Incident Overview

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.Share on: