SXF runway blocked

[Total Pressure]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/europe/german-government-plane-blocks-runway-at-berlin-airport/2019/04/16/931e4a8c-6027-11e9-bf24-db4b9fb62aa2_story.html

[skadi]

A Global 5000 of German Air Force returned to SXF after encounting technical malfunction. During landing both wingtips had ground contact.

https://twitter.com/berlinairport?s=09

Airport closure deleted some minutes ago

skadi

[gearlever]

"Both wingtips"....


Jeeez

[A320ECAM]

I can now confirm that the runway is back open and flights are taking off and landing again.

[ATC Watcher]

Always check thoroughly and twice when taking an aircraft off maintenance !,:hmm: That said the GAF has a long history of these mishaps with their VIP transport fleet. Maybe time to stop the strict military approach and copy the French system which operates a similar scheme with the ETEC/Esterel squadron since years and which is run to much higher standards ( and also make much more flying hours)

[txl]

Ah, the glorious German Luftwaffe...

Sorry, could not resist. Our Air Force keeps making headlines with malfunctions, delays and other embarassments. Time and again members of the German government are late for their appointments or stuck somewhere because the old junkyard we call "Flugbereitschaft" just won't fly. Recently, Chancellor Merkel had to fly on a regular line service to attend G-20 in Brasil. (I suspect they put her in Business, but still, normal people around ... :}).

The Bombardier Global 5000 that caused this mess isn't that old, though. Flugbereitschaft operates four aircraft of this type, the first went into service around 2011. According to a Luftwaffe spokesman, the aircraft was in SXF for some maintenance work and scheduled to return to its base in CGN. Because of some yet unspecified malfunction after take-off, the crew decided to return to SXF. On landing, the aircraft "touched ground with both wings", the spokesman is being quoted.

Incident happened around 09:00 local time. The aircraft blocked the runway for a couple of hours. SXF was closed, incoming traffic diverted to TXL. As of this noon, operations in SXF are slowly returning back to normal. Lots of people queuing, though, as it's Easter vacation time in Berlin. The crew is being medically treated, but it is not clear whether anybody has been injured. No passengers on the flight, obviously.

[Denti]

One thing to note is, that the maintenance of those jets is actually outsourced to Lufthansa and not done by the military. Lufthansa maintenance in SXF was doing work on that Global Express, but having enjoyed the service level of that particular outfit with a previous employer i am not surprised. On the short sector from SXF to TXL after a C-check we had more than 50 write ups (it helped that we had one of our engineers on board who helped with that stuff, we pilots focused on returning to earth in one piece), however, no ground contact of the wings on landing and therefore nothing in the news.

[Less Hair]

This one is said to have been at Bombardier at Schönefeld for maintenance right before the flight. They had flight control issues especially concerning roll control. Touchdown is said to have happened in the grass on roll out they exited the runway to both sides hitting both wingtips.

[MrsDoubtfire]

Here are two pictures of the landing in SXF. Not much fun obviously...
https://www.aerotelegraph.com/pannenflieger-der-flugbereitschaft-blockiert-schoenefeld

[atakacs]

A Global 5000 of German Air Force returned to SXF after encounting technical malfunction. During landing both wingtips had ground contact.

Wow - from the pics this could have gone much worse! I don't know if they showed great airmanship or were just lucky but in any case glad that no one was hurt.

[MrsDoubtfire]

This is the kind of "Seconds to disaster". This is a screenshot from www.aerotelegraph.com
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1380x1574/aerotelegraph_70ed7f36ea7cf253fb01fe7a1468725d55751bdd.png
German Global 5000 Air Force

[Noeyedear]

I find the angle hard to confirm from the photo but it looks like the right wing roll spoilers are working in reverse to the left wing aileron.

Didn't this happen recently to an Embraer somewhere in Spain?

[AAKEE]

So, to the crew: well done!

[bumpy737]

I find the angle hard to confirm from the photo but it looks like the right wing roll spoilers are working in reverse to the left wing aileron.

Didn't this happen recently to an Embraer somewhere in Spain?

Yup, in Portugal:

Accident: Astana E190 at Alverca on Nov 11th 2018, severe control problems (http://avherald.com/h?article=4c04438e)

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

I find the angle hard to confirm from the photo but it looks like the right wing roll spoilers are working in reverse to the left wing aileron.

The RH wing spoilerons are UP. The LH wing aileron is I believe DOWN i.e. in agreement with the spoilerons - both are acting to roll the aircraft right wing down.

The LH aileron looks T/E "UP" if you compare to the adjacent flap, but on landing the flaps should be at 30, so the aileron can be quite far TE down and still be "UP" compared to the flap. Looking at the outboard end of the aileron, where the reference wing section is fixed, I think it looks TE down.

YMMV, of course.

[Grumpi]

I find the angle hard to confirm from the photo but it looks like the right wing roll spoilers are working in reverse to the left wing aileron.

Didn't this happen recently to an Embraer somewhere in Spain?

Yes, both photos which show spoilers and ailerons are pretty clear: Ailerons and rudder point in the correct direction, spoilers wrong.

But it also means that either the pilots at that point were applying reversed aileron input at that point on purpose, or in this case it was the *spoilers* (all of them) which were hooked up the wrong way (as opposed to the *ailerons* which were messed up in the Embraer case, at least according to the picture that was making the rounds). Which seems even harder to do than the aileron swap. But maybe someone familiar with the setup in the Bombardier knows how the connectors work...

[krujje]

Video of press conference here:
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/video192035021/Nach-Notlandung-Luftwaffe-aeussert-sich-zum-Beinah-Unglueck.html

Are there any German speakers who can provide the gist of what's being said?

[OldnGrounded]

This is the kind of "Seconds to disaster". This is a screenshot from www.aerotelegraph.com. (www.aerotelegraph.com)

Yikes. AFP quotes Luftwaffe spokesperson: "The jet touched the ground with both wings and a controlled landing was no longer possible."

Pretty clear that a controlled landing was "no longer possible" before both wings touched the ground.

Well done, the crew. Hope they are all OK.

[MrsDoubtfire]

Video of press conference here:
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/video192035021/Nach-Notlandung-Luftwaffe-aeussert-sich-zum-Beinah-Unglueck.html

Are there any German speakers who can provide the gist of what's being said?
Okay, I try my very best.
Facts from the press conference in Berlin today

The most important facts presented at the press conference:
- Shortly after takeoff (8.40 Local time) the crew reported trouble with the flight controls
- After working the related emergency checklists and procedures the crew decided to return to the airport (SXF)
- During landing recurrent „uncontrollable movements“ and trouble for the crew to controll the aircraft
- 9.07 LT: During emergency landing a/c damaged because both wings came in contact with the ground
- Crew: 2 pilots and 1 female cabin crew
- The captain/commander: 7400 flight hours and licensed flight instructor
- All Crew are being medically checked „as a precaution“ in a Berlin military hospital; obviously "no physical injuries".
- The aircraft was delivered in 2011 and underwent „a routine maintenance“ after 30 months of flight services at „Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services“ in SXF. Has been there since March, 20th. It was the first flight since.
- Aircraft is being examined and Flight data recorder will be read out.
- No further information about former or actual damages oft the a/c.
Seems as if the Luftwaffe isn´t glad about the results of the maintenance...

[EDMJ]

One entertaining fact from the press conference was that the plan was to ferry (crew only) the aircraft to Cologne only to ferry it back to Berlin again the day after in order to bring the German President to Stuttgart.

I bet that the Greens in the German parliament are already climbing the walls on this issue - and I'm struggling to disagree with them.

Is it by the way normal that a fairly new aircraft is in "routine maintenance" for more than three weeks, and that the first flight after such a (long?) stay is a ferry flight?

[172driver]

I understand that a jet isn't a 172, but after maintenance isn't there something along the lines of 'flight controls free *and correct*' ?

[Noeyedear]

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/702x504/screen_shot_2019_04_17_at_15_45_33_ce11985828da1225cb396a2d5 4f289be4c615223.png
Global Express/XRS Flight control synoptic page

After engine start, the flight controls are cycled through their range of movement and this is monitored on the synoptic page. The flight controls themselves can't be seen from the cockpit. I would suggest that it's human nature to assume all is well and you are looking at the range of movement indicated, not actually comparing the direction of movement of the multi-function spoilers to the ailerons. I can't recall if the FCOM (or equivalent) called for the checking of the roll function of the spoilers specifically or simply a check of whether they extended manually and "automatically" (weight on wheels). If you look at the diagram above, it has a top section and a bottom section. One tends to look at the bottom section when checking the primary controls and then the top section when you move on to the spoiler check. You therefore may not notice the asymmetry. I have seen pilots who come off the G-IV do the spoiler roll check out of habit, as the G-IV had a reasonably detailed ground spoiler check in the after start checklist.

This would have been an extremely confusing event for the pilots. With initial roll input, all would have worked correctly. Increasing the roll input, thereby activating the roll spoilers, would have reversed the desired result, which would trigger your muscle memory to further increase the roll input, again accelerating the error. Near the ground, it would take a quick thinking and brave individual to try reversing the roll input, potentially making the situation worse.

The crew did have a chance to trap the maintenance error in the after start checklist but this is yet another classic Human Factors incident with plenty of learning lessons. I'm glad the crew are ok. They did a good job recovering the aircraft.

[His dudeness]

One entertaining fact from the press conference was that the plan was to ferry (crew only) the aircraft to Cologne only to ferry it back to Berlin again the day after in order to bring the German President to Stuttgart.

I bet that the Greens in the German parliament are already climbing the walls on this issue - and I'm struggling to disagree with them.

You remember Volker Rühe, Secretary of defense - same issue, Chopper flying from EDDK to to EDDH to get the gentlemen IIRC from the airport to his living quarters on a Friday, chopper ferried back to EDDK only to go back on Monday morning. Or the Challenger that turned around on the Azores fuel stop, which was intended to pax around Misses Künast and Mr.Trittin in Brasilia, because Brasil has no good enough private planes. Both from the green party.

[ETOPS]

A very good instructor gave me this tip years ago - If roll control appears to be reversed, let go of the control yoke and just use rudder for secondary effects and then (if the design allows) hold the part of the control that emerges from the dashboard or floor for pitch attitude. Have tried this in light aircraft and it works well.

[RevMan2]

Die Zeit
Deepl.com translation

The Luftwaffe announced that the Global 5000 business jet had serious control problems shortly after take-off at 08.40 a.m.. During the landing, the plane had scraped the ground with both wings. The air force crew had managed to "bring the jet to the ground under the most difficult conditions and thus prevent something worse from happening", explained Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU). The plane should have brought Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Stuttgart on Wednesday.

According to the Luftwaffe, the aircraft was just on its way back to Cologne for a 30-month check-up in one of the manufacturer's workshops in Schönefeld when a malfunction was reported. There had been uncontrolled flight movements, which the crew had not entered, said Commander Fliegende Gruppe der Flugbereitschaft, Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Schipke, at the airport. Two pilots and a flight attendant were on board. After landing, they were taken to a Bundeswehr hospital, but remained physically unharmed.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

[Blacktimes]

Spoilers left in maintenance mode? Happened on an A320 many years ago in the UK. One left in maintenance mode was enough to cause severy control difficulties. Crew did not realize during pre flight checks, it remained stowed, and once in the air, spoiler deployed with the vacuum created above the wing.

[txl]

A young spotter witnessed this, Spiegel Online has more pictures here (https://www.spiegel.de/video/berlin-planespotter-ueber-notlandung-von-regierungsjet-video-99026533.html). Not looking good.

In the video, the witness says that he saw the aircraft on approach trying to compensate for violent roll and yaw, effectively overcompensating: "It was like a roller coaster, going sideways and up and down. Then it touched down after a while I'd been thinking they would have had to go around. And I've seen dust being blown up on landing. It stopped at the end of the runway and fire engines and ambulances came to the scene."

[mcdhu]

I asked my Trg Mgr years ago why the sim could not be/was not programmed with incorrect flt ctl response to the pre take off flt ctl check. No answer!
To my knowledge, it has happened twice to A320s post maintenance with, happily, no casualties but lots of red faces.
This could be another incident which might have been picked up before take off - we must wait and see.
Cheers,
mcdhu

[Capn Bloggs]

A very good instructor gave me this tip years ago - If roll control appears to be reversed, let go of the control yoke and just use rudder for secondary effects and then (if the design allows) hold the part of the control that emerges from the dashboard or floor for pitch attitude. Have tried this in light aircraft and it works well.
I mentioned this in the Embraer thread: if your roll control is reversed, lean over and grab the FO's inboard control column horn with your right hand and your inboard horn with your left and away you go. Wouldn't work in this case though if the spoilers were reversed. And good luck doing it in an Airbus... come to think of it, does a Glex have a control column??

[BRE]

I asked my Trg Mgr years ago why the sim could not be/was not programmed with incorrect flt ctl response to the pre take off flt ctl check. No answer!
To my knowledge, it has happened twice to A320s post maintenance with, happily, no casualties but lots of red faces.
This could be another incident which might have been picked up before take off - we must wait and see.
Cheers,
mcdhu

One was a Lufthansa about 10 years ago. Apparently, only the wiring of the Captain' s side stick were reversed.

[gearlever]

A young spotter witnessed this, Spiegel Online has more pictures here (https://www.spiegel.de/video/berlin-planespotter-ueber-notlandung-von-regierungsjet-video-99026533.html). Not looking good.

In the video, the witness says that he saw the aircraft on approach trying to compensate for violent roll and yaw, effectively overcompensating: "It was like a roller coaster, going sideways and up and down. Then it touched down after a while I'd been thinking they would have had to go around. And I've seen dust being blown up on landing. It stopped at the end of the runway and fire engines and ambulances came to the scene."

To me it looks LH aileron up, RH spoilers up.......
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/900x500/dpa_5f9d20009e1c98ed_6d983f9dd36603016a939f38693d8ea9a84026e 4.jpg

[Super VC-10]

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/702x504/screen_shot_2019_04_17_at_15_45_33_ce11985828da1225cb396a2d5 4f289be4c615223.png
Global Express/XRS Flight control synoptic page



Does this display show what has been asked for, or what is actually happening?

[Noeyedear]

Super VC-10, That is a most erudite question. To cut to the quick, I don’t know in definitive terms, but having said that, surely the synoptic would be useless if it did not show the result, rather than the request?

Having said that, I do recall being told that some of the valve positions on the bleed air page could be misleading, but in this day and age of "you don't need to know that", it was never expanded upon.

As the aircraft is intact, all should be revealed in the near future.

[Twiglet1]

Spoilers left in maintenance mode? Happened on an A320 many years ago in the UK. One left in maintenance mode was enough to cause severy control difficulties. Crew did not realize during pre flight checks, it remained stowed, and once in the air, spoiler deployed with the vacuum created above the wing.

Was that an Excalibur A320?

[H Peacock]

Does this display show what has been asked for, or what is actually happening?

Flight Controls synoptic on a Global displays the actual positions of the control surfaces.

[Capn Bloggs]

Could they have made that display any more complicated/difficult to understand??

[Blacktimes]

Was that an Excalibur A320?
Yep, Excalibur A320

[DCThumb]

That display actually shows ground lift dump deployed ie all the spoilers, not just the roll assist.
And yes, there is supposed to be a flying control check, including roll assist spoilers in the after start checks.

[bill fly]

These aeroplanes keep finding new ways to kill us... I am sure some hero will come up with the appropriate corrective actions soon:
Go Around
er Check Roll Input vs. effect and display
er Hydraulics Off
er ...
That is what a US pilot would have done
er...

[Jet Jockey A4]

Could they have made that display any more complicated/difficult to understand??

What is so complicated about that display?

[Jet Jockey A4]

Does this display show what has been asked for, or what is actually happening?

In the picture above it shows that all systems are functioning correctly (green) and the only way you would actually see what is displayed on this picture would be after a landing on the roll out with full flaps (30 deg) and all spoilers and lift dump deployed or if you were on a ramp with full flaps and selected lift dump and deployed full spoilers to test the system.

In normal Ops it just shows what is actively being used and any abnormal situation would show up in amber.

[H Peacock]

Early Globals used to suffer various flight control snags (spoiler or Slat/Flap) after engine start, which could be reset by isolating the 2 power feeds to each of the 2 FCUs (Flight Control Units) via the EMSCDU. Drastic I know, but removing power to the FCUs in flight would stop the spoilers operating and keep them closed. You may also lose trim and AP etc, but once configured for landing it could be an option to help you regain roll control.

[atakacs]

Flight Controls synoptic on a Global displays the actual positions of the control surfaces.
how does that work?
mechanical sensors for each control surface and real time comparison vs commanded deflection?

[Super VC-10]

Perhaps my question wasn't quite clear enough, perhaps it was...

Just supposing some wires had got crossed somewhere and a control surface operated in the opposite way to normal. Would the display show this anomaly,or would it display as normal?

[FLEXJET]

It’s a pity that the Luftwaffe didn’t get proper advice :

- buy Global Vision instead of classic
- avoid LBAS

The trend I observe is not good: manufacturers tend to acquire maintenance facilities (Dassault buys TAG and Execujet maintenance, Bombardier removed Jet Aviation maintenance approvals and set up own facilities...).

They can’t make profit selling planes so they want to get the money back with maintenance...

[Capn Bloggs]

What is so complicated about that display?
It just is. What about an image from behind so you can see the horizontal surfaces move up and down, as they do for real? Easier to pick up a crossed spoiler or aileron.

The only semi-logical bit is looking down on the rudder, seeing it move left and right.

[DaveReidUK]

dgkuurOxqBo

Controls check using the synoptic display at 2:30.

[Capn Bloggs]

Good two-crew check of controls... not.

[Uplinker]

Amazing that reversed controls happen in this day and age. Surely there are different plugs and sockets for each function - physically incapable of being mated the wrong way round?

I remember a BAe146 ground engineer many years ago responding to my innocent question: “do you guys use checklists like us ?”. He said, “No, we use common sense”. I thought at the time this was a foolish situation.

I can imagine (hopefully incorrectly), in a busy maintenance hangar with deadlines and aircraft needing to be moved: “Controls right, controls left?” “Er yeah, all working” (but reversed and not noticed by a non pilot).

The other day there was a lorry on the motorway with fancy LED rear lights. However, when he applied the brakes, the right hand brake lights came on but on the left side only the amber indicator lights illuminated. So not a very thorough check of the lighting wiring and function had been made there !

One hopes that nowadays, detailed checklists are used by aircraft maintenance engineers after any extensive work to check basic things like control movements, and leaving absolutely no doubt: ‘Control column full right. Right aileron up. Right spoilers up. Left aileron down, Left spoilers flush.’ etc. Certainly, the ground engineers on the flight deck fixing our Airbuses always seem to have reams of detailed written checks to perform after fixing something.

But how come the pilots did not pick it up before take-off? Must be a nightmare trying to land with reversed controls. Anybody like me when I was about 12 who very foolishly tried crossing over their hands on their bicycle handlebars to see how difficult it would be, fell off very quickly because it is almost impossible to tell your brain to make opposite corrections. The learned reflex response is much quicker.

[txl]

Various news outlets have more details, partly citing a Luftwaffe internal report.

According to this report, "severe problems with flight controls" occurred shortly after take off at an altitude of "around 6000 meters". Apparently, aircraft banked right and left violently. Plane didn't respond to pilots' control inputs and stalled. Crew then decided to return to SXF.

On finals, at around 300m altitude the aircraft started banking violently again. Crew tried to control the aircraft with rudder inputs. Aircraft touched ground with both wingtips, finally touching down hard but missing the runway. Afterwards, aircraft slid over grassy areas and taxiways until it came to rest somewhere on or around runway 7L.

According to a report by Spiegel Online (https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/berlin-schoenefeld-regierungs-jet-verfehlte-landebahn-bei-notlandung-a-1263693.html), investigators suspect that spoilers might have been mis-adjusted during maintenance.

The aircraft sustained "severe structural damage" to wings and landing gear, according to Luftwaffe technicians quoted by Spiegel Online. Damage to the fuselage is still being assessed, some cabin interiors came off during the accident. Might even be a write-off.

[MrsDoubtfire]

Spooky! The complete SPON story t:
After the emergency landing of a government plane at Berlin-Schönefeld airport last Tuesday, the German Armed Forces began with the damage analysis. According to SPIEGEL information, Bundeswehr technicians found that the "Global 5000" jet had been damaged much more severely than initially thought.
Specifically, the technicians found the medium-range jet with the identification 14+01 "considerable structural damage" due to buckling and compression damage to both wings, as these had touched the ground during the dramatic landing. The aircraft has now been towed into a hangar and is being inspected there.
It is also possible that the fuselage was warped, at any rate tilted and the cabin trim came off during the crash landing. Even a total loss was not excluded by the Bundeswehr at first. In the meantime, the Deputy General Flight Safety of the Bundeswehr has upgraded the incident to the highest damage category (A).
New emergency landing problems
Bit by bit, the Bundeswehr also determined the course of the accident. During the test flight after several weeks of maintenance of the jet, the pilots had already registered "the first serious problems with flight control" shortly after take-off at an altitude of about 6000 metres, according to a protocol.
The details are not only alarming for insiders. So the airplane did not react to control inputs of the two pilots, it came to the stall. As a result, the pilots immediately decided to return to Berlin-Schönefeld Airport.
During the emergency landing manoeuvre new problems arose: The jet suddenly tilted extremely to the right at a height of about 300 meters without any control input and missed the runway. With the rudder the pilot got it under control again with difficulty, but could bring it instead of on the runway only on the apron of the airport on the ground.
Uncontrollable rolling movements
After the hard touchdown, the jet slid over lawns and several taxiways to runway 07L. Both the wings and the landing gear of the aircraft were massively damaged. Insiders said after the crash landing that they were very lucky that there were no other planes on the apron and taxiways at the time of landing.
The investigators suspect that the possible reason for the tax problems was that the spoilers on the wings could have been incorrectly adjusted during maintenance by an external service provider. The flaps normally support both braking and steering movements, but if incorrectly adjusted they could have triggered the uncontrollable rolling movements of the jet. Before the flight, the jet was in the process of being repaired by the service provider at Schoenefeld Airport for several weeks.
Next week it has to be decided whether there is a general problem with the "Global 5000". The next VIP flight with another jet of the same type is planned for Wednesday. The Luftwaffe had not issued a general flight ban for the four "Global 5000" jets, as the other jets are currently routinely in maintenance. The jet in question was also in routine maintenance at a service provider at Schoenefeld Airport for several weeks immediately before the flight on Tuesday.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

[atakacs]

I guess that this being a military flight we will never see a report...

[Kerosene Kraut]

General Flugsicherheit (the military air accident investigation branch) has published detailed reports before. As this is high profile and public interest I doubt they'll classify it.

[bill fly]

Do I understand from the above that this was a test flight? I wonder how the pre flight ground checks went. Lucky lucky crew. I bet they had a beer afterwards...

Lets hope the “routine maintenance” on the other ships has some routine focus.

[mjv]

The 5000 has cables all the way up to the PCU’s with an interconnection tube at the front and centre. FWD interconnection is housing the disconnect mechanism and the centre mainly for the AP servo and trim. There are 2 PCU’s per AIL which come with LVDTs to feedback position for indication and the 2 FCU’s.

The spoilers (flight spoilers) are controlled by 2 FCU’s and always in pairs! Left outboard/right outboard and if a fault is detected both sides will stow. We have 2 sensors per side (fwd quadrant) which feedback the control column movements to the FCU’s, left sensor 1 to FCU 1, left sensor 2 to FCU 2, right sensor 1to FCU 1 and right sensor 2 to FcU 2. One channel is always active and one is monitoring, same for the FCU’s, each FCU has 2 independent channels which handle the spoiler pairs FCU 1 Channel A does the spoilers 1 on both sides and B does the 2’s on both sides.
feedback is done by LVDT’s for controlling and indication. Only the ground spoilers come with old fashion targets as they are either out or in.

as for the spoiler rigging comment, well everything is possible however it is hard to believe! There is only 1 PCU per spoiler and you only have 1 “giant” rod which you have to adjust. To short means you have to explain a lot to your boss as you need some new spoilers and to long they will show deployed once hydraulic is applied.

to my knowledge there is no reason to play with the control sensors at the fwd quadrant nor anyone with a bit of common sense can swap any connectors aa they come with different keys.

[macjet]

An announced emergency landing of a luftwaffe jet,
all video cameras should be pointed towards the plane.
Is there really no video available, just some pics from a spotter ?
I can’t believe there are no moving pictures...
...?

[Slow and curious]

An announced emergency landing of a luftwaffe jet,
all video cameras should be pointed towards the plane.
Is there really no video available, just some pics from a spotter ?
I can’t believe there are no moving pictures...
...?
Not the only oddity about this incident.

[ivor toolbox]

It’s a pity that the Luftwaffe didn’t get proper advice :

- buy Global Vision instead of classic
- avoid LBAS

The trend I observe is not good: manufacturers tend to acquire maintenance facilities (Dassault buys TAG and Execujet maintenance, Bombardier removed Jet Aviation maintenance approvals and set up own facilities...).

They can’t make profit selling planes so they want to get the money back with maintenance...


No point buying a vision, aside from swanky flight deck, computers that run spoilers are the same.

Ttfn

[macjet]

Another thing that does not sound right: "Shortly after takeoff in approximately 6000 meters..." (that is FL 190/200)

Maybe 6000 feet ??? - that sounds more like shortly after takeoff to me..?

[gearlever]

Another thing that does not sound right: "Shortly after takeoff in approximately 6000 meters..." (that is FL 190/200)

Maybe 6000 feet ??? - that sounds more like shortly after takeoff to me..?

YEP, my thoughts as well.

[MrsDoubtfire]

Oh oh. Some questions to answer for LH Bombardier Aviation Service... News from Spiegel online:
Ministry checks whether Lufthansa subsidiary has made maintenance errors
Following the dangerous crash landing of a government aircraft in Berlin-Schönefeld earlier this week, Federal Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen is investigating whether there are systemic problems with the maintenance of the so-called White Fleet by a Lufthansa subsidiary. As early as Wednesday, General Flight Safety was therefore instructed to investigate the Tuesday accident as well as several other incidents of the past months.
The investigation by the chief flight investigator of the Bundeswehr is concerned with the question of whether the external maintenance of government jets was carried out with the necessary care. The investigators already suspect that the massive problems of a "Global 5000" government aircraft on Tuesday were caused by incorrect wiring of the spoilers on the wings of the jet.
Since the business jet came directly from Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services' maintenance operations, it is reasonable to assume that it was not operated carefully. The incorrect adjustment of the spoilers was extremely dangerous. The pilots were already in a dangerous slant in the air, and there was even a stall. During the emergency landing the jet missed the runway, slid over the lawn and was massively damaged.
This is not the first time that there have been doubts about the maintenance of government aircraft by Lufthansa.
More here: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/flugbereitschaft-ministerium-prueft-wartungsfehler-durch-lufthansa-tochter-a-1263809.html

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

[ivor toolbox]

Oh oh. Some questions to answer for LH Bombardier Aviation Service... News from Spiegel online:
Ministry checks whether Lufthansa subsidiary has made maintenance errors
Following the dangerous crash landing of a government aircraft in Berlin-Schönefeld earlier this week, Federal Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen is investigating whether there are systemic problems with the maintenance of the so-called White Fleet by a Lufthansa subsidiary. As early as Wednesday, General Flight Safety was therefore instructed to investigate the Tuesday accident as well as several other incidents of the past months.
The investigation by the chief flight investigator of the Bundeswehr is concerned with the question of whether the external maintenance of government jets was carried out with the necessary care. The investigators already suspect that the massive problems of a "Global 5000" government aircraft on Tuesday were caused by incorrect wiring of the spoilers on the wings of the jet.
Since the business jet came directly from Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services' maintenance operations, it is reasonable to assume that it was not operated carefully. The incorrect adjustment of the spoilers was extremely dangerous. The pilots were already in a dangerous slant in the air, and there was even a stall. During the emergency landing the jet missed the runway, slid over the lawn and was massively damaged.
This is not the first time that there have been doubts about the maintenance of government aircraft by Lufthansa.
More here: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/flugbereitschaft-ministerium-prueft-wartungsfehler-durch-lufthansa-tochter-a-1263809.html

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I doubt incorrect wiring, more than likely incorrect electronic rigging (after mechanical rig, spoilers have to be electronically rigged, so computers know where they are).

Ttfn

[threemiles]

was incorrectly wired or mounted by LBAS. Spoilers were actuated on the wrong side. (mirrored) Pilots couldnt detect it during pretaxi check as the indicator shows spoiler activity only, but not on which side. Translation from Spiegel today.

[Mad (Flt) Scientist]

was incorrectly wired or mounted by LBAS. Spoilers were actuated on the wrong side. (mirrored) Pilots couldnt detect it during pretaxi check as the indicator shows spoiler activity only, but not on which side. Translation from Spiegel today.

That bit in bold is nonsense, as the synoptic display posted in post #22 shows - all spoiler panels are depicted individually on the display.

[threemiles]

That bit in bold is nonsense, as the synoptic display posted in post #22 shows - all spoiler panels are depicted individually on the display.

Be it so, also, I would expect that there is a visual live outside check by the AMPs, demanded by the AMM, after work was performed on a critical component like this one. Safety category: catastrophical, no doubt.

[MrsDoubtfire]

According to BILD, a chain of mistakes by maintenance AND pilots leads to the near crash landing. It has a paywall, so I translated some parts.
https://www.bild.de/bild-plus/politik/inland/politik-inland/luftwaffe-das-steckt-hinter-dem-beinahe-crash-des-regierungsjets-61507698,view=conversionToLogin.bild.html

According to BILD information, sloppiness is supposed to be the main cause. In concrete terms: Lufthansa's technicians as well as the air force pilots did not carry out all the required checks. Officially, the investigations are still being carried out by the "General Flugsicherheit" of the Bundeswehr.
...
Meanwhile Lufthansa circles say that a chain of mistakes and carelessness led to the near crash. Error 1: Incorrect wiring of the spoilers on the wings. So much was known. Reason: Maintenance breakdowns at the responsible maintenance company "Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services". Error 2: Missing checks! After completion of maintenance, the technicians must actually release the aircraft on the basis of a checklist. Lufthansa Technik confirmed this to BILD: "Regardless of the specific case, a maintenance and overhaul company releases an aircraft from service after maintenance or overhaul work has been carried out". However, the government aircraft obviously did not receive such a carefully performed check to declare "airworthiness". Error 3: Obvious negligence on the part of the pilots. Because they also have to carry out routine checks before take-off, during which the wrong wiring of the spoilers should have been noticed on the ground. And even in the air there would be possibilities to switch off the wrongly wired spoilers. That was omitted.

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[Jet Jockey A4]

Although I do not know the exact technical problem they had, If they suspected (the pilots) spoiler problems, they could have deactivated them.

[Noeyedear]

Where in the QRH is that procedure? (De-activate the spoilers).

[H Peacock]

Where in the QRH is that procedure? (De-activate the spoilers).

It's not, but if you understand the detail of your aircraft's systems then you could make a sensible deduction at how to do it. Primary flight controls on the original Global are all mechanically controlled, hydraulically actuated. Spoilers are electrically controlled (FCU) and hydraulically actuated.

The FCUs do lots of important tasks, but nothing that I can't do without when I may be losing control of the aircraft. So into the EMSCDU, trip FCU 1 & 2 power A & B!

[Super VC-10]

So, as I suspected, something was wired incorrectly. Which brings us back to the question I asked earlier.

With the incorrect wiring, would the display show what had been asked for, or what was actually happening?

[DaveReidUK]

With the incorrect wiring, would the display show what had been asked for, or what was actually happening?

There wouldn't be much point in having the display if it didn't show, for example, a spoiler that failed to move when a controls check was carried out.

So, without knowing the GLEX family in detail, I'd be very surprised if it wasn't actual surface position that is being displayed.

[jimjim1]

Anybody like me when I was about 12 who very foolishly tried crossing over their hands on their bicycle handlebars to see how difficult it would be, fell off very quickly

I have never previously encountered anyone else stupid enough to do that. I would have been a bit older.

I say I fell off instantaneously.

I wondered if it might "solve" these though -
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Reverse-Steer-Bike-Fair-Ground-Bicycle-Challenge-by-Alt-Bike-Co-/173148288866
Reverse Steer Bike - Fair Ground Bicycle Challenge

[jimjim1]

So, as I suspected, something was wired incorrectly. Which brings us back to the question I asked earlier.

With the incorrect wiring, would the display show what had been asked for, or what was actually happening?

mjv seems to answer your question here - actual spoiler position is sensed.

... which handle the spoiler pairs FCU 1 Channel A does the spoilers 1 on both sides and B does the 2’s on both sides.
...
feedback is done by LVDT’s for controlling and indication. Only the ground spoilers come with old fashion targets as they are either out or in.


LVDT are position sensors. Linear Variable Differential Transformer. Produce a changing AC voltage depending on the sensed position.

[Slow and curious]

Luftwaffe Test/Ferry flight.
I wonder how this would have developed if the crew of 3 would have had (enough) parachutes onboard.:rolleyes:

[DaveReidUK]

Luftwaffe Test/Ferry flight.I wonder how this would have developed if the crew of 3 would have had (enough) parachutes onboard.
Getting out while wearing a chute might be a tad interesting.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/398x356/global_5000_luftwaffe_25979371053__615e505eecce84c688b7c64a6 8ef66156756567a.jpg
It's not a 727 or DC-9. :O

[hwilker]

German public broadcaster ARD, quoting newsweekly Der Spiegel, reports that the accident report has been finished. Mix-up in control logic, due to maintenance error. Aircraft written off after suffering 5,8 g load during pullout from the initial loss of control.

www.tagesschau.de/inland/ursache-bruchlandung-regierungsflieger-101.html (in German)

[Airbubba]

Wie der "Spiegel" berichtete, war offenbar ein Teil der Steuerung quasi verkehrt herum eingebaut worden - die Maschine machte also in Teilen das Gegenteil von dem, was sie sollte. Als die Piloten nach links lenkten, kippte die Maschine nach rechts.

Murphy's Law strikes again. :ugh:

[atakacs]

If find it incredible that such a condition could arise (inverted flight controls in actual flight, not caught at any step before) and equally amazing that the crew walked out of that one.

[Less Hair]

This is the actual touchdown. It hit the ground with both wingtips and landed on the grass being steered back onto the runway afterwards.
It's roll control input module had been installed in a wrong way during maintenance. This went unnoticed by both maintenance and crew as the final report by the military found out.
https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/bild-1298128-1418983.html

Source: Spiegel/DPA

[macjet]

So all primary flight controls were OK. They worked in fine and in the correct direction!
A set of reversed secondary flight controls (spoiler system) brought down the jet?
Does LBAS get paid for the maintenance job which ended in an aircraft write-off?