Avient Aviation MD-11F fatal runway over-run . . .

Aviation Aviation News
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Avient Aviation (based Zimbabwe) departing runway 35L at Shanghai China, MD-11 registration Z-BAV, witnesses report a tail strike, followed by a rejected take-off. Aircraft over ran the runway by 400 metres, and broke apart and burned.

3 American crew members are reported as fatally injured, 4 others are listed as injured, including 1 other American, who was shown in hospital on Chinese TV thanking rescuers - he is listed as a 61 year old American co-pilot.

Aircraft was departing for Kyrgyzstan. Z-BAV is an ex-VARIG of Brazil airplane. (PR-LGD) Accident occurred 08:16 local time today. Nov 28/09


photo 1 China news, photo 2 reuters

800×544 53.7 KB

Z-BAV at Miami Nov 19/09 photo
planepictures.net Niklas Theus

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According to this site they just took delivery of the aircraft on November 20.

blog.seattlepi.com/worldairlinen … ource=mypi

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An American crew flying a Zimbabwe-based jet from China to Kyrgyzstan.

Vellllllly intellllestink!

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Yes that is true. The photo above is dated 11/19 and was fresh out of paint at MIA just before delivery.

Avient has 3 DC-10-30F’s and this was their first MD-11F and it’s gone already, sad.

The crew was former Gemini Air Cargo which ceased operations last year, RIP.

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However, they have been revitalized as Gemini World Airways

see also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_Air_Cargo

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NTSB ADVISORY

National Transportation Safety Board

Washington, DC 20594

November 28, 2009

NTSB ASSISTS GOVERNMENT OF CHINA IN AVIATION ACCIDENT

The National Transportation Safety Board will dispatch a

team of investigators to assist the government of China in

its investigation of today’s crash of a Boeing/McDonnell

Douglas MD-11F, operated by Avient Air (registration Z-BAV).

Today, at approximately 8:14 a.m. local time, the aircraft,

flight #SMJ324, crashed on takeoff at Pudong Airport in

Shanghai, China, under unknown circumstances. This cargo

flight originated in Shanghai and its destination was

Harare, Zimbabwe.

Of the 7 crew members onboard, 3 are reported to have

suffered fatal injuries and 4 have suffered serious

injuries.

NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman has designated senior

investigator Bill English as the U.S. Accredited

Representative. His team will include an NTSB structures

specialist, as well as technical advisors from the Federal

Aviation Administration, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney.

The investigation is being conducted by China’s General

Administration of Civil Aviation which will release all

information on the progress of the investigation.

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I don’t know why after all of these deadly incidents MD11 aircrafts are still in service.

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Most are in freight now IIRC, but why blame the aircraft, do you know something?

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That was the the plan but don’t think they ever did.

Can’t find them at the FAA air carrier database av-info.faa.gov/OpCert.asp either.

There have been a few fatals but this is the first accident where it failed to take off that I know of.

Could be cargo loading or some other error, we’ll have to wait and see.

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just look at the statistics of MD11 aircrafts, it has a history of problems.

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Ok, I’ll bite – what are the statistics?

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180 MD-11’s currently in service, 7 written off in accidents, and 13 in storage.

ASN MD-11 accidents

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200 MD11’s were made
13 were involved incidents. 6 of these resulted in hull losses. There were 235 fatalities. The vast majority of the fatalities (229) were on Swissair 111.

13 incidents is 6.5% of the fleet
6 hull loses is 3% of the fleet

I would say the aircraft is safe. Most of the accidents/incidents were due to pilot error.

See NTSB (enter MD11 for make/model and a date earlier than 1986 for date range start) and Wikipedia

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Whew!! I was gonna make a quick summary but there are quite a few “incidents”.

That plane has definitely had some bugs over the years but still seems to be hard to land. There are an awful lot of hard landings and tail strikes in the database as well as other control issues. I’ve never compared them to another aircraft but it does seem high.

Here’s the summary I have so far, not complete but will continue to update it,

08/92 - Delta Air Lines - tail strike at Los Angeles, crew error, improper control use
09/92 - McDonnell-Douglas test flight - hard landing at Yuma, center gear collapsed
12/92 - China Airlines - upset in cruise flight, turbulence cited
02/93 - Viaco Aerea - hard landing at San Francisco, 7 tires blown
04/93 - Delta Air Lines - hard and bounced landing at LAX, nosewheel damage, crew error, improper flare
04/93 - China Eastern - upset in flight, slats accidentally deployed, pilot error, 60 serious, 2 fatal
06/94 - American Airlines - upset in cruise flight, crew error, accidentally bumped control, 15 minor, 2 serious
08/94 - Alitalia - hard 1.95g landing and tail strike at ORD, crew error, improper flare
11/94 - Fedex - hard landing and tail strike at ANC, crew error, unstabilized approach
04/95 - American Airlines - evacuation at JFK from reported fire #2 engine, 33 minor, 2 serious
06/95 - China Airlines - emergency landing smoke in the cockpit, faulty insulation in radio bay
05/96 - Fedex - hard landing and tail strike at ANC, wake turbulence from previous 747 cited
05/96 - Korean Air - tail strike at LAX, crew error, speed too low on final
06/96 - World Airways - overran runway on landing at Buenos Aires
07/96 - American Airlines - pitch oscillations in descent, max 2.28g loads, capt overrode a/p, 1 serious
04/97 - Garuda Indonesia - over ran runway landing at Jakarta
06/97 - Garuda Indonesia - tail strike on landing at Honolulu, crew error, improper use of autoland
06/97 - Japan Air Lines - upset in cruise, autopilot cited, 9 minor, 12 serious, 1 fatal
07/97 - Fedex - hard landing at EWR, gear collapsed, aircraft flipped, crew error, over control, 5 minor
10/97 - World Airways - tail strike on landing at Montevideo, Uruguay
06/98 - Japan Air Lines - slid off left side of wet runway landing at Manila, 7 minor
07/98 - LTU Int’l - rejected takeoff at Palma Mallorca, erroneous speed warning
09/98 - Swissair - on board fire, improper additional wiring, 229 fatal
09/98 - China Eastern - emergency landing with nose gear retracted, 9 minor
10/98 - Delta Air Lines - electrical burning smell in cockpit in cruise flight, diverted to Shannon
11/98 - Swissair - smoke in cockpit on climb out from Singapore, emergency landing
11/98 - Delta Air Lines - tail strike on landing at Portland, crew error, incorrect approach speed
12/98 - China Eastern - tail strike on landing at Shanghai
01/99 - American Airlines, smoke in the cabin, emergency landing Seattle
03/99 - World Airways, evidence of fire in cargo floorboards while performing C check, defective wiring found
04/99 - Korean Air - flight dove into ground, crew error, 37 injured, 9 fatal
06/99 - Fedex - damaged elevator after a GPWS pull up descending into Manila
08/99 - China Airlines - landing accident Hong Kong, flipped, exceeded crosswind specs, 44 serious, 3 fatal
08/99 - China Eastern - departed runway on landing at Shanghai, substantial damage
09/99 - World Airways - hard and bounced landing at Shannon, then runway over run
10/99 - Fedex - landing overun at Subic Bay, excessive speed, failed indicator and clogged pitot tube, 2 minor
10/99 - Fedex - center gear collapsed on landing at Newark, examination found evidence of overload
11/00 - Fedex - pitch oscillations in cruise flight, failed elevator solenoid
11/01 - Eva Air - hard landing at Taipei, nose gear and tire damage
02/02 - Fedex - tail strike landing Subic Bay, mechanical failure left inboard flap
02/02 - Delta Airlines - off side of runway landing at Dublin, wind 15 knots gusting 27 knots
03/02 - Delta Airlines - faulty wiring, engine fire warning, emerg landing w/ minor damage, 11 minor, 5 serious
05/02 - Fedex - windshield fire from heating element at SEA during pushback
06/02 - Fedex - flight control malfunction into Subic Bay, diverted to Manilla and suffered tail strike.
06/02 - Fedex - damaged elevator from 2.2g GPWS maneuver to landing at Subic Bay
01/03 - Alitalia - landed at JFK with jammed ailerons, potable water dripped on cables freezing them
05/03 - Gemini Cargo - runway over run at JFK, crew error, landed long and tail wind
01/04 - Varig - tail strike on landing at Mexico City
01/04 - Varig - off side of wet runway landing at Fortaleza, Brazil
09/04 - Fedex - hard landing and bounce at MEM, suffered tail strike on go around
10/04 - World Airways - tail strike on take off at ANC, 2 engine ferry, operator CG error
04/05 - World Airways - smoke in cockpit, faulty door lock actuator installation
06/05 - UPS - hard landing in Anchorage
06/05 - UPS - nose gear collapsed on landing at Louisville, crew error, derotation too fast
06/06 - Varig - center gear fracture landing at Brasilia
09/06 - Fedex - hard landing and tail strike at Subic Bay
11/06 - Fedex - center gear drag brace failed after landing at Paris
04/08 - Fedex - center gear cylinder found cracked at Singapore
03/09 - Fedex - hard landing & bounce Narita, left gear collapsed, aircraft flipped, 2 fatal
06/09 - China Cargo - hard landing and tail strike at Urumqi, China
06/09 - Saudi Arabian Cargo - hard landing in Khartoum, Sudan, substantial damage
09/09 - Lufthansa Cargo - hard landing at Mexico City, fuselage and nose gear damage
10/09 - Centurion Air Cargo - hard landing in Montevideo, Uruguay, right gear collapsed
11/09 - Fedex - smoke in cockpit during cruise, emergency landing
11/09 - Avient - runway over run from take off at Shanghai, 3 fatal

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[quote=“71Zulu”]

Most of that is Pilot error- But the Bold, first I don’t think the first bold item is a MD-11 cause it says it flipped and no one died.

second CFIT has nothing to do with the design of the plane but the stupidity of the pilot(s)

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The first one, the Newark FedEx flight, was indeed an MD-11. aviation-safety.net/database/rec … 19970731-0

I’d argue the MD-11 isn’t “unsafe” but that it’s a difficult plane to fly and perhaps this causes so many pilot errors. Apparently the plane has significant trouble landing during crosswinds and there have been a few incidents early on in the plane’s lifetime where the autopilot would go off in mid-flight, or spoilers would deploy mid-flight. Boeing’s gone to a lot of trouble to make this plane safe, but the MD-11 has had its share of problems and as a result you only see it on the cargo routes anymore (though I think KLM still has 10 in pax service). The fact this plane went out of production in 1998 and is hard to find on anything but cargo carriers only 10 years later says a lot.

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The DC10/MD11’s are still around but the competing L1011’s are long gone. Why is that?

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Less L-1011’s were made (<200 for the L-1011 compared to over 500 for the DC-10/MD11).

The DC-10 and L-1011 both went after the same market. Unfortantely there wasn’t enough of a market for the two combined. As a result, neither aircraft, by the way, broke even for their respective builders.

I’ve always though the L-1011 was a much better looking aircraft. It also had better technology. Unfortunately, it started out life with Rolls Royce engines at a time RR went bankrupt.

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But remember all the bad press the DC-10 got? Maybe 4 went down killing all on board? They were grounded at least twice.

My friends family owned (travel) business had a L-1011 last I checked that they operated like a airline. LAX, HNL, LAX.

There is one available at Mojave Space Port too full of “special equipment” but I hear they get 1M an hour for it.

Frank Holbert
160knots.com

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News update Injured US pilot transferring home from China to USA for rehab.

Incredible Christmas for this thankful family.