up to a dozen cases of autoimmune disorders among the survivors could be directly attributed to the crash, and health notices were distributed to doctors throughout the Netherlands requesting that extra attention be paid to symptoms of autoimmune disorder, particularly if the patient had a link with the Bijlmer crash site. Another study, performed by the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu, concluded that although toxic products had been released at the time of the crash, the added risks of cancer were small, about one or two additional cases per 10,000 exposed persons. The institute also concluded that the chances of uranium poisoning were minimal.
Cargo
Soon after the disaster, it was announced that the aircraft had contained fruit, perfumes, and computer components. Dutch Minister Hanja Maij-Weggen asserted that she was certain that it contained no military cargo.
The survivors' health complaints following the crash increased the number of questions about the cargo. In 1998, El Al spokesman Nachman Klieman publicly revealed that 190L of dimethyl methylphosphonate, a CWC schedule 2 chemical, had been included in the cargo. The chemical's primary commercial use is as a flame retardant. Other commercial uses include being a preignition additive for gasoline, anti-foaming agent, plasticizer, stabilizer, textile conditioner, antistatic agent, an additive for solvents and low-temperature hydraulic fluids, and as a catalyst/reagent in the organic synthesis of sarin and soman nerve gases. The State of Israel noted that the chemical had been listed on the cargo manifest in accordance with international regulations, the material was nontoxic, and its intended use was to test the filters of chemical weapon detectors. The Dutch foreign ministry confirmed that it had already known about the presence of chemicals on the aircraft. The shipment was from a US chemical plant to the Israel Institute for Biological Research under a US Department of Commerce license. According to the chemical weapons website CWInfo, the quantity involved was "too small for the preparation of a militarily useful quantity of Sarin, but would be consistent with making small quantities for testing detection methods and protective clothing."
Related accidents and aftermath
This was one of several accidents caused by problems with Boeing 707 and 747 engine pylons, which were nearly identical in design.
On 8 April 1968, an engine and pylon had fallen off a Boeing 707, being operated as BOAC Flight 712, resulting in five deaths.
On 16 January 1987, a Transbrasil Boeing 707 (PT-TCP) lost its No. 2 engine with 150 people on board. It landed without incident and was later ferried on three engines for repair.
On 29 December 1991, China Airlines Flight 358 had crashed when its No. 3 and No. 4 engines fell off shortly after takeoff from Taipei, resulting in the death of all five occupants.
On 31 March 1992, a similar scenario occurred with Trans-Air Service Flight 671. Engines No. 3 and No. 4 (Both right wing engines) detached from the aircraft – this time on a Boeing 707. Again, No. 3 engine detached and collided with No. 4 engine, tearing it off as well. On this occasion, the crew was able to land safely at Istres Air Base in the south of France.
In April 1992, a Tampa Colombia 707 cargo flight was forced to return to Miami, when the No. 3 engine separated shortly after takeoff.
On 31 March 1993, Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46E, a Boeing 747-121F (freighter), operated by Evergreen International Airlines returned to Anchorage International Airport after the No. 2 engine (inner-most left engine) detached.
After this accident, Boeing issued a service directive to all owners of the 747 regarding its fuse pins. Engines and pylons had to be removed from 747s and the fuse pins examined for defects. If cracks were present, the pins were to be replaced.
Depictions
The crash was depicted in the National Geographic documentary series Seconds from Disaster (in the 2006 episode "Amsterdam Air Crash") and Mayday, known as Air Crash Investigation outside North America (in the 2016 episode "High Rise Catastrophe").
The crash and its aftermath were the basis for a five-part Dutch TV docudrama series titled Rampvlucht (‘Disaster Flight’) (nl), which premiered on Dutch public broadcaster NPO on October 4, 2022, the thirty-year anniversary of the crash. It follows a Bijlmermeer-based veterinarian and two journalists who find themselves drawn into a years-long investigation into the many puzzling questions surrounding the official narrative about the crash. The series was awarded the 2022 Golden Calf for Best TV Series.
See also
- Aviation safety
- China Airlines Flight 358 - 1991 air disaster also involving loss of control due to an in-flight separation of two engines in near identical circumstances
- Trans-Air Service Flight 671 - 1992 air incident also involving an in-flight separation of two engines
- 1991 Gulf War KC-135 incident - 6 February 1991 air incident also involving an in-flight separation of two engines
- American Airlines Flight 191 - 1979 air disaster also involving loss of control due to engine detachment
- Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46E - 1993 air incident involving another 747 freighter with an engine detachment
- List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
- Surinam Airways Flight 764 - 1989 aircraft crash involving several passengers from Bijlmer
- 2020 Juba AN-26 crash
Notes
- The aircraft was a Boeing 747-200F (for Freighter) model; Boeing used to assign a unique customer code for each company that buys one of its aircraft, which was applied as a suffix in the model number at the time the aircraft is built. The code for El Al is "58", hence "747-258F".
- Initially, the first officer was the pilot flying while the captain was making calls to ATC. These roles were immediately swapped following the engine separation.
- In aviation, the term "lost" in this context means "engine failure", referring to an engine ceasing to provide thrust, rather than physically separating from the aircraft.
- The wind was initially from 40 degrees at 21 knots (10.8 m/s; 38.9 km/h; 24.2 mph), and then 50 at 22 knots (11.3 m/s; 40.7 km/h; 25.3 mph). Runway 27 is aligned due west.
References
- "Crash of a Boeing 747-258F in Amsterdam: 47 killed". www.baaa-acro.com. Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- "Crash of a Boeing 747-258F in Amsterdam: 47 killed | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives". www.baaa-acro.com. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ "Aircraft accident report 92-11 : El Al Flight 1862 Boeing 747-258F 4X-AXG Bijlmermeer, Amsterdam 4 October 1992" (PDF). Nederlands Aviation Safety Board. 24 February 1994. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008.
- ^ Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
- "Two engines separate from the right wing and result in loss of control and crash of Boeing 747 freighter" (PDF). flightsafety.org. Flight Safety Foundation.
- ^ "20 jaar Bijlmerramp" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS). 4 October 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- "Aircraft Accident Report 92-11 - El Al Flight 1862" (PDF). Nederlands Aviation Safety Board. 24 February 1993. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
- "Accident Boeing 747-258F 4X-AXG". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
- Socolovsky, Jerome (6 October 1992). "Sole El Al Passenger Was Going Home To Get Married With AM-Netherlands-Crash, Bjt". AP NEWS. Associated Press. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- Aloni, Shlomo. "Last of the fighting 'Wooden Wonders': The DH Mosquito in Israeli service" September/October 1999 article with photo in Air Enthusiast No. 83.
- ^ "Amsterdam Air Crash" Seconds From Disaster Season 2, Episode 15
- ^ "The El Al Crash; In the Netherlands, The Struggle of Immigrants And Sudden Disaster". The New York Times. 11 October 1992. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- ^ Montgomery, Paul L. (6 October 1992). "Dutch Search for Their Dead Where El Al Plane Fell". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- ^ "Bijlmerramp". National Fire Service Documentation Centre (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- ^ "El Al jumbo crashes in Amsterdam". BBC News. 4 October 1992. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- "The Bijlmer". Amsterdam Tourism. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - "Bijlmerramp voor zestiende keer herdacht" [Bijlmer disaster commemorated for sixteenth time] (in Dutch). 4 October 2008. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
- Uijt de Haag P.A. and Smetsers R.C. and Witlox H.W. and Krus H.W. and Eisenga A.H. (28 August 2000). "Evaluating the risk from depleted uranium after the Boeing 747-258F crash in Amsterdam, 1992" (PDF). Journal of Hazardous Materials. 76 (1): 39–58. Bibcode:2000JHzM...76...39U. doi:10.1016/S0304-3894(00)00183-7. PMID 10863013. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
- Henk van der Keur (May 1999). "Uranium Pollution from the Amsterdam 1992 Plane Crash". Laka Foundation. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
- Genzmer, Herber; Kershner, Sybille; Schutz, Christian (21 January 1989). Great Disasters. Parragon. ISBN 9781445410968.
- "Israel says El Al crash chemical 'non-toxic'". BBC. 2 October 1998. Archived from the original on 18 August 2003. Retrieved 2 July 2006.
- Greenberg, Joel (2 October 1998). "Nerve-Gas Element Was in El Al Plane Lost in 1992 Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 October 2007.
- "Nerve Agent Precursor: Dimethyl Methyl Phosphonate". Archived from the original on 4 September 2013.
- Van Den Burg, Harm; Knip, Karel (30 September 1998). "Grondstof gifgas in Boeing El Al" [Raw material poison gas in Boeing El Al]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Rotterdam. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- "Accident description, Sunday 29 December 1991, China Airlines Boeing 747-2R7F". ASN. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- "Accident description, Tuesday 31 March 1992, Trans-Air Service Boeing 707-321C". ASN. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- "Accident description, Saturday 25 April 1992, Tampa Columbia Boeing 707-324C". ASN. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- "Accident description, Wednesday 31 March 1993, Japan Air Lines Boeing 747-121". ASN. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
- Mayday - Air Crash Investigation (S01-S22), retrieved 16 February 2024
- A Brilliant New Dutch Thriller Shames El Al for Its Darkest Hour, Adrian Hennigan, Oct 19, 2022, Haaretz
Further reading
- Theo Bean, Een gat in mijn hart: een boek gebaseerd op tekeningen en teksten van kinderen na de vliegramp in de Bijlmermeer van 4 oktober 1992. Zwolle: Waanders, 1993.
- Vincent Dekker, Going down, going down: De ware toedracht van de Bijlmerramp. Amsterdam: Pandora, 1999.
- Een beladen vlucht: eindrapport Bijlmer enquête. Sdu Uitgevers, 1999.
- Pierre Heijboer, Doemvlucht: de verzwegen geheimen van de Bijlmerramp. Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 2002.
- R. J. H. Wanhill and A. Oldersma, Fatigue and Fracture in an Aircraft Engine Pylon, Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR TP 96719). (Archive)
- This event is featured on the National Geographic Channel show Seconds From Disaster.
- The crash was featured on the 15th season of the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel Canada show Mayday or Air Crash Investigation. The episode is called High Rise Catastrophe. The computer graphics in the documentary wrongly painted the aircraft in El Al's passenger aircraft livery, while in reality, the crashed aircraft lacks the painting of Israel flag and airline identity, and only the word "Cargo" appear on both sides of the aircraft.
External links
- Aircraft accident report (Archive) Netherlands Aviation Safety Board. Originally issued in English, with a Dutch translation to be issued at a later time.
- Corrosion Doctors' entry on El Al Flight 1862
- Photographs of the disaster on AirDisaster.com
- Google Maps view of site
- Pre-disaster photos from Airliners.net
- cvr 781228. Planecrashinfo.com (4 October 1992). Retrieved on 9 September 2011.
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Aviation accidents and incidents in 1992 (1992) | |
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Jan 3 CommutAir Flight 4821Jan 7 ECMM helicopter downingJan 20 Air Inter Flight 148Jan 28 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdownFeb 14 Aerolíneas Argentinas Flight 386Feb 15 Air Transport International Flight 805Mar 22 USAir Flight 405Mar 31 Trans-Air Service Flight 671Jun 6 Copa Airlines Flight 201Jun 7 American Eagle Flight 5456Jun 8 GP Express Airlines Flight 861Jul 20 Tbilisi Tupolev Tu-154 crashJul 24 Mandala Airlines Flight 660Jul 30 TWA Flight 843Jul 31 Thai Airways International Flight 311Jul 31 China General Aviation Flight 7552Aug 27 Aeroflot Flight 2808Sep 4 Vietnam Airlines Flight 850Sep 26 Nigerian Air Force C-130 crashSep 28 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268Oct 4 El Al Flight 1862Oct 18 Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 5601Nov 14 Vietnam Airlines Flight 474Nov 24 China Southern Airlines Flight 3943Dec 21 Martinair Flight 495Dec 22 Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 1103 | |
1991 ◄ ► 1993 |
- Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1992
- Accidents and incidents involving cargo aircraft
- 1990s in Amsterdam
- 1992 in the Netherlands
- 1992 disasters in the Netherlands
- Aviation accidents and incidents in the Netherlands
- Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747
- El Al accidents and incidents
- Israel–Netherlands relations
- Amsterdam-Zuidoost
- October 1992 events in Europe
- Airliner accidents and incidents involving in-flight engine separations
- High-rise fires