Bremen | Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives

The departure from Bremerhaven to the Wangerooge Island was delayed for 30 minutes due to snow showers over the airport. Prior to departure, the pilot manually removed snow from the windshield, leading edge and wings. After takeoff from runway 34, the twin engine aircraft climbed slowly to a height of about 195 feet then stalled and crashed in the Weser River. The crew of a ferry was quickly on the scene to rescue a passenger while eight other occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

It was determined that the snow over the wings was not properly removed prior to takeoff, causing a loss of lift and disturbing the airflow. There were no defined procedures about deicing in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) manual of the operator.

Crash of a Dornier DO328-110 in Bremen

Date & Time: Dec 2, 2001 at 1833 LT

Type of aircraft:

Dornier DO328

Operator:

Registration:

D-CATS

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Ferry

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Braunschweig - Bremen

MSN:

3009

YOM:

1994

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Captain / Total flying hours:

6000

Captain / Total hours on type:

1500.00

Copilot / Total flying hours:

1900

Copilot / Total hours on type:

1000

Aircraft flight hours:

10340

Aircraft flight cycles:

9837

Circumstances:

Following an uneventful ferry flight from Braunschweig, the crew was cleared to land on runway 27 at Bremen-Neuenland Airport. After touchdown, the crew started the braking procedure and activated the reverse thrust systems on both engines. At a speed of 60 knots, the aircraft deviated to the right so the captain applied left rudder. The aircraft turn 15° to the left so the captain applied right rudder when the aircraft turned 135° to the right. This turn was so abrupt that it caused the left main gear to collapse. The aircraft rolled for about 1,150 metres before coming to rest. All three crew members evacuated uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Probable cause:

The accident is due to the fact that the speed display in the cockpit became unusable during the tailwind landing in reverse thrust operation. The following contributing factors were identified:
- The crew failed to comply with published procedures as the reverse thrust systems were not deactivated when the speed of 60 knots was reached during the deceleration manoeuvre,
- The aircraft became unstable while its speed was decreasing during reverse thrust operation,
- The aircraft was oversteered,
- No references either in the AFM or in the AOM on an influence on the speed display by the reverse thrust operation in connection with tail wind up to the permissible value were given,
- In Chapter 05 of the AFM no references to a limited controllability in reverse thrust operation with tail wind was given,
- The information given in Chapter 10 of the AOM for using the thrust reverser in chapter 05 of the AFM was not included.

Final Report:

Crash of a VFW-Fokker 614 in Bremen: 1 killed

Date & Time: Feb 1, 1972 at 1458 LT

Type of aircraft:

VFW-Fokker 614

Operator:

Registration:

D-BABA

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Test

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Bremen - Bremen

MSN:

MG.01

YOM:

1971

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Aircraft flight hours:

Circumstances:

The 614 had been designed with servo-tab elevators, control and trim tabs on the rudder, and spring and trim tabs on the ailerons. The result of this was a very complex mathematical model of vibration characteristics, which was not complete by the time of the first flight. This was accordingly limited to a maximum indicated airspeed of 140kt and an altitude of 3,000ft, Flight tests were pushed out towards the edges of the envelope: 330 kt IAS, Mach 0-74 diving speed; 285 kt IAS, Mach 0-65 V M O . Real-time data monitoring and transmission was used to assist in observing the flights. Flying went ahead cautiously in the second half of 1971, because ground-resonance testing of the 614 was not showing full correlation with prediction. As the envelope was extended small explosive charges—"bonkers"—were used to stimulate flutter conditions. The most serious flutter problem centred on the elevators. At 260 kt IAS and 10,000ft and above, the firing of asymmetric bonkers on the elevator caused a 3sec flutter phase. This was stopped either by a reduction in speed or a permanent distortion of the tailplane structure. Apart from the restriction caused by the flutter problem, the first 614 cleared the flight envelope to 260 kt IAS and 25,000ft, for lateral, directional and longitudinal stability. The accident to the first aircraft occurred after it had been fitted with flutter dampers. The effect of these was to re-introduce the asymmetric flutter at 220 kt and 10,000ft on a check flight. This time the flutter could not be eliminated by slowing down and the crew abandoned the aircraft. The aircraft dove into the ground and crashed in a field near Bremen-Neuenland Airport. Two occupants were rescued while the copilot Hans Bardill was killed when his parachute failed to open.
Source: Flight International

Probable cause:

The accident was caused by nutter of elevator servo tabs.

Final Report:

Crash of a Lockheed L-1329 JetStar 6 in Bremen

Date & Time: Jan 16, 1968

Type of aircraft:

Lockheed L-1329 JetStar

Operator:

Registration:

CA+102

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Military

Survivors:

Yes

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Cologne - Bremen

MSN:

5035

YOM:

1962

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The JetStar was executing a visual approach to Bremen following an IFR ferry flight from Cologne Airport (CGN). At the same time a Piaggio P.149D trainer aircraft of the Lufthansa Flying School took off from Bremen. The student pilot was flying under the 'hood' in order to simulate an IFR training mission. The JetStar collided head on with a Piaggio P.149D. The Piaggio crashed but the JetStar managed to carry out an emergency landing at Bremen. The JetStar had suffered substantial damage to the underside of the flight deck. The undercarriage could not be deployed and one of the engines had lost power. A belly landing was carried out on the grass next to the runway.

Crash of a Beechcraft King Air B90 in Bremen: 4 killed

Date & Time: Feb 16, 1967 at 1355 LT

Type of aircraft:

Beechcraft 90 King Air

Operator:

Travelair - Germany

Registration:

D-ILNU

Flight Phase:

Takeoff (climb)

Flight Type:

Test

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Bremen - Bremen

MSN:

LJ-178

YOM:

1966

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

Shortly after takeoff from Bremen-Neuenland Airport, while climbing to a height of about 150 feet, the twin engine aircraft went out of control and crashed. All four occupants were killed, one Canadian and three German citizens. They were engaged in a local test flight when the accident occurred for undetermined reason.

Crash of a Convair CV-440-0 Metropolitan in Bremen: 46 killed

Date & Time: Jan 28, 1966 at 1750 LT

Type of aircraft:

Convair CV-440 Metropolitan

Operator:

Registration:

D-ACAT

Flight Phase:

Landing (descent or approach)

Flight Type:

Scheduled Revenue Flight

Survivors:

Site:

Airport (less than 10 km from airport)

Schedule:

Frankfurt - Bremen - Hamburg

MSN:

464

YOM:

1958

Flight number:

LH005

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Captain / Total flying hours:

5093

Captain / Total hours on type:

1187.00

Copilot / Total flying hours:

793

Copilot / Total hours on type:

533

Aircraft flight hours:

13871

Circumstances:

The aircraft was operating a scheduled service of Deutsche Lufthansa on the route Frankfurt - Bremen - Hamburg under flight number LH 005. Scheduled time of departure in Frankfurt: 1625 hours GMT, scheduled time of arrival at Bremen: 1745 hours GMT. Actually, the aircraft took off at 1641 hours GMT. The last phase of the flight can be roughly reconstructed from the tape recordings, the evidence given by the witnesses and the position of the wreckage as follows:
17.41 GMT Descending from flight level 60 and clearance for ILS approach to runway 27 at Bremen.
17.44 GMT Passing of radio beacon Bremen outbound.
17.48 GMT Passing of radio beacon Bremen inbound on final approach.
17.49.37 GMT The aircraft was seen for the first time by witnesses about 1 000 m approximately before the threshold of runway 27 near the middle marker; later it was observed by the control tower with its landing gear extended and the landing lights turned on.
17.50.15 GMT About 1 200 m after the threshold of runway 27, close to the intersec- approximately tion of runways 27/09 and 32/14, the aircraft went round again at an altitude of about 30 ft above ground with a compass course of about 2700.
17.50.40 GMT With a pitch of about 300 to 600 and the left wing forward the aircraft approximately crashed on the ground in the opposite direction to runway 27, about 385 m west of the end of runway 27 and about 380 m south of the runway centre line.
The aircraft was totally destroyed and none of the 46 occupants survived.

Probable cause:

While approaching to land, the aircraft overshot and stalled during the execution of the missed approach. The overshoot on approach to land was probably caused by the fact that - possibly on account of a malfunction of one of the flight director instruments - the pilot was not in a position to remain on the glide path and that he made a wrong assessment of the height above ground after transition to visual flight. The stall was probably induced by wrong activation of controls. Such activation was possibly caused by sudden occurrence of a physical disorder of one of the pilots. After the aircraft had stalled, the pilot could not control the further progress of the flight on account of the rather poor stall performance of the aircraft type, the extraordinary difficulties to control a stall during instrument flight conditions, and the insufficient height available for transition from stall to a normal attitude after the aircraft had sheared off. Other factors may have contributed to the accident, such as:
- Insufficient engine power,
- Insufficient altitude to recovery,
- Inadequate pitch,
- Unfavorable weather conditions.

Final Report:

Crash of a Consolidated B-24D-25-CO Liberator in Bremen: 10 killed

Date & Time: Nov 26, 1943

Type of aircraft:

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

Operator:

Registration:

41-24234

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Bombing

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

MSN:

1029

YOM:

1943

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The aircraft was engaged in a bombing mission over Bremen. While approaching the target, the aircraft collided an USAF Ford B-24H-1-FO. Following the collision, the aircraft went out of control and crashed in a field, killing its entire crew of ten. Fortunately, the crew of the second aircraft was able to land safely.
Crew:
S/Sgt Thomas J. Appeldorn,
2nd Lt Jack A. Gates,
2nd Lt James A. Harper,
T/Sgt Charles E. Krauss,
2nd Lt Gordon L. Marcouiller,
S/Sgt Edward R. Markus,
S/Sgt Alton S. Railing,
S/Sgt Thomas C. Ray,
1st Lt Alexander Trolese,
S/Sgt Raymond E. Wright.

Crash of an Avro 679 Manchester I in Grambke: 7 killed

Date & Time: Jun 26, 1942

Type of aircraft:

Avro 679 Manchester

Operator:

Registration:

L7289

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Bombing

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

Schedule:

Swinderby - Swinderby

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew left RAF Swinderby that day on a bombing mission to Bremen, Germany. While approaching its target, the aircraft was shot down by the German Flak and crashed in Grambke, in the suburb of Bremen. All seven occupants were killed.
Crew (50th Squadron:
Sgt John Charles Roy, pilot,
Sgt Jasper Stormond Peters,
Sgt Robert Leslie Hugall,
Sgt Lawrence Chase Thompson,
Sgt James William Lindsay,
Sgt Neil Malcolm Hardy,
Sgt Edgar Griffits Johnson.

Probable cause:

Shot down by the German Flak.

Crash of a Lockheed L-414 Hudson III in Bremen: 4 killed

Date & Time: Jun 26, 1942

Type of aircraft:

Lockheed L-414 Hudson

Operator:

Registration:

T9435

Flight Phase:

Flight

Flight Type:

Military

Survivors:

Site:

Plain, Valley

MSN:

414-2470

YOM:

1941

Location:

Country:

Region:

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The crew was engaged in a bombing mission to Bremen, Germany. While approaching its target, the twin engine aircraft was shot down by the German Flak and crashed in flames. All four occupants were killed.

Probable cause:

Shot down by the German Flak.

Crash of a Vickers 424 Wellington IV near Bremen

Date & Time: Oct 21, 1941

Type of aircraft:

Vickers 424 Wellington IV

Operator:

Registration:

Z1217

Flight Phase:

Flight Type:

Survivors:

Site:

Schedule:

Hemswell - Hemswell

Location:

Bremen

Country:

Germany

Region:

Europe

Crew on board:

Crew fatalities:

Pax on board:

Pax fatalities:

Other fatalities:

Total fatalities:

Circumstances:

The airplane departed RAF Hemswell on an operation to Bremen. Approaching the target area, it was shot down by enemy fire and crashed. All six crew members became PoW.
Crew:
W/O Mieczysław Karol Borodej,
F/Sgt Ludwik Tadeusz Cieslak,
Sgt Andrzej Wlodzimierz Kleeberg,
Sgt Antoni Mlodzik,
Sgt Antoni Stalewski,
F/O V. Riedl.

Probable cause:

Shot down by enemy fire.

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