LTU A333 near Dusseldorf on Oct 4th 2007, dropped part of engine cowling during climb

Last Update: December 14, 2012 / 12:01:53 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Oct 4, 2007

Classification
Report

Airline
LTU

Flight number
LT-230

Departure
Dusseldorf, Germany

Destination
Thessaloniki, Greece

Aircraft Registration
D-AERK

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300

ICAO Type Designator
A333

A LTU Airbus A330-300, registration D-AERK performing flight LT-230 from Dusseldorf (Germany) to Thessaloniki (Greece) with 114 passengers and 11 crew, was climbing through FL105 out of Dusseldorf when the crew heard a loud bang and the aircraft began to yaw, unusual sounds occurred. The crew checked whether doors and hatches were all properly locked, all indications were normal and decided to continue the flight. A short time later cabin crew informed the flight deck that large portions of the left hand engine's cowling were missing prompting the crew to return to Dusseldorf without requesting assistance, the aircraft landed safely. After the aircraft had reached the parking position fuel was seen leaking from the left hand wing.

Germany's Bundesstelle fuer Flugunfalluntersuchungen (BFU) rated the occurrence an accident and released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

The accident occurred because the front and centre latch or all three latches were not properly locked.

That the alarm colour on the handles was worn contributed to the accident.

There is no indication of a structural failure of the composite fairing.

The BFU reported about 90% of the left hand and about 30% of the right hand cowling door of the left hand engine were found on the ground at Dusseldorf Dormagen. In addition the aircraft received damage to the wing's lower surface, fuel from the wing tank leaked through two holes, each with a diameter about 8mm, in the sheeting. The belly fairing had been punctured causing damage to the structure and hydraulic pipes affecting the blue hydraulic system. Additional damage was found on the slats, the flap fairing and two passenger windows.

The BFU reported the night prior to the accident flight an A-check had been performed on the left hand engine. This required the cowling doors to be opened and closed again. A subsequent ground run of the engine was videotaped by a mobile phone camera, the quality of the recording however was insufficient to analyse whether the cowling door was properly latched. The mechanics provided testimony that they had properly closed the doors.

The BFU reported that the damage of the latches was not consistent with the latches being in their hooked positions.

The damage observed on the right hand cowling door also could not be explained with the latches in their hooked positions. The left hand door was mainly undamaged and straight. The BFU stated: "Due to this fact, the deformation has occurred as individual latches were not properly connected with the opposing part of the right cowling." and followed up "Therefore, it is highly likely that the latches were peeled from the cowling one by one."

The investigation ruled out external forces that could have opened the latches in flight. The BFU stated: "It is highly likely that at take-off the front and centre latches were not locked or already entirely open. Only the aft latch kept the two cowling doors together." When the aircraft accelerated above FL100 and thus the dynamic pressure increased the aft clevis was torn out of structure, the right door bent backwards, the negative angle of attack bent the upper hinge mountings until the door was torn off and hit the wing and belly fairing. The left hand door had already fractured into smaller pieces at that time.

The BFU stated: "Since the orange paint on the latch handles was not very visible it was easy to miss the incorrect locking condition of the latch. This could have been the reason why the crew also missed the incorrect locking condition."
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Oct 4, 2007

Classification
Report

Airline
LTU

Flight number
LT-230

Departure
Dusseldorf, Germany

Destination
Thessaloniki, Greece

Aircraft Registration
D-AERK

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300

ICAO Type Designator
A333

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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