Boeing 757 passenger plane's worst air crash in the history of operations destroyed an airline
Bergen Airlines logo
on February 6, 1996, Gregorio Luperon International Airport in Plata, the fourth largest city in the Dominican Republic, A Boeing 757-200 passenger plane (registered number TC-GEN, first flew in February 1985, February 26 of the same year) belonging to the Turkish Bergen Airlines charter company but has been idle for 25 days at Santo Domingo International Airport Delivered to Eastern Airlines, the registration number is N516EA. After the bankruptcy and liquidation of Eastern Airlines in 1991, the aircraft was sealed in Mojave Air Force Base for more than a year. It was purchased by the Aviation Leasing Company in April 1992 and in May. It was leased to Air Canada for operation on the 20th. It was taken back after the lease expired in May 1993. It was leased to Bergen Airways on July 14 of the same year. Bergen Airways divided the aircraft on December 19, 1994. It was leased to International Caribbean Airlines, but the fuselage was still painted by Bergen Airlines, and it was 11 years old at the time of the incident, belonging to a middle-aged aircraft.) It is preparing to resume its use. The aircraft will fly from the Gregorio Luperon International Airport in Dominica to the ALW301 flight from Gander International Airport in Canada and Schönefeld Airport in Berlin to Frankfurt International Airport in Germany. Originally, this flight did not have the turn of the TC-GEN, which had been idle for 25 days, but the aircraft originally used by Bergen Air to fly ALW301 failed to fly. In order to avoid cancellation of the flight, passengers’ claims , Bergen Air had to use this Boeing 757-200 that had been idle for 25 days to fly ALW301.
Borgen Airlines TC-GEN Boeing 757-200 passenger flight photos
After 3 hours of preparation, 176 passengers who had been stranded at Gregorio Luperon International Airport for at least 4 hours finally boarded With this aircraft, the passengers mainly consisted of German tourists returning after their vacation to Dominica, as well as several Polish passengers including members of the House of Commons Zbigniew Gorzelańczyk and Marek Wielgus.
The captain who flew ALW301 flight that day was 62 years old, had 24,750 flight experience (1,875 hours of which was obtained by flying a Boeing 757), and was also the most senior Turkish pilot Emil Eldum of Bergen Airlines; The co-pilot was 34 years old and had 3,500 hours of flying experience (75 hours of which was obtained by flying a Boeing 757); because it was a long-distance flight, the ALW301 flight was equipped with the second captain, who was 51 years old. With 15,000 hours of flying experience (but only 71 hours in the Boeing 757), Miris Aifulina Soglu has 10 flight attendants (8 Turks and 2 Dominicans). At 23:00 local time, Bergen Airlines flight ALW301 was allowed to leave the gate.
Gregorio Luperon International Airport Tower (hereinafter referred to as the "Tower"): "Bogen 301, you can taxi, please wait at Runway 8."
Co-pilot Icuk Jiejin (hereinafter referred to as the "Co-pilot" ): "Bogen 301 received."
Gregorio Luperon International Airport, Air House
, then the co-pilot through the porthole signaled to the tractor driver to start pushing the plane, and the plane went down to the taxiway when the tractor was pushed. Then he started the engine and started to taxi on the runway with his own power. Co-pilot
: "Please pay attention to the cockpit crew. Everyone is in position. The plane is ready to take off. The announcement is complete." Captain Z1z
Emil Eldham (hereinafter referred to as "Captain"): "Thank you, ready to take off." Co-pilot
: "Bogen 301 calls the tower and asks to take off."
tower: "Bogen 301, take off is permitted, runway 8."
co-pilot: "Bogen 301 received, runway 8 takes off, thank you."
Miris ·The second captain of Aifu Li Nasoglu (hereinafter referred to as "the second captain"): "Good voyage." The co-pilot
: "Good voyage." Captain
: "Thank you, good voyage. Takeoff thrust— —"Z1z
co-pilot: "Throttleset up. Captain
: "Confirm. "Z1z
co-pilot: "80 knots. Captain
: "Confirm. Hold on, my airspeed indicator is out of order. "Z1z
co-pilot: "120 knots! "Z1z
Second Captain: "The airspeed readings on both sides are different. Captain
: "Is your airspeed indicator normal?" "Z1z
Co-pilot:" Yes, the captain. Captain
: "Then you will tell me." "Z1z
Co-pilot: "Okay, 150 knots, to V1." Captain
: "Received. "Z1z
co-pilot: "VR! Captain
: "Climbing, retract the landing gear. "Z1z
Co-pilot: "Climbing to confirm, retract the landing gear to confirm. At 23:03, the Bergen Airlines flight ALW301 with unsynchronized left and right airspeeds took off from Runway 8 of Gregorio Luperon International Airport in a drizzle, and quickly disappeared into the dark night sky.
Boeing 757 cockpit, Shortly after takeoff from the Aviation House
, Captain Emile Eldham’s airspeed indicator began to read again. Captain
: "Can you turn off the wipers? "Z1z
co-pilot: "No problem, turn off the wipers. Captain
: "Climb thrust. "Z1z
Co-pilot: "Climb thrust confirmed. "The first officer of
Icuk Jiejin then stopped the throttle and let the plane gradually climb to the cruising altitude. Z1z
tower: "Bogen 301, please contact Santo Domingo Air Traffic Control, frequency 1243, good night." "Z1z
co-pilot:" Bergen received 301, frequency 1243, good night, goodbye. "Z1z
Co-pilot:" Bergen 301 called Santo Domingo, good night, now he has climbed to 2500 feet. "Z1z
Santo Domingo Air Traffic Control Center (hereinafter referred to as "Santo Domingo"): "Received, Bergen 301, good night, please keep climbing to 2,800 feet. "Z1z
Co-pilot: "Climb to 2,800 feet to keep, Bergen 301 understands. Captain
: "Please turn on the central autopilot. "Z1z
Co-pilot:" Switch to autopilot confirmation. "Z1z
The second view of the Boeing 757-200 passenger plane TC-GEN of Bergen Aviation drawn by the factory director
. However, after the autopilot took over, the cockpit soon heard a sirens. The airspeed in front of the captain continued to increase, and The co-pilot slowed down. The onboard computer also sent out many contradictory warning messages such as rudder ratio, overspeed, too low speed, and too low flying altitude, which made the pilot very confused. Captain
: "That's not right. Carry out the airspeed trouble checklist procedure. "Z1z
Santo Domingo: "Bogen 301, report when you arrive at Pokek." "Z1z
Co-pilot:" Bergen received 301. I will call you over Pokek. Captain
: "Okay, it's very abnormal here. Have you noticed it?" The co-pilot
: "Yes, my airspeed indicator here is only 200 knots, and the captain is continuing to slow down." Captain
: "I have 325 knots here. There are problems with both tables. What should I do? Check the circuit breaker! "Z1z
Second Captain: "Yes, Captain. "Z1z
, then the second captain Miris Aflinasoglu got up and restarted the circuit breaker. The alarm stopped briefly, but it didn't take long for the alarm to sound again. The speeding alarm indicated that the airspeed of the aircraft was about to reach 350 knots ( The maximum allowable airspeed at 2800 feet)! Captain
: "Well, it doesn’t matter, let’s try to lower the airspeed. The second captain
reset the circuit breaker again, but the airspeed indicator on the captain's panel still showed severe speeding. The co-pilot
: "It shows 350 knots, right? Captain
: "It starts to slow down, so let's do that. "Z1z
acted as the captain. As soon as he retracted the throttle, the nose of the plane was raised!
aerial catastrophe picture, the captain of Bergen Airlines flight 301
after the stall: "Gosh! "Z1z
As the plane was about to stall, the joystick vibrated by itself. This is a unique vibration warning that the plane is about to stall. Before
waited for the crew to react, the plane began to roll to the right and fell rapidly. Eldham tried to make The plane climbed, but to no avail. Co-pilot
: "Press down the nose. "zCaptain 1z
: "Thrust! Thrust!" The Santo Domingo Air Traffic Control Center, who knows nothing about Bergen Airlines flight ALW301, is still guiding the aircraft in accordance with the procedures: "Bogen 301, radar recognition 3.7.7, ready to be on standby Captain
: "I can't climb, what should I do?!" The co-pilot of
: "You can fly level, our speed is okay." Captain
: "Okay, 5000 feet (the altitude indicator has failed) In fact, the altitude of the aircraft at that time was less than 1000 feet.) Thrust lever, thrust TOGA!"
Co-pilot: "Thrust TOGA!"
But when the co-pilot just pushed the throttle stick to TOGA, the aircraft’s The No. 1 engine ceased operation, and the aircraft lost control completely, first tilted to the left, then rolled, and spiraled down. Second Captain
: "Captain, pull it up! Pull it up!" Captain
: "Now who can tell me what's going on?" The co-pilot of
: "I don't know! I don't know!"
Details of the Boeing 757-200 of Bergen Airlines TC-GEN 1
Details of the Boeing 757-200 of Bergen Airlines TC-GEN 2
of the Boeing 757-200 of Bergen Airlines TC-GEN drawn by the director Details of the passenger plane 3
The details of the Boeing 757-200 TC-GEN of Bergen Airlines drawn by our factory director 4
at 23:08, that is, 5 minutes after takeoff, the TC-GEN Boeing 757-200 of Bergen Airlines ALW301 flight spirals Falling into the sea near Santo Domingo, none of the 189 people on board survived. It became the most fatal air crash involving the Boeing 757 aircraft. It was also the second air crash involving the Boeing 757 (the first was the Boeing 757 crash on December 20, 1995, in the Colombian Buga Valley crash of American Airlines Flight AA965, resulting in 163 deaths. Only 4 people and a puppy survived. For details, please see the first air crash of our factory director Boeing 757, review the article on American Airlines Flight 965, 1995.12.20 Buga Valley crash ).
Santo Domingo: "Bergen 301, this is Santo Domingo, please answer if you hear it."
called several times without echo, and soon after the ALW301 radar signal disappeared on the radar screen, it has been very calm. Santo Domingo Air Traffic Control Center, which believed that flight ALW301 had been flying normally, realized that something was wrong. After the
air crash, rescuers have searched and rescued in the nearby sea immediately. However, due to the poor weather conditions and the presence of many sharks in the sea area of the accident, the rescue is more difficult. The wreckage of flight ALW301 found on the seabed of
was investigated by the Air House
investigation by the Dominica Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Local search personnel, with the assistance of the U.S. Navy, recovered the black box of the accidental airliner from the 7,200-foot seabed three weeks after the crash. Subsequent investigations into the cause of the air crash revealed that the main cause of the instrument error was the damage or blockage of the pitot tube under the cockpit of the aircraft. The function of the Pitot tube is to provide the airspeed of the aircraft during flight. Once blocked, the airspeed indicator will provide error information to the crew. Since
cannot salvage the wreckage, it is still unknown why the Pitot tube was blocked. Investigators found that the airport ground staff never covered the Pitot tube of the passenger plane with a protective cover during the three-year period when the passenger plane was in the airport. Although this can rule out the possibility that the Pitot tube of the passenger plane is blocked by the protective cover during takeoff, it also violates aviation regulations. Because when the aircraft is idle or waiting for a mission at the airport, the Pitot tube must be covered with a protective cover.
Pitot tube protective cover, the home of aviation
has a local scientific name of Sceliphron caementarium (locally called mud wasp), which is used to build nests with mud in tubes, and this kind of wasp has no place in the local area. No, of course including the airport. Therefore, the investigator believes that when the aircraft was parked on the apron, it was most likely that the insects nested in the unprotected Pitot tube.
anotherIn addition, the crew is also responsible for the crash. When the captain found that his airspeed indicator was faulty, he did not terminate the takeoff. The subsequent series of mistakes finally made the passenger plane into an irretrievable situation. Why didn't the captain give up taking off? As the local weather was unstable and raining on the night of the accident, the captain might be afraid that the aircraft was operating at high speed and the slippery runway would prevent the captain from taking the risk of stopping the aircraft. But the most likely reason was that the aircraft and the crew stayed there for more than three weeks, making the crew homesick. Knowing that the aircraft’s instrument was malfunctioning, they thought it was only a minor problem and forcibly took off. About one minute after the plane took off, the crew set the plane to automatic flight and the elevation angle increased. This state occurred because the airspeed of the plane was too high, and the autopilot system would raise the nose to achieve the deceleration effect. . However, the autopilot system only responded with the information displayed on the aircraft’s instruments. Although the captain’s airspeed indicator showed that the aircraft was overspeed, in fact, the speed displayed by the co-pilot’s airspeed indicator continued to decrease, but it reflected the aircraft at that time. The real situation. The captain ignored the first officer's airspeed gauge and recklessly pulled the throttle valve back, which caused the airplane to stall.
When the plane stalled, the co-pilot and the second captain suggested to the captain that the nose of the plane was facing down and the plane was in a dive attitude, so that air flowed under the wings of the plane to generate lift, and the plane could stop falling. The captain did not respond to these suggestions at all. It may be that the captain was in chaos at the time, or the captain thought he had considerable experience in driving the 757 and his self-esteem made him ignore the advice of a junior copilot who had only 75 hours of experience in driving the 757. In any case, they missed that there was still enough altitude to save the plane, which eventually resulted in 189 deaths. After the
air crash, the FAA asked Boeing to improve the design of the 757, adding a warning that the pilot airspeed indicator and the co-pilot airspeed indicator were not at the same time. At the same time, Boeing included the case of the crash into its crew training program.
The families of the victims and relevant authorities set up a memorial in the cemetery in Frankfurt to commemorate the victims of the air crash. And Bergen Airlines declared bankruptcy at the end of the same year.
The Bergen Air Flight 301 Victims' Monument in Frankfurt, the home of the aviation house
The air crash of Bergen Air Flight 301 Santo Domingo was included in the large-scale air disaster documentary "Air Catastrophe" Season 5 Episode 8 "The Plane Will Not Say"
N651AA Aircraft performance data
Crew: 2 crew + 239 crew (maximum)
length: 47.32 meters
wingspan: 38.05 meters
height: 13.56 meters
empty weight: 57840 kg
maximum take-off weight: 99790 kg
engine: two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 turbofan engine, a single thrust of 178.8 kN
economic cruising speed: 850 kilometers per hour
maximum load range: 5053 kilometers
practical service ceiling: 10700 meters
