DHL B752 at Leipzig on Feb 13th 2021, cargo door opened in flight

Last Update: May 26, 2021 / 18:00:08 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of DHL Air G-DHKZ, Boeing 757-200 — DHL Air G-DHKZ, Boeing 757-200 (Photo credit: Alec BHX/KKC / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 13, 2021

Classification
Accident

Airline
DHL Air

Departure
Leipzig, Germany

Destination
Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Aircraft Registration
G-DHKZ

Aircraft Type
Boeing 757-200

ICAO Type Designator
B752

Airport
Leipzig Halle Airport, Leipzig

Airport ICAO Code
EDDP

A DHL Air Boeing 757-200 freighter, registration G-DHKZ performing freight flight QY-126 from Leipzig to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 1 passenger and 2 crew, was in the initial climb out of Leipzig's runway 26L when the crew stopped the climb at about 5300 feet MSL due to the cargo door opening completely, several parts separated from the airframe and were distributed over the ground around the Schkopau coal power plant located about 10nm west of Leipzig Airport. The aircraft immediately positioned to return to Leipzig landing in opposite direction to departure. The aircraft touched down on runway 08R at 05:47L (04:47Z) about 15 minutes after departure and stopped on the runway about 1500 meters/4900 feet down the runway. The aircraft remained on the runway for about 40 minutes, then was moved to the apron. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.

The occurrence aircraft was still on the ground in Leipzig about 12 hours after landing back.

Germany's BFU confirmed a cargo door apparently opened in flight and dispatched investigators on site. The BFU reported nobody was injured and no freight was ejected from the aircraft. An investigation has been opened.

On May 26th 2021 the BFU reported in their monthly German bulletin (and an English interim report), that the cargo door had been fully and partially opened and closed several times while cargo was unloaded from the previous flight and new cargo was loaded onto the occurrence flight. The captain of the flight stated, that it was him who fully closed the cargo door in the end, all monitoring lights on the control panel were extinguished, the door was flush with the fuselage, and the warning lights in the cockpit had extinguished, too. The aircraft was subsequently pushed back, de-iced, departed from runway 26L about 48 minutes after the cargo door had been closed. During the initial climb the crew observed an unusual high rate of climb for the cabin altitude/unusual cabin pressure, they also felt their ears pop. Cabin pressure control was switched from AUTO 2 to AUTO 1.

The passenger, captain for another operator and type rated on the B752, occupied the passenger seat between cockpit and upper cargo bay, reported he heard permanent air rush in this phase of the flight. Climbing through 5100 feet at 240 KIAS the crew heard a loud noise and concluded from their cockpit indications that the cargo door had malfunctioned and opened. The crew declared emergency, stopped the climb, reduced the speed and decided to return to Leipzig. Due to the low wind situation the aircraft landed on runway 08R opposite to their takeoff direction. While turning left the crew observed the autopilot was struggeling to perform the commanded changes of heading. The captain thus took manual control of the aircraft and noticed a significant changes of the aircraft responses to control inputs. During that time the crew received messages "L AFT FUEL PUMP" and "FUEL CONFIG", the left fuel tank showed 1 ton less fuel than expected. The left turn was completed and once the aircraft had rolled level again the EICAS messages disappeared and the fuel quantity indication for the left tank began to increase. After establishing the aircraft on final approach course the crew actived one autopilot first, then all three and performed an automatic landing without further problems.

The captain (38, ATPL, 4000 hours total, 3800 hours on type) was assisted by a first officer (26, CPL, 1100 hours total, 350 hours on type).

The BFU reported that at 5100 feet MSL the FDR data show a significant lateral acceleration from 0.0 to 0.1G and a change of 5 degrees on the heading with the center autopilot active. At the same time the CVR recorded a significant increase of the noise levels. The autopilot subsequently compensated a right roll tendency with left aileron, subsequently a left bank of about 5-8 degrees developed which was compensated with right aileron, and the aircraft returned onto its commanded heading. 8 seconds after the upset the crew activated altitude hold. During the left turn to return to the aerodrome the lateral acceleration increased to 0.25g, the left fuel quantity indicated reduced by about 792kg.

The aircraft stopped on the runway after landing and was inspected by emergency services. Emergency services observed the inner covering of the cargo door was missing, the vent doors were almost completely closed, the locking hooks were near the open position. All lights on the control panel were illuminated. The cockpit indication "MAIN CARGO DOOR" was illuminated.

An inspection of the locking system of the cargo door revealing that the safety pins had not fully engaged with the locking hooks. The actor of the locking hooks had not fully extended, the linkage however showed no faults. When this condition was manually reproduced the cargo door could be opened with muscle power (hand pressure). When it was attempted to close the door via the hand pump of the hydraulic actuator, an anomaly in the sequence of movements was observed. Thus the hydraulic system was examined and air was found in the hydraulic system. The investigation checks, whether the air was present in the hydraulic line prior to the occurrence or only after the hydraulic line was damaged as result of the opening of the cargo door.

The BFU referenced a similiar occurrence on DEc 6th 2014 in Magadan, see Incident: Yakutia B752 at Magadan on Dec 6th 2014, cargo door opened in flight.

The investigation continues.

Metars:
EDDP 130620Z VRB02KT 8000 BKN014 M13/M14 Q1039 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 NOSIG=
EDDP 130550Z VRB02KT 6000 BKN013 M15/M16 Q1039 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 NOSIG=
EDDP 130520Z 26002KT 4000 BCFG BKN014 M15/M17 Q1039 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 1000 BCFG=
EDDP 130450Z 26004KT 4000 R26R/1200D BCFG FEW016 M16/M17 Q1039 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 1000 BCFG=
EDDP 130420Z 27003KT 3000 R26L/0500D R26R/1300D BCFG NSC M15/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 1000 BCFG=
EDDP 130350Z 31004KT 3000 BCFG FEW017 M16/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 1000 BCFG=
EDDP 130320Z 29003KT 2000 R26L/0300N BCFG FEW017 M16/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0500 FZFG=
EDDP 130250Z 30004KT 1800 0600E R26L/0550N R26R/0900D BCFG FEW017 M15/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0500 FZFG=
EDDP 130220Z 30003KT 1400 R26L/0300D R26R/1500D BCFG NSC M15/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0600 FZFG=
EDDP 130150Z 31005KT 2000 BCFG NSC M14/M16 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0600 FZFG=
EDDP 130120Z 33004KT 1500 0500E R26L/P2000N R26R/0350N BCFG NSC M14/M15 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0600 FZFG=
EDDP 130050Z 31004KT 0400 R26L/0300N R26R/P2000N FZFG NSC M15/M17 Q1038 R26R/19//95 R26L/190195 TEMPO 0100 FZFG=