KLM Flight 1673
Boeing 737 Classic · Bird strike during take-off
From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) to Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 146
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 737 Classic
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PH-BTC
- Operator
- KLM
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS)To Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (BCN)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Aircraft › Aircraft handling/service
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport, the airport the Wikipedia article names as the site. Where on or near it is not known.
From the Wikipedia article
On 28 November 2004, the landing gear of KLM Flight 1673 struck a bird, which broke a cable in the nose wheel. The flight continued normally, but when the crew attempted to land the aircraft, they were unable to control the aircraft's movement, and the aircraft ran off the runway before the landing gear collapsed. All 146 people travelling on board the Boeing 737-406 survived the accident.
Accident
The jet was cleared to take off from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol at 16:46. During the take-off from runway 18L, the aircraft's nose wheel struck a bird. This incident was reported to air traffic control, the landing gear retracted normally and the flight continued normally.
During the touchdown on runway 25R of Barcelona Airport, the aircraft began to deviate to the left of the runway centreline. The crew applied right deflection, braking and nose wheel steering but did not manage to keep the aircraft on the runway. After leaving the paved runway surface at about one hundred knots, the aircraft entered an area of soft sand where construction work was being carried out. The nose gear leg collapsed and the left main gear partially retracted shortly before the aircraft came to a stop at the edge of a drainage channel. All the crew members and passengers managed to evacuate the aircraft successfully, but the aircraft was completely wrecked and was withdrawn.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
It was discovered that the cause of the accident was a broken cable in the nose wheel steering system, caused by the collision with the bird. Contributing to the collision with the bird, improper maintenance was discovered, with the application of grease, with small isolated samples still visible. The final report concluded that:
"It is considered that the accident probably occurred because during take-off a bird struck one of the cables of the nose wheel steering system, breaking it and thereby damaging the whole assembly, causing the nose wheels to turn to the left during the landing, causing a to the left that could not be counteracted by a full deflection of the trim while the aircraft was decelerating. The subsequent application of brakes and other actions by the crew could not prevent the aircraft from leaving the runway surface.
The damage to the aircraft was increased by the conditions of the runway margin due to the construction work at the airport.
Also contributing to the breakage of the cable was the great local wear in the area. The application of grease to the system during maintenance work may also have contributed. Despite the experience and training of the crew, they were unable to quickly recognise the cause of the aircraft's deviation and keep the aircraft on the runway".
Translated into English with AI assistance from the Spanish Wikipedia article “Vuelo 1673 de KLM” (revision 164062307, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
Spanish Wikipedia article: Vuelo 1673 de KLM
- Article
- Vuelo 1673 de KLM
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 164062307 · 2024-12-11 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q6164946
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- es Wikipedia article "Vuelo 1673 de KLM" (page 4629422, revision 164062307), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- airport the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata code, OurAirports)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Spanish Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.