Incident Overview

Date: Tuesday 30 November 2004
Aircraft Type: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82)
Owner/operator: Lion Air
Registration Number: PK-LMN
Location: Solo City-Adi Sumarmo Airport (SOC) – ÿ Indonesia
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Destroyed, written off
Casualties: Fatalities: 25 / Occupants: 163
Component Affected: Aircraft Landing Gear and Landing SurfacesAircraft Landing Gear and Landing Surfaces
Category: Accident
A Lion Air MD-82 aircraft experienced a catastrophic landing at Solo City Airport, Indonesia, due to a combination of factors leading to a significant crash. The aircraft was impacted by a cumulonimbus storm overhead, resulting in a runway condition of excessive water and a strong tailwind. The aircraft’s landing configuration, including spoilers and thrust reverbers, caused it to aquaplane, increasing the required landing distance and resulting in a crash into a fence.A Lion Air MD-82 aircraft experienced a catastrophic landing at Solo City Airport, Indonesia, due to a combination of factors leading to a significant crash. The aircraft was impacted by a cumulonimbus storm overhead, resulting in a runway condition of excessive water and a strong tailwind. The aircraft’s landing configuration, including spoilers and thrust reverbers, caused it to aquaplane, increasing the required landing distance and resulting in a crash into a fence.

Description

Lion Air flight 538, a MD-82, overran the runway after landing at Solo City Airport Indonesia, and struck a fence, killing 25 occupants; 138 survived the accident. As Flight 538 approached Solo City a cumulo-nimbus rainstorm was overhead the field at 1500 feet. There was more than three millimeters of water on the runway at the time the plane landed. Also, it landed with a 13 knot tailwind component. After touchdown the spoilers deployed automatically. Since the power levers were probably positioned forward of idle thrust, the spoilers retracted again. The aircraft started to aquaplane and thrust reversers were deployed. The MD-82 continued and overran the 2600 metres long runway 26 and crashed into a metal fence of a cemetery. Probable Cause Based on the facts and the analysis of the Lion Air LNI 538 aircraft on 30 November 2004 at Adi Sumarmo Airport, Solo, it was concluded that the aircraft had experienced hydroplaning which caused loss of braking effectivity during landing and resulted in an overrun. The contributing factors were: – A tail wind component of 13 knots (the maximum tail wind component is 10 knots) had increased the required landing distance of the aircraft. – The closing spoilers and thrust reversers had reduced deceleration of the aircraft during the landing roll. – The rupture of the forward fuselage of the aircraft had resulted in numerous fatal and serious injuries to the passengers, especially those seated at seat rows 1 to 11. This was because the aircraft hit the concrete slab of the localiser antenna base located on RESA (Runway End Safety Area) 140 m from end of runway.

Primary Cause

Hydroplaning caused by a tailwind component increased the required landing distance, reducing braking effectiveness.Hydroplaning caused by a tailwind component increased the required landing distance, reducing braking effectiveness.

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