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-   -   DHL B752 at Leipzig on Feb 13th 2021, cargo door opened in flight (https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/638657-dhl-b752-leipzig-feb-13th-2021-cargo-door-opened-flight.html)

Check Airman 13th Feb 2021 18:26

DHL B752 at Leipzig on Feb 13th 2021, cargo door opened in flight
 
https://avherald.com/h?article=4e2fd449&opt=0

DaveReidUK 13th Feb 2021 19:38

10-year-old PCF conversion. It will be interesting to see if the Door Indication System was operative or MEL'd.

Departure was during darkness, as might be expected for DHL's operation.

krismiler 13th Feb 2021 22:08

The early B747s had a design deficiency in the cargo door locking mechanism, as this involved a PCF conversion of a more modern type, that shouldn’t have been an issue. Due to the door being located on the upper fuselage, at least the engine on that side wasn’t affected.

Human factors come into question, with the return landing being at 05:47 local the crew, both flight and ground, may have been on duty all night or had a circadian low reporting time.

Dark Stanley 13th Feb 2021 22:42

To quote from the report.......

Germany's BFU confirmed a cargo door apparently opened in flight and dispatched investigators on site. The BFU reported nobody was injured and no freight was ejected from the aircraft. An investigation has been opened.

Thats amazing, I never knew DHL carried investigators in the belly’s. Now that’s German efficiency for you!!!


And considering the turmoil that certain other G reg cargo carriers are enduring due to Brexit, how is a G reg doing point to point in Europe?


tdracer 14th Feb 2021 02:29

DR, do you know who did the conversion?
I could be wrong, but I don't recall Boeing doing a 757 P2F conversion so I'm guessing this was an independent STC.

EAM 14th Feb 2021 07:41

The conversion was done by Precision Aircrafts in Jacksonville.

DaveReidUK 14th Feb 2021 07:43

Precision Conversions ST01529SE, this example embodied by Flightstar at Jacksonville/Cecil.

As of 2018, 109 conversions completed by various MROs.

srjumbo747 14th Feb 2021 07:59

krismiler

Why do human factors come into question? Can you elaborate please?

EAM 14th Feb 2021 08:33

I think he means because of the night shift, but both flight crew and ground crew are used to the night operation and were already on night duty for a few days and were "acclimatised" as it is called.
Both Door indicating system and ground crew confirmed a locked main cargo door. The crew did a good job!
Lets see what the investigation will bring out.

DaveReidUK 14th Feb 2021 09:53

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....7dde8a71f4.jpg


krismiler 14th Feb 2021 10:19

I’ve done night freight before, believe me you still get tired. However if the door was closed correctly then the company who performed the conversion could be looking at a recall and possible grounding of all the aircraft they worked on.

With the investigators on-site, the report shouldn’t take long.

oceancrosser 14th Feb 2021 11:30

As far as I know we have had more problems with the main cargo door on the Boeing built 757 freighters than the conversions. But then again, the factory built freighters are older.

DaveReidUK 14th Feb 2021 11:40

Hard to see from the photos so far, but if the door was forced open with the locks in place, I would expect to see at least some damage to the door frame caused by the shoot bolts.

If there is any, it's not obvious.

de fumo in flammam 14th Feb 2021 20:54

And cargo is the answer.

I was always told, lose the main cargo door, lose the aeroplane. Thank God that was wrong.

DaveReidUK 14th Feb 2021 21:18

Happily in this case they found the door attached to the aeroplane ...

de fumo in flammam 14th Feb 2021 21:23

Indeed...but the the dc9 where it opened and stayed attached.. crashed. Extremely dangerous situation which could go either way I guess; full ∆P and it ain't going to be pretty! Interesting comments on avherald, especially re possible ice or snow in the latches/mechanism or v cold temps. I was always Captain Paranoia with the door, (and ULD load positions, which saved my skin once) - not helped by the latch windows being far from clear (not 757).

Dan Dare 14th Feb 2021 21:28

Would anyone be able to post a plot of their flight-path? It would be interesting to gauge the time they had available to turn back and have opposite direction runway prepared for them.

NG1 14th Feb 2021 21:32

Same thing happend to a DC-8 freighter out of MIA many moons ago, they returned safely as well.

DaveReidUK 14th Feb 2021 22:15

Dan Dare

13 minutes elapsed between stopping the climb just short of 6000' and touching down.

Chris2303 14th Feb 2021 22:37

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...qy126#26d05e8c


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