niki lauda vienna office

[Lance Shippey]

NIKI LAUDA, I remember seeing Niki Lauda on numerous occasions sitting in the lounge of the Sacher Hotel where he had an apartment, when not living in Ibiza. We would exchange , a guten morgen. He had an office on the Ringstraase in Vienna, a short walk from the Sacher which was also a booking office, and clad with wood that he had brought back from Australia, when he won the long battle to fly the routes VIE/SYD and VIE/MEL. I remember his TV speech after the loss of the Lauda air B767. informing the viewers that if they thought he was responsible they could finish his airline, or they could support him after the terrible accident. I flew with Lauda air many times and was never disappointed. My question is . What happened to the office on Ringstrasse, Is it still there and what number Ringstrasse ? and was the crash of the B767 due to an engine reverser being deployed due to a passenger's cd player being on the same frequency ?

Lance Shippey

[rog747]

''Was the crash of the B767 due to an engine reverser being deployed due to a passenger's cd player being on the same frequency ? ''

I have never heard such a mention of that, ever...
Where did that spring from >? !!!

IIRC
CD players and Sony Walkmans, which we all had back then, were not digital.

[DaveReidUK]

From the investigation report:

"The specific cause of the thrust reverser deployment has not been positively identified."

[rog747]

As an aside, the Flight 004 accident aircraft, was the 20 month old 767-3Z9ER OE-LAV named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This loss was quickly replaced by an almost new 767-3Q8ER F-GHGF leased from Aeromaritime, then a month later another brand new, and as yet undelivered Aeromaritime order was leased to Lauda as F-GHGG until 04/1992, and painted by Boeing in full Lauda Air livery.
Another new 767 that had been not yet delivered to Martinair in October 1991 (767-31AER, PH-MCK), was shortly afterwards in December of the same year, passed on to Lauda Air and received the registration OE-LAT named Enzo Ferrari.
This aircraft also flew for Lauda Air Italy and returned to the parent company before being passed on to Austrian Airlines in 2007 and stayed with them until March 2021, when it was sent to the Arizona desert for parting out.
With 133,000 hours on the clock, flown over 30 years, it became the first Boeing 767 to be withdrawn from Austrians' fleet.


The Accident Investigation Report findings of OE-LAV were:

Investigation of the accident disclosed that certain "hot-short" conditions involving the electrical system occurring during an auto-restow command, could potentially cause the DCV (Directional Control Valve) to momentarily move to the deploy position. However, no specific wire or component malfunction was physically identified that caused an uncommanded thrust reverser deployment on the accident airplane.

Testing identified hypothetical hydraulic system failures that could cause the thrust reverser to deploy. However, no specific component malfunction was identified that caused an uncommanded thrust reverser deployment on the accident airplane.

No specific Lauda Air maintenance action was identified that caused uncommanded thrust reverser deployment on the accident airplane.

The design changes recommended by Boeing and thereafter mandated by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Directive 91-22-09 for the B767/PW4000 thrust reverser system should effectively prevent in-flight deployment even after multiple failures.

Probable Cause (As DaveReidUK highlighted above)

The Accident Investigation Committee of the Government of Thailand determines the probable cause of this accident to be uncommanded in-flight deployment of the left engine thrust reverser, which resulted in loss of flight path control. The specific cause of the thrust reverser deployment has not been positively identified.

[Lance Shippey]

Dave Reid and rog747,
Thanks for the input. I think a portable CD player uses "Digital optical disk data format" I heard about this scenario on the Austrian media after the crash. I had being working in Austria for several months. I remember several things that I remember vividly. 1/ Niki Lauda' s speech on Austrian TV. 2/ The possibility of a passengers CD player may have played a role in the reversing of one of the engines, 3/ A group on board the flight having been involved in sex tourism in Thailand. I also remember on many flights after the Lauda crash with several airlines being told not to use mobile CD players on the flight during the safety announcements.

Lance Shippey

[Lance Shippey]

A report Smithsonian magazine of 2004 says " The truth about portable devices such as mobile phones, compact disc player can emit powerful electronic electromagnetic radiation that can muck up an aircrafts navigation systems and endanger a flight". Could this electromagnetic radiation have a issue with the "Fly by wire" systems on the engine management ?
Lance Shippey.

[Lance Shippey]

An old timetable of Lauda Air in 1988 invites pax to visit the new Lauda Air town office at Opernring 6, , Vienna. Mr Google shows the 2 different Australian wood cladding has been removed on their street view photo..

Lance Shippey

[blind pew]

Swissair banned use of CD players along with game boys especially on the A300 after several autopilot hard overs.
A mate on the 757 or 767 had double engine failure annunciated whilst transmitting on HF which led to modified shielding being installed.
Had Niki in the cockpit one day..nice bloke.

[Sotonsean]

Trying not to be pedantic but Swissair never operated the A300. Swissair operated the A310 though and for several years.

[blind pew]

Sorry yes was the A310..avoided it and went onto the DC10

[Lance Shippey]

blind pew and Sotonsean.
Thanks for your answers, It appears that the possibllity exists that a compact disc player could have played a role in engine thrust reverser. Swissair had 11 x Airbus A310-322. I remember flying ZRH-LHR in First class, when the aircraft was configued with F / C / Y when most a/l's had only C and Y on the service.

Lance Shippey,