You thought you experienced some bad landings? Think again!
A Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela DC-9-51 passenger plane sustained substantial damage in a hard landing accident at Puerto Ordaz Airport (PZO), Venezuela. No serious injuries were reported among the five crew members and 125 passengers.
The airplane operated on a domestic service, flight VH 342, from Caracas-Simón Bolívar International Airport (CCS). Upon landing at Puerto Ordaz the airplane touched down very hard, causing both engine mounts to break from the fuselage.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20110926-0
By: Arabella-Cox - 8th October 2011 at 07:00
“A little bit late on the roundout, Hoskins…”
By: Newforest - 29th September 2011 at 13:51
Very neat camouflage of the airline name! 😉
By: Ship 741 - 29th September 2011 at 13:17
found the pic of the Eastern PNS aircraft. This is the way a DC-9 “normally” breaks after a hard landing:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Eastern-Air-Lines/McDonnell-Douglas-DC-9-31/0077849/L/
By: MD-80 - 28th September 2011 at 07:44
This particular DC-9 was originally delivered to Finnair in 1976.
Bye
By: VeeOne - 26th September 2011 at 23:24
I see the reverser clam is open. Surprised that didn’t pull the engine off altogether.
By: Ship 741 - 26th September 2011 at 22:51
Thats interesting because thats not where a nine usually breaks. Delta broke one in Tennessee in the 70’s, and Eastern broke one in Pensacola in the 1980’s, and they usually break just behind the wing and just in front of the engines. I don’t have the links handy but there are some grainy old pics associated with both of those incidents. I think Delta actually broke another one in half somewhere else also.
The nine normally lands a little firm because of the flight control system (“flying the tabs.”) An extra “anti-float” tab was added on the MD-80 series to help with that problem.
If I had to guess I would say an engine fitting/pylon/support frame was fatigued or damaged during an engine change.
By: Levsha - 26th September 2011 at 22:19
Metal fatigue on a 35 year old aircraft?
By: MSR777 - 26th September 2011 at 22:04
Ouch! Reminds me of a video of a prototype DC9-50 or maybe an MD80 breaking it’s back during a heavy landing.
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September 26, 2011 at 9:39 pm