Luxair Flight 9642

Luxair Flight 9642 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin Tempelhof Airport, Germany, to Luxembourg Findel Airport, Luxembourg, operated by Luxembourg's national airline Luxair. On 6 November 2002, the Fokker 50 operating the flight lost control and crashed onto a field during an attempted landing at the airport. Out of 22 passengers and crew members on board, only two people survived. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Luxembourg and the only fatal accident in Luxair's history.

Luxembourg's Administration for Technical Investigations (AET) concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error. The crew accepted the approach clearance given by ATC even though they were not fully prepared for landing. The crew then improvised in order to override a safety feature preventing the propellers from entering the reverse pitch in flight, leading to a loss of control.

The result of the investigation highlighted the possible safety risk regarding the protection system against an accidental deployment of reverse pitch in turboprops during mid-flight, prompting Fokker to issue a mandatory modification on the safety feature.

Accident

Flight 9642 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin-Tempelhof Airport to Luxembourg Findel Airport. On 6 November, the aircraft was piloted by Captain Claude Poeckes and his co-pilot First Officer John Arendt. It took off from Berlin at around 07:40 local time with 19 passengers and 3 crew members on board.

While the aircraft was at cruising altitude, at around 08:55, the pilots checked the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) for weather information at Luxembourg. The runway visual range (RVR) was at 275 m, lower than the 300 m minimum required for the Fokker 50 to land. The visibility in the area had deteriorated due to the presence of heavy fog. With such low visibility, the crew realised that there would be delay for the landing. They either had to wait until the weather conditions began to improve by entering the holding pattern, or divert to the alternate airport.

The crew continued towards Luxembourg, checking the ATIS weather again, but visibility had not improved. They then discussed on the possible strategies for a landing during bad weather condition but failed to reach conclusion on the matter. As no decision was taken, the approach briefing was not conducted.

While First Officer Arendt was giving an address to the passengers, Captain Poeckes tried to contact Luxair officials on whether the weather had improved as a departing Cargolux jet might have cleared some of the fog in the area. To his disappointment, the airport was still covered with heavy fog. Due to the constant foggy condition, the crew were told to enter the Diekrich VOR, Findel's holding pattern. Co-pilot Arendt then announced to the passengers that the flight would enter a holding pattern first and that they would wait until the weather began to improve.

As they were heading towards the pattern, the ATC suddenly radioed the crew and instructed them to descend to 3,000 ft and to change their heading. The transmission caught them off guard. First Officer Arendt was initially confused by the transmission and asked Captain Poeckes: "Is that for us?", to which the captain responded with "yes". The crew accepted the instruction, but First Officer Arendt was still surprised by the transmission as he could be heard saying "What kind of shit is that?"

Crash

As they had been levelling off for quite some time after passing point ELU, the aircraft was flying a bit higher than the glideslope. To reduce their altitude faster, Captain Poeckes stated that he would try to reduce the power lever to flight idle, claiming that by doing so the aircraft would quickly descend to the required altitude. However, First Officer Arendt voiced his concern and told Captain Poeckes that such action would not be enough to slow down the aircraft.

First Officer Arendt reported to the ATC that they would continue the approach to Findel. Flight 9642 was eventually cleared to land and the crew extended the landing gear.

After extending the landing gear, the propeller speed began to increase, startling the crew due to the audible noise. The aircraft's speed and altitude then rapidly dropped. The crew realised that the reverse thrust had been deployed in mid-flight and tried to save the aircraft. In an attempt to regain lift, First Officer Arendt immediately retracted the flaps and Captain Poeckes moved the thrust lever fully forward. The aircraft, however, continued to plummet towards the ground.

As a last resort, the crew decided to shut down both engines. It did not stop the aircraft's rapid descent. Faced with imminent crash, the crew tried to flare as much as possible to prevent a destructive impact.

The aircraft touched down heavily, crossing the Route Nationale 1 (RN 1) and scraping the road with its left wing before striking an embankment, and coming to rest in an adjacent agricultural field 25 m beyond. Major damage occurred to the airframe, with both main landing gear ripped off, and losing a total of five blades from the propellers, whilst the engines themselves only suffered light damage. The empennage and part of the right wing broke away, and the aft fuselage detached and rested on its right side. After coming to a stop, a fire began to erupt on the central portion of the crushed fuselage.