Created Wednesday, Sep 27th 2023 19:08Z, last updated Wednesday, Nov 8th 2023 15:36Z
A DHL International Aviation Boeing 767-300 freighter, registration A9C-DHAB performing flight ES-160 from Bahrain (Bahrain) to Beirut (Lebanon) with 3 crew, touched down hard while landing on Beirut's runway 16 at about 19:15L (16:15Z). The crew received no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial structural damage.
Beirut Airport reported the aircraft suffered a hard landing on Sep 18th 2023 causing substantial damage to the aircraft's structure and causing minor injuries to the crew. The aircraft rolled out and taxied to the apron. An accident investigation commission was formed to determine the causes of the accident.
On Nov 8th 2023 Lebanon's Ministry of Public Transport and Works released their preliminary report stating:
On 18 September 2023 a DHL Cargo scheduled flight from Bahrain International Airport (OBBI) to Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport (OLBA) carried out a stabilized approach on runway 16 at destination and landed at 1609 UTC (1909 LT). The landing was a “hard landing”.
The aircraft taxied to its parking position. Maintenance detected serious structural damages grounding the aircraft as AOG (Aircraft On Ground).
Three people were on board the aircraft, The Captain, the First Officer (F/O), who was the Pilot Flying (PF), and an Engineer who was sitting in the cockpit during landing. None were injured.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) were both retrieved and read at the BEA facility at Le Bourget, France. The quality of data was excellent; however, the CVR Circuit Breaker was not pulled following the hard landing and the aircraft electric system remained powered, thus overriding the accident time by 52 minutes.
In more detail the report states:
The DFDR indicates that the aircraft was fully configured for a flaps 25 landing at 1,423 feet RA and the approach was stable all the way till 20 feet. At that altitude the rate of descent recorded on the DFDR shows – 650 ft/minute with a Vref +4.5 kts. Following the main gear touchdown, the acceleration recorded + 1.352 G. The nose gear touchdown occurred after 1.5 seconds and resulted in a recorded + 1.771 G. Then the DFDR records that the nosewheel air/ground went from “ground” to “air” to “ground” within one second followed by a recorded acceleration of + 1.908 G (forces measured from the accelerometer in the main wheel weel). In parallel the DFDR shows the elevator input increase from +5.8 deg to + 11.1, then within one second to -18.3 deg followed by -20.6 deg.
During the interview with the Flight Crew, the captain (PM) recalled that the aircraft “lurched up” and the nose wheel then slammed back down onto the runway, describing it as “horrendous” and that his headset and prescription glasses flew from his head. The F/O (PF) recalled that “the aircraft pitched up violently”, describing the column as “acting aggressively” and further stated that the whole episode happened too fast and that he was unable to take control of the control column as it moved away from him.
On stand, the cargo was off-loaded and no apparent damage to Cargo Door or cargo hold floor, nor any shifting of the load. However, the Engineer’s inspection of the fuselage detected wrinkled/buckled fuselage skin at STA 654 (between the wing forward section and aft of the Cargo Door) on both left and right side of the fuselage and top shell upper pressurized fuselage crown.
