DHL Boeing 757/200 emergency in Costa Rica...

[Jet Jockey A4]

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/tyj5l1/better_footage_of_dhl_757200_down_at_sjo_costa/

[Chiefttp]

Evident,y they took off, lost their left hydraulic system and this accident occurred on their return to the Airfield. Looks like they landed fine.

[AmuDarya]

https://youtu.be/unQGf1zn_64

[AmuDarya]

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/539x402/tail_separation_797cab5b37130d9d3e8fa2529111ab1e40247a4d.jpg

[For goodness sake]

Hang about- what is Qantas doing at San Jose- doesn't American fly that sector for them?

[BANANASBANANAS]

Hard to say for sure but it looks like he might have been running out of stopping distance. It would certainly explain the smoke from the wheels. What I don't understand though is how they wouldn't have picked up a landing performance issue when they ran the checklist and diverted to somewhere with a longer runway if necessary. I believe they had only just taken off so they should have had plenty of fuel. On the other hand, the B757 does not have a fuel jettison system so I wonder if they were heavy (or even overweight) for this approach?

Pure speculation of course.

[India Four Two]

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1170x746/0712ebb2_b4d6_4f41_b0dd_d66e6ee4d675_6ab497d840a1fa5837930c1 3648bb8b3a1bece74.jpeg
From https://www.atsb.gov.au/media/5775982/ao-2018-014_final.pdf

[MLHeliwrench]

Mayday call had loss of left hydraulics. Gear doors down, RAT out? Only brakes on one side? Flaps partially down? Challenging situation to be sure.

video https://www.reddit.com/r/aircrashinvestigation/comments/tyj3qm/dhl_757_skids_off_runway_on_landing_april_7_2022/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

[chumley]

My thoughts exactly!

[ScepticalOptomist]

The “landing” was fine, the Ground loop at the end into the ditch caused the tail to break. Intentional? Stuck brake on that side from over heating? Who knows…

[BuzzBox]

Mayday call had loss of left hydraulics. Gear doors down, RAT out? Only brakes on one side? Flaps partially down? Challenging situation to be sure.

video https://www.reddit.com/r/aircrashinvestigation/comments/tyj3qm/dhl_757_skids_off_runway_on_landing_april_7_2022/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

If they only lost the L hydraulic system they should still have had normal braking, which is powered by the R system. The apparent lack of braking and no reverse thrust on either side might suggest they lost both the L & R hydraulic systems. They might have been left with accumulator braking only, with no anti skid.

[BANANASBANANAS]

Mayday call had loss of left hydraulics. Gear doors down, RAT out? Only brakes on one side? Flaps partially down? Challenging situation to be sure.

video https://www.reddit.com/r/aircrashinvestigation/comments/tyj3qm/dhl_757_skids_off_runway_on_landing_april_7_2022/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Loss of the Left Hydraulic System should cause none of those symptoms. Normal brakes still available, two Hydraulic systems still available. I flew B757/B767 from 1994-2005 and loss of Left Hyd system in the sim was a fairly regular scenario. Run the checklist, check landing performance and plan accordingly. It was never more than a PAN call.

That said, there may be more to come out of this story yet.

[Terrey]

Landed with a 10kt tailwind, partial flap (Hyd Sys L) , 3000’ elevation and heavy weight. Not surprising they were running out of runway. Landed Rwy07, wind 250/10. Only circling approach available Rwy25 with a displaced threshold. Probably should have looked at going somewhere else.

[BuzzBox]

Landed with a 10kt tailwind, partial flap (Hyd Sys L) , 3000’ elevation and heavy weight. Not surprising they were running out of runway. Landed Rwy07, wind 250/10. Only circling approach available Rwy25 with a displaced threshold. Probably should have looked at going somewhere else.

The FCOM gives a landing distance of approx 5,400 ft for Hydraulic System Left Inop, good braking, MLW, 3,000 ft elev, 10 kt tail, and 1% uphill slope. The runway length is 9,878 ft.

There should have been plenty of runway available if only the Left Hydraulic system was inoperative.

[EDLB]

Landing was fine but from the video it looked that they had only asymmetric braking available which caused the 180 into the ditch. I think it was good airmanship to stick to the nearest, you never know what may deteriorate further. And they got out unharmed, only the airframe was sold to the insurance.

[cdeanda]

Could it be possible that they tried to vacate on the "high speed" taxiway Kilo with the degraded hydraulics? (From what someone posted above, the left sys has the nosewheel steering). We'll see. The good news is no one was harmed

[Matt48]

Good landing , rollout good but fast, didn't look like #1 reverser deployed, how do brakes lock, aren't they ABS .
Got it on the ground while there's still some hydraulics left.

[blue up]

So, is that the 9th 757 lost in service? Broke in the same place as G-BYAG

[Matt48]

Very lucky there was no fire, full fuel on board, #2 engine ripped upwards from wing going over the ditch, lots of white smoke after the red dust.

[andrasz]

Could it be possible that they tried to vacate on the "high speed" taxiway Kilo...

They had another 1000m of surfaced area ahead, more likely it was a loss of directional control. Rudder was deflected left throughout the landing roll.

[Silver Pegasus]

Braking seems fine, going by the skid marks left behind. Seems like the loss of directional control. Not sure why it wasn’t slowing, clearly had anti-skid issues. They had quite a bit of runway left.

https://twitter.com/tomas40916602/status/1512170830310121479?s=21&t=LoXsMy3nKFiS8gK5LUOl4Q

[zerograv]

DHL Panama.
Their 757s have Pratt & Whitney engines.
Unclear from the video, given that it was filmed from the left side, if they were using the Right Engine Reverser during the landing rollout. Does not look like that they used the Left Engine Reverser. Not very familiar with this engines.
Can see as plausible cause that they might have used the Right Reverser, and did not stow it as the aircraft slowed down to slower airspeeds. Can see that as a plausible reason to explain the loss of directional control the way they did.

[Sailvi767]

On a dry runway there is zero issue with using one reverser and directional control. It’s done all the time in normal ops with a reverser locked out. Unless they lost both left and right hydraulic systems braking will be normal. I can’t remember which ones but some spoilers are inop and if I recall you land flaps 20. Easy to float if your not careful. It did not appear either reverser was deployed but stopping should still not be a issue.

[Chiefttp]

I just had this exact scenario at my yearly checkride. Loss of the left Hydraulic system, run a few checklists, land straight ahead, asymmetric reverser, but a non-event. No nosewheel steering so you’ll need a tow from the runway.

[Starbear]

There is or was an item in B757 QRH for loss of left hydraulics that stated: DO NOT USE AUTOBRAKES. Not saying that is the case here but if they did it can seriously impair directional control as A/B can only give symmetrical braking.. A B757 left the runway in LGW (Gatwick) many years ago as a direct result of this, Airtours I think. Basically with asymmetric reverse any yawing moment can be exacerbated by brakes on one side releasing due to increased lift on one wing and this just multiplies, especially if any crosswind (which appears not the case here) and also if for any reason speed brake not rapidly deployed.

[WhatsaLizad?]

Landed with a 10kt tailwind, partial flap (Hyd Sys L) , 3000’ elevation and heavy weight. Not surprising they were running out of runway. Landed Rwy07, wind 250/10. Only circling approach available Rwy25 with a displaced threshold. Probably should have looked at going somewhere else.

Terrey,
Is there reliable information that this aircraft was at a heavy weight?

Thanks.

[Sailvi767]

They had another 1000m of surfaced area ahead, more likely it was a loss of directional control. Rudder was deflected left throughout the landing roll.

If the rudder was left throughout the landing roll it is possible the loss of the Left system caused a NWS issue with a drift to the right. At higher speeds the rudder could compensate but below 80 knots would be ineffective leaving only differential braking.

[Smudge's Lot]

There is or was an item in B757 QRH for loss of left hydraulics that stated: DO NOT USE AUTOBRAKES. Not saying that is the case here but if they did it can seriously impair directional control as A/B can only give symmetrical braking.. A B757 left the runway in LGW (Gatwick) many years ago as a direct result of this, Airtours I think. Basically with asymmetric reverse any yawing moment can be exacerbated by brakes on one side releasing due to increased lift on one wing and this just multiplies, especially if any crosswind (which appears not the case here) and also if for any reason speed brake not rapidly deployed.

This bought about the procedure to make sure that the Speedbrakes had fully deployed BEFORE using any asymmetric reverse thrust back in the day, so if the Checklist had been fully followed, that was in the "beware" notes.
In the video, you can see the speedbrakes extended but obviouly not all of them due to the Hydraulic failure

[Starbear]

Correct. In fact the speedbrake requirement was in force for the LGW event but that airline omitted that very important point in their own company modified QRH

[Akrapovic]

Landed with a 10kt tailwind, partial flap (Hyd Sys L) , 3000’ elevation and heavy weight. Not surprising they were running out of runway. Landed Rwy07, wind 250/10. Only circling approach available Rwy25 with a displaced threshold. Probably should have looked at going somewhere else.

Shame you weren't there Terrey to save the day . . . . .

[Chiefttp]

If the rudder was left throughout the landing roll it is possible the loss of the Left system caused a NWS issue with a drift to the right. At higher speeds the rudder could compensate but below 80 knots would be ineffective leaving only differential braking.
Sailvi767,
the nosewheel steering is inop with loss of left hydraulics, so even if rudder trim is used, I’m pretty sure it won’t affect nosewheel steering at all.

[HOVIS]

Perhaps the answer lies with why the loss of left hyd sys. Maybe whatever took out the left hyd sys also caused a loss of integrity to the right hyd sys or even the right or left bogie's brakes. It's been a while since I worked the 757. My knowledge is a bit rusty.

[DIBO]

Whatever happened, if it wasn't for these treacherous 5m. terrain level differences within less than 50m from the high-speed exit taxiway, there would only have been a pretty much intact 757 standing in the mud.
If this would have been a high-speed RTO full of pax, veering off the rwy, these 'slopes' could have killed a lot of people...

[Cuillin Hills]

Sailvi767,
the nosewheel steering is inop with loss of left hydraulics, so even if rudder trim is used, I’m pretty sure it won’t affect nosewheel steering at all.

Not necessarily - I have had a Left Hydraulic fail on a B757 and retained about 14% HYD in the Left system due to the standpipe. This 14% was enough to retain full control of the NWS and taxi clear of the runway.

As mentioned earlier, the B757 incident at London Gatwick some years ago, where the operator thought they knew better than Boeing and modified their QRH for Left HYD system failure, meant that the ABS was incorrectly selected for landing. The aircraft lost control directionally when THR RVR was selected and the aircraft departed the paved surface then regained it after a while.

It appears similar to this event (no ditches at the side of Gatwick’s runway!).

[Sailvi767]

Sailvi767,
the nosewheel steering is inop with loss of left hydraulics, so even if rudder trim is used, I’m pretty sure it won’t affect nosewheel steering at all.

Not at all what I meant. There may have been a failure in the NWS system that without hydraulic power was causing a right drift. One poster stated that they had left rudder in from touchdown. If that was the case they either had a Nose gear issue or asymmetric braking.

[jolihokistix]

Several more videos in AmuDarya’s linked Reddit page above.

[punkalouver]

Not necessarily - I have had a Left Hydraulic fail on a B757 and retained about 14% HYD in the Left system due to the standpipe. This 14% was enough to retain full control of the NWS and taxi clear of the runway.

As mentioned earlier, the B757 incident at London Gatwick some years ago, where the operator thought they knew better than Boeing and modified their QRH for Left HYD system failure, meant that the ABS was incorrectly selected for landing. The aircraft lost control directionally when THR RVR was selected and the aircraft departed the paved surface then regained it after a while.

It appears similar to this event (no ditches at the side of Gatwick’s runway!).

Anybody have a link to a report on the Gatwick incident?

[FlightDetent]

Anybody have a link to a report on the Gatwick incident?There is this... https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422f0b6e5274a1317000327/dft_avsafety_pdf_501194.pdf

with an interesting comment on nationwide QRH custom.

[A0283]

If the rudder was left throughout the landing roll it is possible the loss of the Left system caused a NWS issue with a drift to the right. At higher speeds the rudder could compensate but below 80 knots would be ineffective leaving only differential braking.

An interesting point that may explain part of the rather sudden move to the right,

​​​​​andrasz too
after the stop the rudder is still deflected left,

also interesting too see the complete wrinkle/harmonica visible both before and aft of the wing, which may point to the production break locations, and ripping the fuselage open in the middle of the aft section, could point to wingtip touching ground first (ac pivoting on the NLG) causing the wrinkles, and ripping occurring when the horizontal stabiliser hit the ground, I wonder, quite a big dip there,

[punkalouver]

Wasn’t there a 757 accident in Guyana two or three years ago where there was a hydraulic problem. Could be an interesting comparison if someone has details.

[XLNL]

Disclaimer: don’t know anything about the aircraft type and have no Boeing experience.
Do I see this wrong or does it look like engine #1 is at -a lot- more than idle thrust during that landing roll?
If so possible causes? Selecting reverse on both engines with the reverser not deploying on #1? Other tech failures that prevented the engine from going to idle?
Or maybe I saw wrong…

[tdracer]

Disclaimer: don’t know anything about the aircraft type and have no Boeing experience.
Do I see this wrong or does it look like engine #1 is at -a lot- more than idle thrust during that landing roll?
If so possible causes? Selecting reverse on both engines with the reverser not deploying on #1? Other tech failures that prevented the engine from going to idle?
Or maybe I saw wrong…
Not likely - an earlier post said this had PW2000 engines - FADEC. While nothing is impossible, it would be very unusual for a FADEC engine to not go to idle if the thrust lever is at idle.
Pilots have been known to inadvertently nudge the thrust lever of one engine above idle while deploying the thrust reversers on the other engines - however I've only ever known that to happen on quads (small hands miss one reverse lever) - hard to imagine that happening on a twin though.

[CargoOne]

Pilots have been known to inadvertently nudge the thrust lever of one engine above idle while deploying the thrust reversers on the other engines - however I've only ever known that to happen on quads (small hands miss one reverse lever) - hard to imagine that happening on a twin though.

A310 accident with S7 back in 2006. One T/R was INOP on MEL. “1.5 seconds after touchdown, Captain Shibanov set the reverse thrust lever for the right engine to the reverse mode. The right engine correctly went into reverse thrust mode. The reverse thrust lever for the left engine was not applied.

Consequently, during the time the reverse thrust lever for the right engine was being moved forward (to reduce the reverse thrust), captain Shibanov unintentionally moved the throttle control lever for the left engine forward (increasing forward thrust) while moving the reverse thrust lever of the right engine gradually up to the stowed position and remained in that position until the time of colliding with the barriers.”

[MissChief]

Whatever happened, if it wasn't for these treacherous 5m. terrain level differences within less than 50m from the high-speed exit taxiway, there would only have been a pretty much intact 757 standing in the mud.
If this would have been a high-speed RTO full of pax, veering off the rwy, these 'slopes' could have killed a lot of people...


The slope probably fractured the fuselage, as shown. Airfields such as this can be downright dangerous.

[cdeanda]

They had another 1000m of surfaced area ahead, more likely it was a loss of directional control. Rudder was deflected left throughout the landing roll.

Looking at the latest video on Reddit you can notice the sudden deceleration just before taxiway K and that's when the smoke from the main landing gear appears (skidding?). Again, could it be that they thought they could vacate so not to get stucked on the runway and applied heavy breaking?

[tdracer]

A310 accident with S7 back in 2006. One T/R was INOP on MEL. “1.5 seconds after touchdown, Captain Shibanov set the reverse thrust lever for the right engine to the reverse mode. The right engine correctly went into reverse thrust mode. The reverse thrust lever for the left engine was not applied.

Consequently, during the time the reverse thrust lever for the right engine was being moved forward (to reduce the reverse thrust), captain Shibanov unintentionally moved the throttle control lever for the left engine forward (increasing forward thrust) while moving the reverse thrust lever of the right engine gradually up to the stowed position and remained in that position until the time of colliding with the barriers.”

Interesting - I'd not heard of that one (probably since it was an Airbus). Certainly fits the scenario of what happened to this DHL 757...

[BuzzBox]

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1862x1079/dhl_757_final_position_sjo_db133e88862def0fcb9224849f0493b66 73f3e31.jpg
FR24 plot of the aircraft's trajectory after landing. Is it coincidental they lost directional control approaching K, or were they trying to exit the runway at K and lost control as they were doing so?

[offa]

Reverser not deployed on #1 (i.e. FWD thrust) due loss of hydraulic #1 and (sounds like) lots of reverse on #2 would make it near impossible to maintain directional control much below 100 kts as rudder effect is lost.

[Chiefttp]

Perhaps out of habit, and in the heat of the moment the pilot attempted to utilize nosewheel steering to steer on to taxiway K. Nosewheel steering is inop with loss of left hydraulics,(assume PTU inop) so he panics when the steering doesn’t respond and begins braking…I know this is complete conjecture, but it could be a possible scenario.

[punkalouver]

Interesting - I'd not heard of that one (probably since it was an Airbus). Certainly fits the scenario of what happened to this DHL 757...

Having read so much about aviation incidents over the years, I have come to the conclusion of: If it can happen, it has happened somewhere. It truly is amazing how many accidents and incidents have happened over the years and how many have been forgotten.

[FullWings]

Reverser not deployed on #1 (i.e. FWD thrust) due loss of hydraulic #1 and (sounds like) lots of reverse on #2 would make it near impossible to maintain directional control much below 100 kts as rudder effect is lost.
If it’s at all like any other Boeing I’ve flown, that is unlikely, especially on a dry runway. You can dispatch with one TR U/S and following an engine failure you would only have one anyway. That means every landing with a TR U/S or RTO due EF would leave the paved surface, which doesn’t happen. The only time I’ve seen directional control compromised was a low speed abort on a contaminated runway, and that was due to one engine being at full thrust and the other failed; once the power was brought back on the live engine it was controllable again.

I don’t know what happened here but it does look like a more complex issue than a simple loss of one hydraulic system. I have operated to MROC and generally briefed that Liberia can be an option if it isn’t a time-critical emergency, as it’s at sea level and you should be able to land into-wind, rather than doing a dodgy approach or accepting a limiting tailwind if you don’t have RNAV auth for MROC. I’m sure the DHL guys would be aware of that, so something caught them by surprise, I guess...

[tdracer]

Reverser not deployed on #1 (i.e. FWD thrust) due loss of hydraulic #1 and (sounds like) lots of reverse on #2 would make it near impossible to maintain directional control much below 100 kts as rudder effect is lost.

Full reverse on one engine with the other engine at forward idle is controllable using rudder only down to ~60 knots (which, not coincidentally, is the speed at which you're supposed to be down to reverse idle). That's actually a regulation and gets demonstrated during certification.
If the engine in forward isn't at idle (or shut down), all bets are off...

[Lookleft]

Looking at the image it certainly is possible that they tried to take the high speed. I constantly have to tell F/O's to roll through when they use idle reverse and LO a/b then try to take the high speed at 70kts. So if a crew is conditioned to do that then they will just follow their instinct even in an emergency.

[punkalouver]

Wasn’t there a 757 accident in Guyana two or three years ago where there was a hydraulic problem. Could be an interesting comparison if someone has details.

“Fly Jamaica flight 256 suffered a runway excursion after returning to land at Georgetown-Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana.
The aircraft, a Boeing 757-200, departed Georgetown Airport at 02:09 hours local time. After departure the flight reported an issue with the hydraulic system. The climb was stopped before reaching FL200 and the aircraft turned back to Georgetown Airport.
The aircraft touched down on runway 06 at 02:53 hours. It went off the runway and came to rest across the airport perimeter fence. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. The right-hand main landing gear had broken off, and the no.2 (right-hand) engine pivoted forward and upwards. Six persons were injured, according to local media. An eighty-six-year-old passenger died of her injuries on November 16.”

Unfortunately, no report has been published(that I can find) on what happened.