Luxair Flight 9642 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin Tempelhof Airport, Germany, to Luxembourg Findel Airport, Luxembourg, operated by Luxembourg's national airline Luxair. On 6 November 2002, the Fokker 50 operating the flight lost control and crashed onto a field during an attempted landing at the airport. Out of 22 passengers and crew members on board, only two people survived. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Luxembourg and the only fatal accident in Luxair's history.
Luxembourg's Administration for Technical Investigations (AET) concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error. The crew accepted the approach clearance given by ATC even though they were not fully prepared for landing. The crew then improvised in order to override a safety feature preventing the propellers from entering the reverse pitch in flight, leading to a loss of control.
The result of the investigation highlighted the possible safety risk regarding the protection system against an accidental deployment of reverse pitch in turboprops during mid-flight, prompting Fokker to issue a mandatory modification on the safety feature.
Background Aircraft The aircraft involved was a Fokker 50, manufactured in 1991 and delivered to Luxair in the same year, with aircraft registration LX-LGB. Equipped with Pratt & Whitney PW125B engines and two Dowty propellers, it had accumulated a total of 24,068 flight cycles. According to Luxair, the aircraft had been maintained properly. The last service was conducted on 4 May. The maintenance logbook indicated that the last defect, an inoperative anti-skid system on the aircraft, had been rectified on 5 November, one day before the accident.
Crew In command was 26-year-old Captain Claude Poeckes, who had a total flying experience of 4,242 flight hours and 2,864 hours on type. His co-pilot was 32-year-old First Officer John Arendt with total flight hours of 1,156 and 443 hours on type.
Accident Flight 9642 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin-Tempelhof Airport to Luxembourg Findel Airport. On 6 November, the aircraft was piloted by Captain Claude Poeckes and his co-pilot First Officer John Arendt. It took off from Berlin at around 07:40 local time with 19 passengers and 3 crew members on board.
While the aircraft was at cruising altitude, at around 08:55, the pilots checked the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) for weather information at Luxembourg. The runway visual range (RVR) was at , lower than the minimum required for the Fokker 50 to land. The visibility in the area had deteriorated due to the presence of heavy fog. With such low visibility, the crew realised that there would be delay for the landing. They either had to wait until the weather conditions began to improve by entering the holding pattern, or divert to the alternate airport.
The crew continued towards Luxembourg, checking the ATIS weather again, but visibility had not improved. They then discussed on the possible strategies for a landing during bad weather condition but failed to reach conclusion on the matter. As no decision was taken, the approach briefing was not conducted.
While First Officer Arendt was giving an address to the passengers, Captain Poeckes tried to contact Luxair officials on whether the weather had improved as a departing Cargolux jet might have cleared some of the fog in the area. To his disappointment, the airport was still covered with heavy fog. Due to the constant foggy condition, the crew were told to enter the Diekrich VOR, Findel's holding pattern. Co-pilot Arendt then announced to the passengers that the flight would enter a holding pattern first and that they would wait until the weather began to improve.
As they were heading towards the pattern, the ATC suddenly radioed the crew and instructed them to descend to and to change their heading. The transmission caught them off guard. First Officer Arendt was initially confused by the transmission and asked Captain Poeckes: "Is that for us?", to which the captain responded with "yes". The crew accepted the instruction, but First Officer Arendt was still surprised by the transmission as he could be heard saying "What kind of shit is that?"
Approach The crew still did not understand the reasons for the descent that had been requested by the controller. Fearing that they had been asked to prepare for an approach, they repeatedly checked the RVR (Runway Visual Range) value with Luxair Dispatch, but the weather in Findel Airport was still below the minimum amount for the landing. They were initially feeling uncertain about whether the controller had sent such transmission for holding or for an approach.
09:00:22 Captain Poeckes What is the RVR at the moment? Luxair Dispatch Eh, 275 09:00:38 Captain Poeckes 275 meters, what do we do now? 09:00:41 First Officer Arendt I don't know 09:01:06 First Officer Arendt Yes, what do they do with us then? Holding or is it for an approach?
Afterwards, the controller sent a message that cleared the crew's confusion. The controller specifically asked Flight 9642 to conduct an approach to Findel Airport. The crew were perplexed as the weather conditions had not met the minimum criteria for a landing. Meanwhile, the ATC did not know about the required RVR information as the crew had not informed the ATC about the matter. Despite being confused, the crew accepted the controller's request anyway and started to fly their aircraft as per the controller's instructions. The crew now realized that they had been chosen as the first aircraft that would land at Findel, increasing their workload pressure. Following the transmission, the crew frantically prepared their aircraft for an approach.
09:01:42 First Officer Arendt Oh gosh, they bring us in before all the others! 09:01:44 First Officer Arendt They bring us in before everybody! 09:01:58 First Officer Arendt Should we switch on the seat belts? 09:02:00 Captain Poeckes Yes, yes. This wouldn't be a bad idea
The flight eventually levelled off at and was approaching the radio beacon ELU, the point for final approach fix. During the approach to the beacon, Captain Poeckes told First Officer Arendt that they would conduct a missed approach if the weather was still below . After successfully capturing the airport's ILS, the crew checked on the RVR again, only to discover that the weather had deteriorated even further. The RVR had dropped to . With the minimums now clearly too low, the crew finally told ATC that they would need an RVR of for a landing.
After rushing through the approach checklist, the aircraft finally reached ELU. They checked the RVR again and the report did not indicate any improvements. Captain Poeckes then told First Officer Arendt that they would execute a missed approach, but the aircraft kept continuing to Findel. First Officer Arendt kept checking the approach checklist and then put the ground idle stop in the off position, as it was the last action that the crew were required to do on the checklist.
Captain Poeckes was not satisfied with the weather report and eventually called for a go-around at 09:04 local time. Just 10 seconds later, however, the ATC reported that the RVR had improved to 300 metres, the exact minimum amount for the landing of the Fokker 50. Immediately after this announcement, Captain Poeckes changed his mind and First Officer Arendt prepared the aircraft for landing.
Crash As they had been levelling off for quite some time after passing point ELU, the aircraft was flying a bit higher than the glideslope. To reduce their altitude faster, Captain Poeckes stated that he would try to reduce the power lever to flight idle, claiming that by doing so the aircraft would quickly descend to the required altitude. However, First Officer Arendt voiced his concern and told Captain Poeckes that such action would not be enough to slow down the aircraft.
First Officer Arendt reported to the ATC that they would continue the approach to Findel. Flight 9642 was eventually cleared to land and the crew extended the landing gear.
09:05:13 First Officer Arendt Clear to land, nine six four two 09:05:16 Commentary Noise similar to selecting gear down followed by gear extension noises 09:05:16 First Officer Arendt This will rather be... 09:05:16 Commentary Noise of increasing propeller speed 09:05:17 Commentary Noise of power levers passing through the idle position 09:05:19 Captain Poeckes What's that?
After extending the landing gear, the propeller speed began to increase, startling the crew due to the audible noise. The aircraft's speed and altitude then rapidly dropped. The crew realised that the reverse thrust had been deployed in mid-flight and tried to save the aircraft. In an attempt to regain lift, First Officer Arendt immediately retracted the flaps and Captain Poeckes moved the thrust lever fully forward. The aircraft, however, continued to plummet towards the ground.
As a last resort, the crew decided to shut down both engines. It did not stop the aircraft's rapid descent. Faced with imminent crash, the crew tried to flare as much as possible to prevent a destructive impact.
09:05:28 First Officer Arendt Wow this was shrewd stuff! Commentary Noise similar to electric transfer 09:05:29 Captain Poeckes Oh shit! 09:05:29 First Officer Arendt *Heavy breathing* 09:05:40 Commentary Noise similar to electric transfer 09:05:41 Commentary Double chime 09:05:44 Commentary End of recording
The aircraft touched down heavily, crossing the Route Nationale 1 (RN 1) and scraping the road with its left wing before striking an embankment, and coming to rest in an adjacent agricultural field beyond. Major damage occurred to the airframe, with both main landing gear ripped off, and losing a total of five blades from the propellers, whilst the engines themselves only suffered light damage. The empennage and part of the right wing broke away, and the aft fuselage detached and rested on its right side. After coming to a stop, a fire began to erupt on the central portion of the crushed fuselage.
Immediate aftermath Flight 9642 suddenly ceased all contact with Findel Airport. Its blip had disappeared from the radar screen, prompting the controller to call the crew multiple times to confirm their condition. As there was no response, the airport emergency services were alerted to a possible crash. A telephone call from a witness eventually confirmed that the aircraft had crashed near the airport. Meanwhile, at the crash site, taxi driver Guillaume Wainachter was the first to arrive. He attempted to save the passengers in the fuselage as survivors could be heard screaming loudly inside the wreckage. While trying to save the survivors, he heard a noise from the aircraft, and it immediately went up in flames in a matter of seconds.
It was immediately found that the aircraft had crashed in a field to the north of runway centreline. The wreckage was located between the village of Niederanven and Roodt-Syr. Rescue services found several passengers had been ejected from the aircraft. One survivor had been ejected from the aircraft during the crash and was found outside. Three survivors were extricated alive from the fuselage and immediately rushed to the hospital, all of whom later succumbed to their injuries. Captain Poeckes was found trapped inside the cockpit, but he survived as the cockpit did not catch fire. Rescuers had to cut a hole to evacuate him from the wreckage.
The fog was so thick that some nearby residents were unaware of the crash. Most of them claimed not to have seen or even heard anything when the crash occurred, and only realized that something had happened nearby when ambulances and emergency services arrived at the crash site.
Due to the crash, Findel Airport was closed for more than three hours. Several flights had to be diverted to Germany and Belgium.
Victims