2018 Ju-Air Junkers Ju 52 crash

On 4 August 2018, a Junkers Ju 52 passenger aircraft operated by Ju-Air crashed near Piz Segnas, Switzerland, while en route from Locarno to Dübendorf. All 20 people on board were killed.

2018 Ju-Air Junkers Ju 52 crash
HB-HOT, the Ju 52 involved in the accident, photographed in 2009
Accident
Date4 August 2018 (2018-08-04)
SummaryPilot error; flight into box canyon
SitePiz Segnas mountain, Glarus Alps, Switzerland
46°53′57″N 09°13′45″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeJunkers Ju 52/3mg4e
OperatorJu-Air
RegistrationHB-HOT
Flight originLocarno Airport
DestinationDübendorf Air Base
Occupants20
Passengers17
Crew3
Fatalities20
Survivors0

It was the first fatal crash of a Ju-Air aircraft since the company began operations in 1982. The cause of the crash was investigated jointly by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) and the cantonal police of Grisons on behalf of the federal and cantonal prosecutors' offices. A final report was published in January 2021.

The final STSB report on the accident, released on 28 January 2021, indicated that the accident was caused by the two highly experienced pilots flying recklessly, disregarding regulations, who failed to anticipate expected turbulence and who failed to control the aircraft and prevent it from stalling and spinning into the ground. The report also found that the aircraft was not airworthy at the time of flight, in that the engines were not producing their minimum rated power and that the company had a deficient safety culture of rule breaking.[1]

Accident
Crash site
Locarno
Dübendorf
Location of the crash site between the departure airport (Locarno) and the intended destination (Dübendorf)

The aircraft was flying from Locarno Airport to Dübendorf Air Base, on the return leg of a two-day trip. The weather was unseasonably warm with choppy winds.[2] At 16:56 local time on 4 August (14:56 UTC),[3] the Junkers crashed into Piz Segnas mountain, at an elevation of 2,540 metres (8,330 ft).[4][5]

The Tschingelhörner mountain ridge looking northwest, with the Martinsloch hole (centre) and Segnas Pass (right). The Ju 52 crashed on the plateau below.

Swiss authorities stated that the plane appeared to have crashed almost vertically and at high speed. A witness at nearby Segnas Pass saw the Junkers approaching from the south and fly by the Martinsloch, a distinctive 18-metre-wide (60 ft) breakthrough, or hole, in the Tschingelhörner mountain ridge, next to the pass. Then, instead of flying over the ridge, the aircraft made a sharp turn, dived vertically and crashed onto the plateau below.[6] Around 10 minutes before the crash, another witness had observed the Ju 52 suddenly banking sharply to the left and losing altitude, before increasing engine power and recovering to normal flight.[3]

The aircraft was carrying three crew and seventeen passengers,[3] all of them Swiss apart from an Austrian couple and their son.[7] Nine of the people aboard were women and eleven were men.[8][9][10]

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft involved was a tri-motor Junkers Ju 52/3mg4e, registration HB-HOT, msn 6595. It had served with the Swiss Air Force from 1939 to 1985, when it was acquired by the Association of the Friends of the Swiss Air Force (German: Verein der Freunde der Schweizerischen Luftwaffe), which operated under the name Ju-Air, a company that offers sightseeing flights on vintage aircraft, and had logged 10,000 hours of flight time. Ownership of the aircraft remained with the Swiss Air Force.[4][11] It had been used in the films Where Eagles Dare (1968),[12] and Valkyrie (2008) and the 2012 German movie Bis zum Horizont, dann links!.[13] The aircraft had been issued with a certificate of airworthiness by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) on 6 April 2018, valid for two years.[3]

On the day of the crash, the Junkers was piloted by two veteran captains, aged 62 and 63. Both had extensive experience as pilots for Swissair, Swiss and Edelweiss, as well as more than 30 years of militia service with the Swiss Air Force. Both also had several hundred flight hours' worth of experience with the Ju 52.[14] The third crew member was a 66-year-old flight attendant, also with 40 years of professional experience.[14]

Aftermath

Hiking routes and the local airspace were closed off for the duration of the recovery operation, which involved five helicopters.[14]

Ju-Air suspended all flights by its other Ju 52 aircraft for two weeks, until they resumed operations on 17 August under stricter conditions.[15][16][17]

Following a review in March 2019, while the accident investigation was still ongoing, the FOCA banned Ju-Air from conducting commercial passenger flights with Ju 52s, allowing only private flights for club members. Later, the operating and maintenance licenses were revoked for the other Swiss-based Ju 52 aircraft, effectively grounding the HB-HOP and HB-HOS sister aircraft. Due to the maintenance troubles found in the HB-HOT wreck - like fatigue cracks, corrosion and sub-standard repair work - the FOCA deemed them unsafe to fly.[18]

Investigation

The accident was investigated jointly by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board (STSB) and the cantonal police of Grisons on behalf of the federal and cantonal prosecutors' offices.[13]

A spokesperson for the STSB said that the Junkers "fell like a stone to the ground",[19] and that the heatwave in Europe could have been a factor in the crash, as heat reduces an aircraft's climb performance.[20] The police indicated that no distress signal was received from the aircraft prior to the crash.[7] Investigators ruled out a collision with a cable or another aircraft, and said that there was no indication of foul play or the aircraft losing parts before the crash.[14] The aircraft was not fitted with any flight recorders, as they were not required due to the age of the aircraft.[8] Investigators are hoping to find some relevant information from passengers' personal photographic and video recordings during the sightseeing flight.[21] The STSB issued its preliminary report on 15 August 2018.[22] An intermediate report was issued on 20 November 2018, citing anterior corrosion marks and cracks, not related to the accident, which effectively grounded the two remaining Ju-52 of Ju-Air (HB-HOP and HB-HOS) until further investigation of these airframe and engine issues.[23]

In August the SonntagsZeitung newspaper published several excerpts from a leaked draft of the investigation report. According to that draft, the pilots flew into an alpine, high-altitude valley without a safe possibility of turning back. Also, the accident pilots were already known for questionable decisions, and even on check flights, one of the pilots ignored the minimum altitudes. Other possible causes, like technical failures, had been ruled out.[24]

On January 28, 2021, a final report was released by the STSB which stated that "the pilots' high-risk flying was a direct cause of the accident". It further stated that "The flight crew piloted the aircraft, at low altitude, with no possibility of an alternative flight path and at an air speed that was dangerously low for the circumstances. The high-risk manner of flying through these not unusual turbulences caused the pilot to lose control of the aircraft. The aircraft was also being operated with its centre of gravity in excess of its rear limit". The STSB found that the aircraft was not in an airworthy condition when it took off on the accident flight, in that the engines had not been properly maintained and were not producing rated power. Furthermore the report indicated tat the company had a poor safety culture that tolerated risky behaviour and rule breaking.[1][11][25]

See also

References
  1. Niles, Russ (31 January 2021). "Reckless Flying Led To Swiss Ju-52 Crash". AVweb. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. Die Wetterstation liegt in etwa 2500 m Höhe am Crap Masegn.
  3. Hradecky, Simon (4 August 2018). "Crash: Ju-Air JU52 at Piz Segnas on Aug 4th 2018, impacted terrain". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  4. "HB-HOT Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  5. "Vorbericht der Schweizerischen Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle SUST" (PDF).
  6. Fröhlich, Cedric (6 August 2018). "-Hüttenwart sah Absturz: "Es hat keine 15 Sekunden gedauert"". Der Bund. Retrieved 6 August 2018. Sie fliegt Richtung Norden. Am Martinsloch vorbei. Anstatt über den Grat zu fliegen, geht das Flugzeug in eine scharfe Kurve. Felder rennt nach draussen. Die Ju 52 kippt unvermittelt in den Sturzflug. Ein dumpfer Einschlag. Das Flugzeug prallt senkrecht auf dem Hochplateau unter dem Martinsloch auf. «Als hätte man ein Lot aufgestellt», sagt Feldner. Anflug, Kurve, Absturz. «Es hat keine 15 Sekunden gedauert.»
  7. "Vintage plane crashes in Swiss Alps, killing all 20 on board". USA Today. Associated Press. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  8. "Vingt morts dans l'accident d'un avion militaire de collection suisse" [Twenty dead in the crash of a Swiss military aircraft] (in French). La Croix. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  9. "Flugzeug mit 20 Personen beim Piz Segnas abgestürzt" [Plane with 20 people crashed at Piz Segnas] (in German). Blick. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  10. Hughes Neghaiwi, Brenna (4 August 2018). "Second plane crashes in Swiss Alps on Saturday". Reuters. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  11. "Final Report No. 2370 by the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board" (PDF). Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  12. “Where Eagles Dare film locations“, 2018
  13. "Bis zu 20 Todesopfer befürchtet" [Up to 20 fatalities feared] (in German). 20-Minuten. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  14. "Vintage aircraft crash kills 20 people". Swissinfo. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  15. "Switzerland crash: Twenty dead in WW2 plane crash". BBC News. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  16. Neghaiwi, Brenna Hughes. "Swiss airline to resume flights two weeks after deadly crash". U.S. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  17. "Swiss vintage planes resume flights after crash". Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  18. Kaminski-Morrow, David (12 March 2019). "Swiss regulators have banned Junkers Ju 52 operator Ju-Air from conducting commercial passenger flights with the fleet, although it will be permitted to offer private flights for club members". FlightGlobal. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  19. "Sie ist wie ein Stein zu Boden gestürzt" [It fell like a stone to the ground] (in German). Spiegel. 5 August 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
  20. "Heat wave could be behind Swiss crash of vintage plane that killed 20 in the Alps". KIRO7 Seattle. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
  21. "Ju 52 Crash: Mögliche Videos der Passagiere als "Blackbox-Ersatz"" [Ju 52 crash: possible videos of passengers as a "black box replacement"]. Austrian Wings (in German). 9 August 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  22. "(untitled)" (PDF) (in German). Schweizerische Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  23. "Zwischenbericht der SUST über den Unfall des Verkehrsflugzeuges Junkers Ju 52/3m g4e, HB-HOT" (PDF) (in German). Schweizerische Sicherheitsuntersuchungsstelle. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  24. Referenced in "Bericht zeigt: Piloten sind zu riskant geflogen". Südostschweiz (in German). 30 August 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  25. "Pilots' risky flying blamed in Swiss vintage plane crash". www.msn.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
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