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Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

Coordinates: 52°22′34″N 4°42′50″E / 52.37611°N 4.71389°E / 52.37611; 4.71389
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Turkish Airlines Flight 1951
The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-8F2, registration TC-JGE, just after the crash near Schiphol Airport.
Occurrence
Date25 February 2009 (2009-02-25)
SummaryUnder investigation
SiteNorth of the Polderbaan runway (18R/36L) of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
52°22′34″N 4°42′50″E / 52.37611°N 4.71389°E / 52.37611; 4.71389
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBoeing 737-8F2[1][2]
Aircraft nameTekirdağ[3]
OperatorTurkish Airlines
RegistrationTC-JGE[3]
Flight originAtatürk Int'l Airport, Istanbul, Turkey
DestinationAmsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands
Passengers128[4]
Crew7[3]
Fatalities9 (4 crew)[5]
Injuries86; 6 critical, 25 severe
Survivors126

Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 was a passenger flight which crashed near Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Netherlands, on 25 February 2009, killing nine people. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined.

The aircraft, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800, crashed into a field approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of the Polderbaan runway just beside the A9 motorway, at 9:31 UTC (10:31 CET), having flown from Istanbul, Turkey. Although the aircraft broke into three pieces on impact, the wreckage did not catch fire.[6][1][7]

Background

Flight data

A total of 128 passengers and seven crew members were on board[4] when the flight left Istanbul at 6:22 UTC (7:22 CET) under the command of Instructor Captain Hasan Tahsin Arısan, one of the airline's most experienced senior pilots who had more than 15,500 hours of flying experience.[citation needed] Captain Arısan had been working for Turkish Airlines since 1996. He was also a former Turkish Air Force fleet commander, who had over 5,000 hours of flight time on the F-4E, the highest number of hours in the world on an F-4E.[8] The other crew members were Olgay Özgür (co-pilot), Murat Sezer (pilot), Figen Eren, Perihan Özden, Ulvi Murat Eskin, and Yasemin Vural.[9]

The aircraft was built in 2002, had been registered as TC-JGE and named "Tekirdağ".[3][10]

Labor union dispute

On 18 February 2009, the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (an employees' labor union) alleged on its web site that Turkish Airlines "is ignoring the most basic function of flight safety, which is plane maintenance services. The company administration does not understand the consequences of ripping people from their jobs and inviting a disaster."[11]

According to CNN, "The union, which represents 12,000 Turkish Airline employees, is involved in an ugly dispute with the company's management."[11]

After the crash, in response to those accusations, Turkish Airlines issued a statement saying it takes safety seriously and that it had followed all "maintenance procedures of the plane manufacturer" as well as "national and international authorities directives".[11]

According to Turkish Airlines, two days before the accident the pilot of this plane reported a failure with the "Master Caution Light" while taxiing. The part was replaced by the maintenance team and the aircraft subsequently had eight take-offs and landings without any problems, until the accident occurred. Following the accident, Turkish Airlines executives and officials at the Turkish Transportation Ministry said the accident aircraft was inspected on 22 December 2008. In a news conference a few hours after the crash, Candan Karlicetin, executive board chairman of Turkish Airlines said "There was no problem with maintenance in the records of the plane."[11]

Landing and damage

Rescuers at the scene

The plane was cleared for an approach on runway 18R (also known as the Polderbaan runway) but came down short of the runway threshold.

The aircraft suffered significant damage. Although the fuselage broke into three pieces, it did not catch fire. Both engines separated and came to rest 100 metres (300 ft) from the fuselage.[8]

The Schiphol authorities confirmed nine fatalities and a total of 86 injuries during a press conference. The nine crash victims included five Turkish citizens and four American citizens.[4] Among them were the pilot, co-pilot and a trainee pilot.[7][12][13]

Six passengers were in critical condition, 25 had sustained severe injuries, 24 minor injuries and 31 injuries of which the seriousness still has to be confirmed.[1]

Aftermath

Runway diagram of Schiphol Airport with the Polderbaan runway depicted in black and the location of the crash marked with a red star.
Both jet engines separated, coming to rest 100 metres (330 ft) from the fuselage.
The tail section of the plane reportedly hit the ground first.

While several survivors and witnesses indicated that it took rescuers 20 to 30 minutes to arrive at the site after the crash,[14][15] others have stated that the rescuers arrived quickly at the scene.[14][16][17] About 60 ambulances arrived along with at least three helicopters and a fleet of fire engines.[18] An unconfirmed report by De Telegraaf states that the firefighters were at first given the wrong location for the crash site, delaying their arrival.[19]

The bodies of two crew members were still in the cockpit at 20:00, several hours after the crash, because the cockpit had to be examined before it could be cut open to get to these crew members.[20] Also, some of the survivors say that at least one of the pilots was alive after the crash.[21] Lanes of the A4 and A9 motorways were closed for normal traffic to allow emergency services to quickly reach the crash site. The relatives of the passengers were sent to Amsterdam by Turkish Airlines.

All flights in and out of Schiphol Airport were suspended according to an airport spokeswoman. Several planes were diverted to Rotterdam Airport. At about 11:15 UTC, it was reported that the Kaagbaan runway (06/24) had been re-opened to air traffic, followed by the Buitenveldertbaan runway (09/27).

Initially, Turkish Transport minister Binali Yıldırım and media claimed that there were no deaths in the incident,[22] which was later contradicted by airport authorities in Amsterdam. A later statement corrected the casualty figures and provided contact numbers for family and friends.[3]

Investigation

The Dutch Safety Board (Template:Lang-nl or OVV) will lead the investigation. An expert team from Turkish Airlines has been dispatched to aid the investigation.[23] As normal in investigations, they have requested submission of photos and videos taken by witnesses.[24] The NTSB announced that they were sending a representative team, accompanied by advisors from Boeing and the FAA.[25] Both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered. They were transported to Paris as the equipment needed to read out the data is available there.

The Dutch public prosecution (Template:Lang-nl) have asked the OVV to hand over the black boxes, but the OVV has refused to do so thus far. It has stated that there is no indication of foul play yet, which would warrant an investigation by the prosecution.[26] The prosecution can only investigate the black boxes in the event that it suspects homicide, manslaughter, hijacking or terrorism.[27][28]

Passengers

Five of the deceased victims, including the three pilots and one member of the cabin crew, were Turkish citizens and four were Americans, of whom three have been identified as Boeing employees stationed in Ankara and working on the Turkish Peace Eagle AEW&C program.[29][30][31]

Within hours of the crash, Turkish Airlines published the passenger list.[32] The Dutch authorities stated the following day that the plane carried 53 passengers from the Netherlands, 51 from Turkey, seven from the United States, three from the United Kingdom, one each from Germany, Bulgaria, and Italy, and one from either Thailand[33] or Taiwan.[34][29][31] Initial reports suggested that there had been a Finnish national on board but this was later discovered to be false. A computer error had mixed up information between a Dutch citizen and a Finn who had the same name. The nationality of the remaining nine passengers is currently unknown.[citation needed]

Among the passengers were the sisters Jihad and Hajar Alariachi, presenters of the Dutch television programme De Meiden van Halal. Jihad was taken to hospital with minor injuries.[35]

A Dutch businessman, Rob de Knecht, had another airplane accident 7 days before, when his plane from Istanbul to north Iraq hit a lamp post while taxiing and had to be evacuated. He had four broken ribs and a head wound after the Schiphol crash.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c "CNN: Turkish plane crashes at Amsterdam airport". 25 February 2009. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  2. ^ "25 FEB 2009 Boeing 737-8F2". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 25 February 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Accident Information Page". Turkish Airlines. Retrieved 26 February 2009.. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b c Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (2009-02-26). "Vijf Turken en vier Amerikanen omgekomen bij crash" (in Dutch). TC/Tubantia. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  5. ^ "Turkish plane crash in Amsterdam". BBC News. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-25.
  6. ^ Simon Hradecky. "Accident: Turkish Airlines B738 at Amsterdam on Feb 25th 2009, landed on a field". The Aviation Herald.
  7. ^ a b "Turkey plane crashes in Amsterdam". BBC News.
  8. ^ a b Caroline Brothers and Sebnem Arsu (25 February 2009). "9 killed as Turkish plane crashes near Amsterdam". Paris: International Herald Tribune.
  9. ^ "Nine dead, 84 injured in Turkish Airlines plane crash in Amsterdam". Hurriyet Daily News Online. 25 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Aircraft TC-JGE Profile". AirportData.com. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  11. ^ a b c d "Turkish airline accused over plane repairs". CNN. 26 February 2009.
  12. ^ "Nine killed as Turkish plane crashes at Amsterdam - Summary". Earth Times.
  13. ^ "Geen onervaren piloot in verongelukt toestel". Nu.nl.
  14. ^ a b "Kranten staan uitgebreid stil bij crash" (in Dutch). fok.nl. 26 February 2009.
  15. ^ "Kazadan kurtulan yolcular olayı anlattı" (in Turkish). 25 February 2009.
  16. ^ "How the Schiphol crash happened". 25 February 2009.
  17. ^ "Turkish Airlines plane crashes near Schiphol - 5th Update". 25 February 2009.
  18. ^ Liz Hazelton. "Nine dead but 126 survive after plane crashes and breaks into three pieces at Amsterdam airport". Daily Mail.
  19. ^ "Boeing 737 Crasht Bij Schiphol" (in Dutch). De Telegraaf. 25 February 2009.
  20. ^ "Crash B-737-800 Turkish Airlines, Schiphol Amsterdam killing at least 9". Aviation News EU. 25 February 2009.
  21. ^ "Ürperten iddia: Pilot yaşıyordu, zamanında yardım edilmediği için hayatını kaybetti". Zaman Newpaper (Turkish). 25 February 2009.
  22. ^ "Holland: Government and Turkish Companies, No Deaths". AGI News. 25 February 2009.
  23. ^ "Hollanda'da THY uçağı yere çakıldı" (in Turkish). Radikal. 26 February 2009.
  24. ^ "Onderzoeksraad start onderzoek crash Turkish Airlines op Schiphol" (in Dutch). 25 February 2009.
  25. ^ "NTSB sends team to Amsterdam to assist with 737 aircraft accident investigation" (Press release). National Transportation Safety Board. 25 February 2009.
  26. ^ "Het wachten is op de zwarte doos". de Volkskrant. 27 February 2009.
  27. ^ "Van Vollenhoven geeft zwarte dozen niet af" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2009-02-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ "Google translation of NRC Handelsblad story". NRC Handelsblad. 2009-02-28. Retrieved 2009-02-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  29. ^ a b "Status of All Four Boeing Employees Confirmed in Amsterdam Accident". Boeing. 28 February 2009.
  30. ^ "Laatste eer aan bemanningsleden Turkish Airlines" (in Dutch). 28 February 2009. Retrieved 20009-02-28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  31. ^ a b James Wallace (27 February 2009). "Boeing confirms three employees died on airliner: another hospitalized with serious injuries". Seattle P-I.
  32. ^ "Passenger List". Turkish Airlines. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
  33. ^ "6 doden en 4 gewonden niet geïndentificeerd" (in Dutch). Trouw. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 20009-02-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  34. ^ "5 Turks, 4 Americans among dead in Dutch crash". Yahoo. Associated Press. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 20009-02-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  35. ^ "Meiden van Halal in ramptoestel" (in Dutch). De Telegraaf. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  36. ^ "Survivor escapes second plane incident". DutchNews.nl. 27 February 2009.
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