German investigators indicate that the Cirrus Airlines Dornier 328 which overran at Mannheim two months ago suffered a jammed throttle on landing, a problem which has contributed to previous accidents involving the type.
After touching down on runway 27, following a service from Berlin Tempelhof, the turboprop failed to stop. Mannheim’s runway is relatively short, at 1,066m (3,497ft) and the aircraft veered off, passing south of the localiser antenna before striking an embankment.
German investigation agency BFU says flight-data recorder information shows that engine torque during the last 30s before landing, and for 10s afterwards, stayed at 18-28%.
“The throttle levers of the engines did not allow themselves to be pulled into the ‘idle’ range, and therefore no reverse thrust was available after landing,” it adds.
BFU says that the crew applied emergency braking, adding that it found corresponding tracks on the final 150m of the runway. The aircraft’s flaps and spoilers were extended.
Part of the Dornier’s left wing was embedded in the earth embankment, and the aircraft lost its left-hand propeller in the accident. The area of the wing root was also heavily damaged.
None of the 24 passengers and three crew members was injured in the 19 March event.
While BFU has not issued any formal conclusions about the cause of the accident, jamming of the throttle lever after landing has contributed to other Dornier 328 overrun events – notably the Minerva Airlines crash at Genoa in 1999 and a City Star Airlines incident in Aberdeen two years ago.
UK investigators advised Germany’s civil aviation regulator earlier this year to develop training programmes warning pilots of the possibility of thrust levers jamming on the type.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
