Aeroméxico Flight 945
 The damage suffered to the left elevator of XA-DUH | |
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 11, 1979 |
| Summary | In-flight stall due to pilot error and autopilot error |
| Site | Over Luxembourg, Luxembourg |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 |
| Aircraft name | Castillo de Chapultepec |
| Operator | Aeroméxico |
| Registration | XA-DUH |
| Flight origin | Flughafen Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Germany |
| Stopover | Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, United States |
| Destination | Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Passengers | 295 |
| Crew | 16 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 311 |
Aeroméxico Flight 945 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Mexico City, Mexico via a stopover at Miami, United States operated by Aeroméxico.[1] On November 11, 1979, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operating the flight entered a deep-stall over Luxembourg at estimated 29,000ft. Subsequent stall recovery was carried at estimated 18,000ft after engine #3 power loss. After regaining control, the crew checked the flight instruments and engines for any malfunction. After realising that there was no malfunction to any of the systems or the engines. The crew safely continued to its destination without further incident. After reaching the destination, several portions of the tail sustained severe damage and the maintenance access door was missing.[1][2]
After an investigation carried out by the National Transportation Safety Board about the serious incident, it concluded that the reason why Flight AM945 stalled is because the crew did not follow standard climb procedures and did not adequately monitor the flight instruments.[1] Script error: No such module "AfC submission catcheck".
Aircraft & Crew[edit]
Aircraft[edit]
The aircraft was a 5 year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 with registration XA-DUH. It was delivered new to Aeroméxico in May 1974 named Castillo de Chapultepec.[3]
Crew[edit]
The Captain, Rafael Brenton Pamiaguo, age 52, has approx. 18,824 flight hours with qualifications for flying Douglas DC-3, DC-6, DC-8 and DC-10 aircraft. The First Officer, Fernando Benjamin Morales Hernandez, age 39, has approx. 5,348 flight hours with qualifications for flying DHC-6, DC-8, DC-9 and DC-10 aircraft. The Flight Engineer, Armando Del Valle Calderon, age 51, has approx. 11,229 flight hours with qualifications for flying DC-8 and DC-10 aircraft.[2]All three pilots-in-command passed an Aeroméxico DC-10 training program.[1][2]
Flight[edit]
Flight AM945 was a scheduled charter flight between Frankfurt am Main Airport and Internacional de la Ciudad de México Airport with a stopover at Miami International Airport. The flight took off from Runway 25R at Frankfurt am Main Airport at 21:38 GMT with all incidents prior and initial climb uneventful. Captain Pamiaguo was the pilot flying while First Officer Hernandez was the pilot monitoring.[1][2]The approximate fuel-burn of the DC-10 was 11,000 pounds (4,989.5 kg) per hour. The maximum take-off weight of the DC-10 was 555,000 pounds but the measured take-off weight was 555,096 pounds. With the average fuel burn taken into consideration, the weight would be 544,000 pounds.[1]The calculated stall speed was 222 knots however, the correct stall speed was 241 knots. The aircraft was in contact with a French Air Traffic Controller (ATC).
Incident[edit]
While climbing to the flight's cruising altitude, at 14,000ft, the autopilot disengaged with subsequent heading change. The captain re-engaged the autopilot and re-entered the correct heading. He mentioned that if the autopilot disengaged again, it may have to be written in the logbook for technical purposes.[1][2]While approaching 27,500ft, the crew felt an abnormal vibration which steadily increased in its intensity. The crew suspected that it was sourcing from Engine #3. They decided reduce thrust of the engine and immediately then, the aircraft made a nose-down attitude and it rolled sharply right. The autopilot also disengaged again.[1] The first-officer declared a Mayday emergency to the French ATC and mentioning that he was executing an emergency descent. The pilots tried to regain control of the flight by pulling back their control columns between 9° and 18.2°. The extension of speedbrakes and autoslats made the force of the recovery much more prominent. The maximum vertical acceleration recorded was 1.68 g-forces.[1][2]Flight 945 successfully recovered from the nose-dive at 18,000ft. The pilots requested French ATC to divert to Madrid, Spain after regaining control which the ATC approved of. However, after regaining control, they checked Engine #3 and all flight instruments for any signs of malfunction or abnormality. After everything appearing and working normally, the flight crew informed the air traffic controller that everything was in order apart from the autopilot disengage at 14,000ft. They elected to continue to Miami as diverting to Spain would require dumping of 140,000 pounds (63502.9 kg) of fuel.[1][2]The flight engineer checked the cabin for any serious visual damage but he only noticed a few detached and broken ceiling panels.[1][2]The flight then climbed to 33,000ft at -41°C to its destination and reached at 07:05 GMT on November 12, 1979 without any further incident.[1]After an exterior inspection done by the crew, they noticed that the right and left outboard elevator hinge fail safes were broken, and the tail-mounted maintenance access door was missing. After noticing these faults, the aircraft was grounded at Miami Airport and could not continue to its destination to Mexico City. After a detailed inspection conducted by Aeroméxico, there were no discrepancies noticed. The airframe was repaired on November 16th and the flight carried on to Mexico City.
Investigation[edit]
After a brief investigation conducted by the NTSB for 12 months, they concluded that the immediate vibrations at 27,500ft were due to the airspeed being lower (226 knots) than the stall speed of the DC-10 (241 knots). However, the aircraft continued to respond normally to the flight crew.
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
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This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 "NTSB Final Investigation Report AAR-80-10" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved January 31, 2009. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Accident Report". Miami Libraries. p. 5. Retrieved July 23, 2013. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Noack, Thomas. "Aircraft Description". planespotters. Retrieved December 9, 2015. Unknown parameter
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