Allied Cargo B722 at Accra on Jun 2nd 2012, overran runway on landing
Last Update: April 14, 2020 / 17:54:36 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jun 2, 2012
Airline
Allied Air Cargo
Flight number
DHV-3
Departure
Lagos, Nigeria
Destination
Accra, Ghana
Aircraft Registration
5N-BJN
Aircraft Type
Boeing 727-200
ICAO Type Designator
B722
Ground witnesses report the aircraft broke through the perimeter fence, went across a main road colliding with an occupied bus before coming to a stop. At the accident time there was a severe thunderstorm over the city.
Airport sources reported the aircraft had been landing on runway 21 touching half way down the runway resulting in the overrun.
The airline based in Lagos (Nigeria) operates 5 Boeing 727-200 freighters.
The airport confirmed an Allied Air Cargo Boeing 727-200 arriving from Lagos overran the end of runway 21 and collided with a mini van just after 19:00L. Despite the accident the airport remained operational, all flights are on schedule.
On Jun 3rd 2012 Ghana's Civil Aviation Authority reported the aircraft tail number 5N-BJN overran runway 21 while landing and collided with a vehicle moving along Giffard Road just south of the aerodrome's perimeter fence. All occupants of the vehicle were killed. All 4 crew remained unhurt. A 5 member committee have begun the investigation into the accident.
On Jun 5th 2012 the captain said in an interview taken at the hospital, where he and his crew receive treatment, that the aircraft had touched down alright but didn't decelerate despite all attempts to stop it, presumably because of the heavy rain. They were not aware the aircraft had collided with other vehicles until being told at the hospital. The crew expressed their condolences to the relatives of the victims.
Accra's Kotoka International Airport features a runway 03/21 of 3400 meters/11150 feet length.
Ghana's Ministry of Transport released their final report, which became known to The Aviation Herald on Apr 14th 2020, concluding the probable causes of the accident were:
The decision of the Captain to continue with the landing instead of aborting at the missed approach point especially when he could hardly see through the windshield and when he did not know how far he had gone down the runway because of the rain and the tail wind components.
Contributory factors:
- the Captain disconnected the auto-pilot and flew the aircraft manually in an unstable approach.
- the Captain landed the aircraft at 4000ft to the threshold of Runway 03, 6060ft from Runway 21. He could not stop within the available distance.
- the Captain chose to land with a tailwind of 050/15Kts in excess of maximum allowable tailwind of 10Kts.
- the crew concentrated on tracking the Localizer rather than watching for threshold and runway edge lights. They suffered from fixation.
- the Captain did not deploy speed brakes on landing.
The AIB assigned by the Ministry described the sequence of events:
On arrival at Accra, the Captain flew an Instrument Landing System (ILS) coupled approach, until he saw the runway. He then disconnected the autopilot at 500ft and manually flew the aircraft. After disconnecting the auto-pilot, he came into heavy IMC conditions in rain. The aircraft experienced an unstable approach at a high speed of 167kts and landed with a wind of 050/15kts at 154kts and about 5807ft from Runway 21 in nil visibility. The crew deployed thrust reversers and applied the normal brakes as well as the emergency pneumatic brakes but these actions were ineffective to stop the aircraft. Normally deploying the thrust reversers or applying the brakes would bring the nose wheel down. However, the nose gear was kept up. The speed brakes were not deployed. The crew reported seeing red lights rushing towards them soon after the main wheels touched the ground for the landing run. The aircraft nose gear never touched the ground until the aircraft went over the fence wall.
A Lufthansa Flight DLH 566 operated on behalf of Lufthansa (LH) by Private Air which had landed earlier at 1902hrs reported a wind of 050/15kts and visibility of 3800m in rain. From the 2nd intersection where DLH 566 had stopped, ready to backtrack Runway 21, the crew observed Allied Air appeared to have landed at very high speed when the aircraft went past and could not determine whether the aircraft was taking off. A Lufthansa ground engineer who was waiting at the intersection to receive DLH 566 indicated the approximate touchdown point of DHV 111.
Both the controller at the Tower and the Marshaller in the “follow me” vehicle waiting at the 1st Intersection saw Allied Air land between the 1st and 2nd intersections. The FDR indicated that the aircraft landed 4000ft to the end of Runway 21.
The full length of Runway 21 is 3403m (11,162ft for take-off) but available for landing is 2990m (9,807ft). The FDR readout showed that the aircraft landed at 150kts, and at 1.6G, 5807ft from the beginning of Runway 21 and 4000ft from the threshold of the Runway 03.
The runway surface condition for braking as described by DLH crew was good. Shortly after Turkish Airline (THY 629) had landed, DLH 566 also landed followed by DHV 111.
The aircraft over-run the runway and destroyed the Threshold Lights and the Approach lights on Runway 03. It knocked out the ILS Localizer transmitter structure and mounts, broke through the airport perimeter wall. The aircraft crossed Giffard Road, collided with a passenger mini bus killing all ten (10) persons on board. It uprooted a tree by the road side before finally coming to a stop at an open space near El-Wak Sport Stadium. The Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) was triggered by the impact.
The right side of a taxi cab on the road was grazed by flying debris from the localizer transmitter structures carried along by the right wing of the aircraft. The leading edge of the wing was extensively damaged.
The aircraft crossed the runway end at 100 KIAS and came to a stop at position N5.5871 W0.1748 about 350 meters past the end of the runway. All 4 crew members received minor injuries, 10 people on the ground received fatal injuries, one person on the ground receiver minor injuries.
The AIB reported the captain (61, CPL (!), about 14,000 hours total, 1,474 hours on type) was assisted by a first officer (59, ATPL, 22,463 hours total, 4,180 hours on type) and a flight engineer (49, FEL, 6,309 hours total, 6,168 hours on type). The first officer had been on stand by duties and was acting as first officer.
The AIB analysed:
The aircraft appeared to be on a 3 degree approach path and at the same time pitching from -2 to +3 degrees at a high speed of 167kts. The maximum approach speed for a maximum landing weight of a B727 is 137kts.
Between the beacon “AA” and the VOR “ACC”, the Captain disconnected the autopilot at 500ft for a manual approach.
He later flew into heavy rain and could not see the runway. This placed him in CAT II conditions. It is placarded in red in the Cockpit that below CAT I operations are forbidden. He should have carried out a missed approach procedure. The pilot’s decision at the critical landing phase was inappropriate.
The Captain eventually made a heavy landing at 1.6G in nill visibility. The crew stated that all of them were watching the tracking on the Localizer and paid little attention to threshold and runway edge lights. The Co-pilot (PM) in his statement stated that he didn’t know where they landed and when asked further whether he knew his position on landing, he replied; “I didn’t know where the aircraft touched down”.
...
After touchdown, the crew said they saw red lights flashing past and they knew they were getting close to end of Runway 21.
The Ramp Controller in the “Follow Me” vehicle waiting at the first turnoff stated that he saw the aircraft land between the 1st and 2nd turnoff which was confirmed by the Air Traffic Controller.
The crew of DLH 566 who were waiting at the 2nd turnoff said they saw the aircraft go past them very fast as if it was taking off.
The Flight Data Recorder readout at NTSB, Washington, USA showed that the aircraft:
- touched down at 154kts,
- touched down on the main landing gear 4000ft from the end of Runway 21
- landed at 1.6G. The Captain deployed speed brakes, selected thrust
reversers and applied foot brakes. The ELT warning system was triggered by the impact.
- the elapsed time between touchdown and the end of the paved surface is approximately 16.5secs
The FDR indicated that by the time the aircraft got to the threshold of Runway 03 the touchdown speed of 154kts had decreased to 100kts. This showed that the aircraft was decelerating almost normally.
Lufthansa reported good braking action after landing at 1901hrs.
The GACL emphasized that shortly after the accident they inspected the runway and found no standing water on it.
The runway has grooves that drains water from its surface and is cambered to help water drain off easily after heavy rainfall. British Airways, KLM and Kenya Airways landed after Allied Air.
...
The wind shield wipers could not cope with the volume of water on the windshield. This was as a result of the setting. The Captain called for full wiper but the Flight Engineer selected the 3/4 position thereby reducing the effectiveness of the wiper. This according to the Captain visibility through the windshield was nil.
Latest available METARs:
DGAA 021800Z 17005KT 9999 FEW016 SCT031 FEW030CB 27/24 Q1013 TEMPO 5000 -TSRA BKN010
DGAA 021700Z 19009KT 9999 FEW016 FEW030CB 28/24 Q1011 TEMPO 5000 -TSRA BKN010
DGAA 021600Z 19011KT 9999 FEW012 FEW030CB 28/24 Q1011 TEMPO TS
DGAA 021500Z 19014KT 9999 SCT016 FEW030CB 30/24 Q1010 TEMPO TS
DGAA 021400Z 18012KT 9999 SCT048 FEW030CB 30/24 Q1011 NOSIG
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Jun 2, 2012
Airline
Allied Air Cargo
Flight number
DHV-3
Departure
Lagos, Nigeria
Destination
Accra, Ghana
Aircraft Registration
5N-BJN
Aircraft Type
Boeing 727-200
ICAO Type Designator
B722
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
Article source
You can read 2 more free articles without a subscription.
Subscribe now and continue reading without any limits!
Read unlimited articles and receive our daily update briefing. Gain better insights into what is happening in commercial aviation safety.
Send tip
Support AeroInside by sending a small tip amount.
Newest articles
Fleet type match
UPS B744 at Tokyo on May 6th 2023, hard touchdown on windshear recovery
A UPS United Parcel Service Boeing 747-400, registration N580UP performing flight 5X-109 from Shanghai Pudong (China) to Tokyo Narita (Japan), was on…
Fleet type match
Delta B763 at New York on Apr 26th 2024, emergency slide trouble
A Delta Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N176DN performing flight DL-520 from New York JFK,NY to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was climbing out of JFK's…
Subscribe today
Are you researching aviation incidents? Get access to AeroInside Insights, unlimited read access and receive the daily newsletter.
Pick your plan and subscribePartner
A new way to document and demonstrate airworthiness compliance and aircraft value. Find out more.
ELITE Simulation Solutions is a leading global provider of Flight Simulation Training Devices, IFR training software as well as flight controls and related services. Find out more.
Your regulation partner, specialists in aviation safety and compliance; providing training, auditing, and consultancy services. Find out more.
AeroInside Blog
Popular aircraft
Airbus A320Boeing 737-800
Boeing 737-800 MAX
Popular airlines
American AirlinesUnited
Delta
Air Canada
Lufthansa
British Airways