Merged: Air New Zealand A320 crashes into the Mediterranean

[Peter Fanelli]

CNN reporting the ditching of an Air New Zealand A320.
5 or 7 POB
Training flight perhaps?

[Launchpad McQuack]

With 7 people onboard...would it have been a pre-delivery test hop? Any chance there were AirNZ crew on this flight? I can´t find any info stating whether or not crew survived...fingers crossed.

LP

[tasdevil.f27]

News.com.au


AN Airbus A320 aircraft with five people on board crashed into the sea off the southwest coast of France overnight while on a training flight, regional authorities said.
"An aircraft crashed at around 5pm (local time) off the coast near Perpignan. It was an A320," said a spokesman for the maritime prefecture, the regional authority that covers the area in southwestern France.
The A320 is one of Airbus's best-selling single-aisle airliners.
Officials from the DGAC, the French civil aviation authority were checking reports of the crash.
No further details were immediately available and there was no immediate comment from Airbus, a unit of European aerospace group EADS.

[Kubin rock climber]

CNN reporting test flight. No word on crew.

[blueloo]

From New Zealand Herald:


Air NZ plane crashes in France, one dead - reports
7:21AM Friday Nov 28, 2008



PARIS - An Airbus A320 passenger plane crashed off the coast of southern France during a training flight Thursday, killing at least one of seven people on board, French authorities said.

Radio New Zealand reported the plane was an Air New Zealand aircraft on a test flight after repairs in France, which had trouble landing.

The plane plunged into the Mediterranean sea 20 kilometres east of the French city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain, at around 4.30pm local time (3.30am NZT), according to a communications officer at the headquarters of the government representative in the region.

One body has been recovered at sea, the official said on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy.

There were seven people on the flight which left from Perpignan airport, said First Officer Sandrine Parro of the Regional Operational Center for Monitoring and Rescue (CROSS) for the Mediterranean.

Five launches, two helicopters and a patrol plane have been dispatched to the area of the crash, Parro told The Associated Press.



"The fuselage has been located. The rescue operations will determine if there are any survivors," she added.

-AP

[luvly jubbly]

BBC claim XL Germany flight crew. No report whether the engineers were ANZ..

BBC NEWS | Europe | Airbus jet crashes in test flight (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7753270.stm)

Condolences

LJ

[Cypher]

It appears to be that the aircraft maybe leased from Air NZ hence the confusion.....

CH-Aviation - Airline News, Fleet Lists & More (http://www.ch-aviation.ch/aircraft.php?search=set&airline=XLG&al_op=1)

Looks like ex- ZK-OJL which had been leased to XL Airways...

[6080ft]

"Air New Zealand confirms that one of its Airbus A320 aircraft on lease to a European based company has crashed in the Mediterranean.


Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe says the aircraft, which was being operated by the leasee, was due to return to service with Air New Zealand next month.



Further information will be available in an update at 0815.

Ends



Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs, 09 336 2761"

[slamer.]

Five New Zealanders feared dead after Air NZ plane crashes

8:42AM Friday Nov 28, 2008


http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/320_230.jpg
An Air New Zealand A320. Photo / AP

There are grave concerns for five Air New Zealand staff on board the Airbus A320 which crashed off the coast of France early this morning.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe told a media conference this morning the aircraft had been leased by German charter company XL for the last two years.
He said two XL pilots were on board with one Air New Zealand captain, three Air New Zealand engineers and one Air New Zealand CAA inspector.
One body had been recovered Mr Fyfe said.
"At this stage we don't know the status of personnel," he said.
"We have grave concerns for the situation".
A spokesperson for the Marine Department in Toulon told Le Monde newspaper: "There are no survivors."
Air New Zealand confirmed the aircraft was on lease to a European based company.
Mr Fyfe said the plane was being operated by the leasee and was due to return to service with Air New Zealand next month.
Radio New Zealand reported that the German company had just ended its lease and the plane's cabin was being reconfigured to back to Air NZ layout
The plane plunged into the Mediterranean sea 20 kilometres east of the French city of Perpignan, near the border with Spain, at around 4.30pm local time (4.30am NZT), according to a communications officer at the headquarters of the government representative in the region.

A member of the local government in Roussillon told France Info: "The plane, while coming into land at Canet-en-Roussillon had started to turn and went straight into the sea."
TV1 said the plane was coming into land when it crashed approximately 5km offshore. The station reported three bodies had been found.
First Officer Sandrine Parro of the Regional Operational Centre for Monitoring and Rescue (CROSS) for the Mediterranean said the plane had taken off from Perpignan airport with seven people on board.
Five launches, two helicopters and a patrol plane have been dispatched to the area of the crash, Parro told The Associated Press.
"The fuselage has been located. The rescue operations will determine if there are any survivors," she added.
Air New Zealand owns 10 Airbus A320s and leases two more. They are used on its Tasman and Pacific Island routes and seat around 150 passengers.
The list price of an A320 is around NZ$100 million.
The A320 has had a good safety record since it began flying in 1988. The aircraft is used in more than 70 countries.
One of the worst accidents involving an A320 occurred last year in Sao Paulo, Brazil, when a TAM plane overran the runway on landing, striking an office building. All 181 passengers and six crew on board plus a further 12 people on the ground were killed
Today's crash in France comes exactly 29 years after the Mt Erebus disaster, when an Air NZ flight TE901 flew into Antarctica's highest mountain killing 257 people on board.



My sincere condolences to the Family, friends and workmates ..... very shocking news so close to Christmas.

[ghw78]

From Air NZ Press Conference 0830NZDT by Rob Fyfe CEO

Aircraft had been on lease to XL Airways Germany and had been undergoing maintenance prior to being returned to Air NZ. The Aircraft had been repainted in Air NZ Livery.

The flight was being piloted by two Pilots from XL Germany and there were five others on board, one Air NZCaptain from Auckland, three Engineers from Auckland/Christchurch and one person from NZ CAA.

The aircraft was due to be flown to Frankfurt and accepted there and ferried back to NZ to return to Air NZ service.

Next update from Air NZ is a press conference at 1030.

[ZK-NSN]

29 years to the day since Erebus........ very sad day in NZ history just got worse.

[Sand dune Sam]

Sad news...wish all the AIR NZ staff, particularly the coalface peers of the Engineers, Captain and CAA NZ inspector condolances.

[snakeslugger]

A very sad day, my thoughts are with the families...

[crocodile redundee]

A terrible event!!!!! How on earth can this sort of tragedy occur??? Just shows how dangerous "Test Flights" after maintenance can be!!!!!! And the uncanny date link with Erebus too....... we all await the findings, condolences to friends/family of the victims.

[midsection]

Very sad day for Air NZ.
Thinking of all family and staff.

[HardCorePawn]

AirNZ have released the names of 3 of the 5 New Zealanders...

Air NZ names staff missing after plane crash - 28 Nov 2008 - NZ Herald: New Zealand National news (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10545490&pnum=0)


Thoughts go out to family, friends and work colleagues

[teresa green]

Terrible news for Air New Zealand, the Aviation community will be shocked by this accident, and thinking of their cousins across the pond today.

[RadioSaigon]

If anyone can provide details (via PM please) of an email address for Capt. BH, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Buster Hyman]

I think it's pretty well known that I'm not a fan of ANZ, but this news still came as a punch in the guts for me. :(

Hang in there guys n girls. We're thinking of you over here.

[Eastwest Loco]

Indeed Buster.

NZ is a very tight knit family, the way many Australian airlines used to be.

All the love and caring my staff and I can muster goes out to the families, friends and colleagues of those lost.

Fly on good people, fly on.

EWL

[Obie]

"29 years to the day since Erebus"...

with all due respect, what's the connection?

[ZK-NSN]

Is that a trick question?

[topend3]

with all due respect, what's the connection?

no-one is saying there is a connection, its just a major co-incidence dont you think?

[Razor]

Absolutely flabbergasted!
So sorry to hear that 5 of our NZ brothers passed away. As much as we try to give each other a hard time on the sporting field, etc - this has to be the hardest of times.
My condolences to the families and to the NZ aviation community :uhoh:

[setandcontact]

Sincere condolences to all families, friends and the team at Air New Zealand.

[1279shp]

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320-200, registration D-AXLA (ZK-OJL), test flight GXL888T from Perpignan to Perpignan (France) for a touch and go and then onward to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 7 people (2 Germans, 5 New Zealanders) on board, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast near Perpignan (France) at 16:46 local (15:46Z), approximately 7km (3.8nm) before Saint-Cyprien.

The airplane was heard on Perpignan's approach frequency at approximately 16:45 local (15:45Z), when the crew established contact with approach descending through flight level 120 on a heading of 090. The approach controller cleared the airplane for the LANET ILS 33 approach (see chart below) and a descent to 4000 feet. That instruction was acknowledged, which was the last transmission from the aircraft.

The pilot of a Piper yelled on the radio shortly thereafter, that an airplane had crashed. The pilot started to circle the crash site at radial 110 PPG VOR DME 10.5 until first rescue forces, a helicopter immediately dispatched from Perpignan, arrived on scene. The helicopter crew subsequently reported a white spot on the sea via radio, no aircraft visible, but debris spread out one kilometer (~0.6nm).

Coast Guard patrol boats as well as a helicopter by the Navy found floating parts, the airplane itsself has been located on a sandy ground at a depth of 35 meters. The search and rescue operations were suspended at around 22:30Z Nov 27th and resumed at daybreak Nov 28th.

The French Maritime Prefecture Mediterranean leading the search and rescue mission reported Nov 28th, that two bodies were recovered, five occupants are still missing. The chances for survivors are virtually nil. A navy ship arrived Nov 28th at around 7am local (06:00Z) tasked to search the black boxes and conduct investigation of the wreckage.

The French Secretary of State for Transport said, that the airplane was on an acceptance flight and was expected to return to Perpignan for a touch and go before continuing directly to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), where the airplane would have been officially returned to Air New Zealand. The airplane made an unexpected turn, not required by the procedures, and started a "brutal" climb. :confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

The alert of the crash was raised by a boater before the coast of Canet-en-Roussillon, who had seen the airplane fall into the ocean. A worker in Saint-Cyprien saw the airplane "prick up its nose" and go into the sea almost vertically. Another eye witness in Saint-Cyprien reported, that the Airbus was at a height of estimated 300 meters (1000 feet), when it suddenly fell into the sea, no explosion had occured. Another witness at Canet-en-Roussillion believed, that the airplane had just started the usual DME arc leading towards intercept of the ILS.

XL Airways Germany said, they don't know exactly what happened. Their aircraft D-AXLA was to be transferred to Air New Zealand, resuming its original registration ZK-OJL in the New Zealand aircraft register. The airplane came out of the maintenance and was to be verified. Initially XL Airways received the information, that the airplane had successfully ditched until the news of the crash arrived. Two German employees of XL Airways were on board as well as 5 New Zealanders. The airplane was already back in Air New Zealand colors with the original Air New Zealand interior restored. The airplane should have returned to New Zealand in December.

Air New Zealand confirmed the loss of their aircraft. The airplane was flown by two XL Airways Germany pilots, as the plane still belonged to XL Airways and was on the German register. Aboard were also one senior Air New Zealand captain sitting in the jump seat, 3 ANZ engineers and 1 inspector from New Zealand's CAA. The airplane was expected back in New Zealand later this week. The flight was the final test flight to establish, that the airplane was up to Air New Zealand standards.

According to their information only one body has been found, although there are reports of three bodies being recovered. Air NZ continued, that according to the chairman of XL Airways the airplane had been flying for around 2 hours, had concluded the test program, was returning to Perpignan and on final approach. The control tower in Perpignan did not receive any emergency call. The submerged tail of the airplane is visible from the surface of the sea.

http://avherald.com/img/lfmp_ils.jpg

[bushy]

i recently flew to Auckland and back with Air New Zealand and found it to be the wonderful airline I remember.
Fly on ANZ, fly on

[+TSRA]

Condolences to all the family and friends of the crew. Never a good day.

I just heard a very nasty rumour going through Air NZ at the moment that the crew flying may have turned the autos off, flying manual and attempted a low level stall recovery prior to landing.

I hope to god not - but anyone else hearing this as a possibility?

[Ngineer]

I just heard a very nasty rumour going through Air NZ at the moment that the crew flying may have turned the autos off, flying manual and attempted a low level stall recovery prior to landing.


Does'nt the 320 have some sort of "Alpha Floor" protection?

[Dixons Cider]

+TSRA

Please be very careful circulating that kind of speculation on a public site such as this - journo's scour this site and others and will willingly pluck this kind of thing out and next you will hear it blasted through the media as a quote from "reliable aviation sources".

Not admonishing you, just a heads up to be bloody careful.

My thoughts and condolences to all staff and familys affected.

[Dog Tucker]

My condolences to all the families in this tragic accident, especially to Brians wife and there 2 kids, he was a pleasure to fly with & a very good operator who will be deeply missed by us all.

[doubleu-anker]

Very sad event indeed.

I am sorry I was not going to comment but I am unable to contain myself.

Why, oh why, was a "test Flight" needed?? I take it the aircraft was in airline service on the D (JAA) register. The why did it need another test flight?? What did this flight achieve? Nothing but sadness.

I think it is high time test flying was left to "test pilots" who are current in test flying and nobody else.

It is time playing around or training in aircraft was stopped and done in the simulator.

[Sqwark2000]

doubleu-anker,

As your name suggests, that's a dramatic stance to take on this tragic event.

If you leased your Ferrari to some stranger for 2 years, wouldn't you want to take it for a spin before accepting it back??

I hardly think they would be doing anything out of the ordinary from normal flight envelopes.

Test flights can be for something as simple as checking the pressurisation works to full on stall vane testing. Somethings can't be checked in a simulator, as it might be specific to a particular aircraft.

It's a tragedy, simple. Condolences to those affected....


S2K

[Best foot forward]

Condolences to the family friend and colleagues of all involved. Sad day.

[SARMC]

Hi doubleu-anker,

The aircraft had just undergone reburbishment in anticipation of it's return to Air New Zealand. This refurbishment included repainting the exterior and refitting the interior to Air NZ's requirements. Also at that time the aircraft was serviced. In these situations it is not unusual for a flight check to be undertaken after all the work has been completed. In this case, as the people on board consisted of German pilots and Air NZ staff including a senior pilot, engineers and a NZ CAA inspector, this could also have been a handover/acceptance flight as the aircraft was due to be returned to Air NZ later in the week.

This is not a "test flight" in the normal context of that phrase. As far as I am aware, "Test flight" is the term normally used when testing a new aircraft type by the manufacturer before it is put into full production. As such, this flight did not require "test pilots". Usually this type of flight check is performed by senior pilots and is to check that the aircraft systems are operating normally after all the work that had been performed. The presence of the various Air NZ and NZ CAA staff would support this conjecture.

Your comment "It is time playing around or training in aircraft was stopped and done in the simulator." confuses me.

This flight was neither a training flight nor were they playing around. Because of the high costs associated with these types of aircraft the majority of large aircraft flight training is already done in simulators. And for the same reason, cost, no "playing around" is tolerated by the operators.

Of course some pilot conversion training is done in the "real" aircraft. I'm sure you would not like to board an aircraft which was to be flown by pilots who had never actually flown the real aircraft before.

Regards
Stephen

[distracted cockroach]

Well said....there has been too much talk of this being a "test flight", which an experienced aviation person would know is a completely different animal to an acceptance flight.
There has been much speculation so far, most of it appearing to come from people who seem to think themselves experts in areas their comments give lie to.
I'm no Peter Clark supporter, but his comments on TV3 this morning were some of the most sensible I've heard from anyone in the media....the actual cause will only be known when the investigation is complete (if then!) and other comments are nothing better than wild assumptions.
I'm sure the German pilots were experienced and competent. BH, as those of us who knew him know, was meticulous, experienced, sensible and practical.
Let's let the CVR and FDR tell the story, and refrain from stupid comments that the media invariably get hold of and publish as fact.

[doubleu-anker]

SARMC

Thanks for your post and your point taken.

Lets see now. The tragedies of the DC 8 at Auckland years ago and the RAAF B707 crash were avoidable IMHO. These exercises could have been carried out in a simulator. Playing around in aircraft I call it, as if you look for trouble you quite often find it. A test pilot is trained and is current to look for trouble, line pilots regardless of experience are trained to stay out of trouble.

Yes I have approval to carry out C of A air tests on "high performance" aircraft but don't like doing it any air test and will avoid it if possible. Why? I am not a graduate of the ETPS or the equivalents. It takes millions of dollars to train a test pilot, who will have an engineering degree at the very least, to do the job with any degree of safety.

The point I am trying to make is that I think some of this unnecessary flying is costing more lives than it is designed to save. If it aint broke don't fix it!

[AerocatS2A]

The point I am trying to make is that I think some of this unnecessary flying is costing more lives than it is designed to save. If it aint broke don't fix it!
doubleu-anker, this aeroplane had to fly sometime, if not on this flight then on the ferry back to NZ. IF the cause of the accident was something mechanical then it may well have just ended up biting someone else. It's highly presumptuous to make comment on the advisability of line crew doing "test flights" when for one, it wasn't a test flight, and two, we have no indication that the accident was caused by the acceptance flight profile. If anything, you should consider it a good thing that there were so few people on board and this didn't happen with a cabin full of passengers (of course that is no comfort for those who knew the people who died, but you know what I mean.)

[Capt Kremin]

These post maintenance/acceptance test flights are generally routine and carried out by trained technical pilots. If you don't know what is broke, how can you fix it?

[Cypher]

doubleu-ankler, I think you've got the wrong end of the stick on this one.

This was an acceptance flight NOT a test flight.

A test flight is as you point out, is conducted by test pilots to test an aircraft flight envelope. These aircraft are often undergoing test flying in order to obtain an type certificate as they are first of type.

This was an acceptance flight, just like a test drive of a car. In acceptance flying, you are not taking the aircraft outside the already established flight envelope. Your checking that everything works as advertised. Simulated asymmetric is not usually included in acceptance flying, theres no point to it.

Certain maintenance procedures require a flight check before revenue flying is carried out. And those procedures come from the manufacturer of the aircraft.

Having done an acceptance flight for a first entry of type aircraft (NZ register), we never planned to or did take the aircraft outside the limits set in the flight manual nor was any asymmetric planned. The aircraft had not flown for a year after undergoing a major refit of avionics and interior. Things as simple as galley drawers may work smoothly on the ground, but airborne and pressurized, you may find they no longer work and need attention. Far better to find that out in the a test flight than a revenue flight with pax onboard.

It's just as well we did our acceptance flight because we found an unacceptable autopilot problem that was rapidly remedied by disconnecting and hand flying the aircraft. This fault was not evident on the ground, but only with airloads did the problem manifest itself.
I would hardly call that flying unnecessary. And your not going to find those problems in a simulator.

Did I feel there was a higher risk with this flight I did? Yes, but we took precautions such as additional experienced crew, a flight engineer and a independent GMU and GPS nav system. We were fresh out of the simulator and briefed well on the ground before flight.
As such I believe that our ill-fated colleagues would have been as equally well prepared.

I believe you should check your facts. The DC8 accident you refer to was a training accident as was the RAAF B707 accident. These flights were conducted for a completely different purpose, not for aircraft acceptance testing and yes, can be conducted in a simulator and often are. If you read those accident reports, you would have seen that a large contributing factor in those accidents was a overzealous training captain.

[hadagutfull]

Just a thought, perhaps the requirement to carry out the acceptance flight may have included legalities to re certify the aircraft for 180 min ETOPS operations... as a non revenue flight.
Im not sure if the German airline was required to maintain or operate the aircraft to a 180 ETOPS standard (for operational purposes ).....

Either way... a tragedy... very sad.