performance related incidents & accidents
with the Boeing 737
Insufficient performance
To let pilots realize that performance plays a big part in the daily operation, listed below is a summary of incidents and accidents where the performance of the aircraft was insufficient.
Most of these incidents resulted in runway excursions causing damage varying from minor structural to hull losses with fatalities.
Runway excursions
Runway excursions can be divided in veer-offs (aircraft departs the side of the runway) and overruns (aircraft unable to stop before the end of the runway) and is the most frequent accident cause worldwide (3rd most in EASA countries) and rank in 6th place in terms of fatal accidents.
Landing overruns or RTO (Rejected Take Off) overruns might be caused by incorrect performance analysis and/or weight entry errors, possible due to wrong calculations, or FMC (Flight Management Computer) or computerized performance tool entry errors.
Tail strikes
Tailstrikes are situations where the tail of the airplane touches (scrapes) the ground, either on takeoff or during landing. This might be caused by either over-rotation (pitch attitude too high) but can also be caused by trying to rotate or to land at a too low speed. In turn, this too low (rotation VR - or landing reference VREF - ) speed can, similar to runway excursion situations, be caused by incorrect performance analysis and/or weight entry errors, possible due to wrong calculations, or FMC (Flight Management Computer) or computerized performance tool entry errors.
Boeing 737
This summary only gives an overview of recent incidents and accidents where the Boeing 737 was involved and only those where the (near) runway excursion was not (solely) caused by technical failure. Besides these, realize that most of the performance related incidents (think about eg. FMC weight/speed data entry errors and wrong flap selections) do fortunately not turn into incidents or accidents and therefore will not reach the public.
This overview is updated regularly.
Recent performance related incidents and accidents
Date | Occurence | Location | Airline | Aircraft | Facts | Final Report | read more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
27/09/2017 | TAKE OFF WITH WRONG (NOSE HEAVY) TRIMSETTING | Malta rwy 13 | B737-800 | Intersection takeoff, incorrect stabilizer trim setting based on wrong passenger seating figures. Actual trim was 6.5%MAC off. | No | ||
19/09/2017 | LANDING OVERRUN | Mumbai (India) rwy 27 | B737-800 | Rain, wet runway (2965m / 9730ft) | No | ||
04/09/2017 | TAILSTRIKE ON LANDING | Wenzhou (China) rwy 03/21 (3200m / 10500ft) | B737-800 | No | |||
24/07/2017 | LANDING OVERRUN | Bucharest (Romania) rwy 26R (3500m / 11480ft) | B737-800 | Wet runway | No | ||
21/07/2017 | RUNWAY OVERRUN ON TAKEOFF | Belfast (Ireland) rwy 07 (TODA 3073m / 10080ft) | B737-800 | Incorrect OAT (probably the expected top-of-climb OAT) was entered in FMC resulting in a significantly lower than required takeoff thrust and aircraft hit the approach lights at liftoff. | No | ||
11/07/2017 | LANDING OVERRUN | Helsinki (Finland) rwy 04L | B737-800 | Heavy rain, wet runway (3060m / 10040ft), late brake application. | No | ||
31/05/2017 | LANDING OVERRUN | Manokwari (Indonesia) rwy 35 | B737-300 | Rain, wet runway (2000m / 6560ft) | No | ||
16/05/2017 | RUNWAY EXCURSION ON LANDING | Winnipeg (Canada) rwy 13 | B737-700 | Unstabilized approach, wet runway (2652m / 8700ft) | No | ||
08/04/2017 | LANDING VEER OFF WITH NOSE GEAR COLLAPSE | Sibu (Malaysia) rwy 13 | B737-800 | Reduced visual reference due to intensifying rain at night without runway centerline lights on a wet runway (2745m / 9005ft) and bad visible centerline markings / black hole effect. | No | ||
28/03/2017 | RUNWAY EXCURSION WITH GEAR COLLAPSE | Jauja (Peru) rwy 31 | B737-300 | Veered off, collapsed gear and caught fire. | No | ||
23/03/2017 | TAILSTRIKE ON LANDING | Atlanta, GA (USA) rwy 26R | B737-900 | No | |||
17/02/2017 | REJECTED TAKEOFF RUNWAY EXCURSION | Riga (Russia) rwy 18 | B737-500 | Thrust assymetry (unaware by crew) below Vmcg, late initiation RTO, wet runway. | No |