Lauda Air Flight 004

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Lauda Air Flight 004

Accident summary
Date	26 May 1991
Type	In flight thrust reverser deployment
Site	Phu Toei National Park, Amphoe Dan Chang, Suphanburi Province, Thailand
Passengers	213
Crew	10
Injuries	0
Fatalities	223 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Boeing 767-3Z9ER
Aircraft name	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Operator	Lauda Air
Tail number	OE-LAV
Flight origin	Kai Tak Airport, Hong Kong
Last stopover	Don Mueang International Airport, Bangkok, Thailand
Destination	Vienna International Airport, Vienna, Austria

Lauda Air Flight 004 was an international passenger flight that crashed due to a thrust reverser deployment of the number 1 engine in flight.

Contents 1 History of the flight 2 Passengers 2.1 Notable victims 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] History of the flight

On 26 May 1991, about 23:10 local time, Flight 004 (originating from Hong Kong's Kai Tak Airport), a Boeing 767-3Z9ER, registration OE-LAV, ship name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, took off from Old Bangkok International Airport (Don Mueang International Airport) for its flight to Vienna International Airport with 213 passengers and 10 crew, under the command of Captain Thomas J. Welch (American) and First Officer Josef Thurner (Austrian).

At 23:22, Welch and Thurner received a visual warning indicating that a possible system failure would cause the thrust reverser on the number 1 engine to deploy in flight. Having consulted the aircraft's Quick Reference Handbook, they determined that it was "just an advisory thing" and took no action.^[1]

At 23:31, the thrust reverser on the number 1 engine deployed while the plane was over mountainous jungle terrain in the border area between Suphanburi and Uthai Thani provinces, Thailand. Thurner's last recorded words were, "Oh, reverser's deployed!".^[2][3]

The 767 stalled in mid-air and disintegrated at 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). Most of the wreckage was scattered over a remote forest area roughly 1 km² in size, at an elevation of 600 m above sea level, in what is nowadays Phu Toei National Park, Suphanburi.^[3] None of the 223 passengers and crew aboard the airliner survived. It was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 767. The accident remains the deadliest aviation disaster on Thai soil to date. Rescuers found the body of Welch still in the pilot's seat.^[4] After the accident scavengers collected electronics and jewellery.^[5] About one quarter of the airline's carrying capacity vanished as a result of the crash.^[6]

Upon hearing of the crash, Niki Lauda, retired Formula 1 race driver and owner of the airline, travelled to Thailand. He examined the wreckage and concluded that the largest fragment was about five metres by two metres, "about half the size of the largest piece in the Lockerbie crash." ^[7] As evidence started to point towards the thrust reversers as the cause of the accident, he made simulator flights at Gatwick Airport which appeared to show that deployment of a thrust reverser was a survivable incident. Lauda said that the thrust reverser could not be the sole cause of the crash. A subsequent official investigation disagreed with Lauda's findings that there must have been further problems for the aircraft to have been lost. The incident led Boeing to modify the thrust reverser system to prevent similar occurrences.^[8]

Aviation writer Macarthur Job has noted that, "had that Boeing 767 been of an earlier version of the type, fitted with engines that were mechanically rather than electronically controlled, then that accident could not have happened." ^[2]

At the crash site, which is accessible to national park visitors, a shrine was later erected to commemorate the victims. ^[9][10] Another memorial and cemetery is located near Ban Tha Sadet, some 90 km away in Amphoe Mueang Suphanburi. ^[11]

[edit] Passengers

The passengers were of 83 nationalities. The passengers and crew included 83 Austrians. Of the passengers, 125 had boarded in Hong Kong, while the rest boarded in Bangkok.^[12]

[edit] Notable victims

• Donald McIntosh, a 43-year old British senior United Nations anti-recreational drug official posted in Bangkok - His death caused Austrian newspapers to post initial speculation stating that people bombed the airplane to kill him; a UN spokesperson said that he was not on a secret mission and could not have been a target of an assassination.^[4][12]
• The governor of Chiang Mai Province^[4]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• New York Times - 'Owner Rejects Thrust as Cause of Air Crash'
• PlaneCrashInfo.Com - Lauda Air Flight 004
• Accident Report - Lauda Air Flight 004
• Grand Prix Hall of Fame - Biography on Niki Lauda (Contains information about Flight 004)

v • d • e ← 1990 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1991 1992→ USAir Flight 1493 (February 1) — United Airlines Flight 585 (March 3) — Singapore Airlines Flight 117 (March 26) — Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311 (April 5) — Lauda Air Flight 004 (May 26) — L'Express Airlines Flight 508 (July 10) — Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 (July 11) — Indian Airlines Flight 257 (August 16) — Continental Express Flight 2574 (September 11) — Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751 (December 27) — China Airlines Flight 358 (December 29) Bold indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold) Orange color indicates the deadliest incident in 1991

Coordinates: 14°57′N 99°27′E / 14.95°N 99.45°E / 14.95; 99.45