The preliminary inquiry report prepared by the Air Accident Investigation Sector of the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority regarding the crash-landing of Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai Emirates flight has been released.
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The preliminary report on the August 3 crash landing of an Emirates Airline Boeing 777-300 at Dubai International Airport stated that the aircraft attempted a go-around after initially touching down briefly.
“Approximately one second later, a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) aural warning of “Don’t sink, don’t sink” was annunciated”, the report said.
In a preliminary report on the August 3 incident, the UAE federal aviation authority said the pilot had tried to abandon the landing after the main wheels of the Boeing 777-300 had already touched down.
A few seconds later the undercarriage began to retract. IAS, with the landing gear still retracting, when it began to drop back onto the runway.
While the pilots weren’t specifically blamed for the incident, accident investigators did not highlight any technical problems with the Boeing 777-300. At 0837:35, three seconds before impact with the runway, both thrust levers were moved from the idle position to full forward.
Both engines began to respond to the pilots’ thrust lever movement just a second before impact, when the aft fuselage struck the runway at 125 knots and at a rate of descent of 900 feet per minute. “The three landing gears were still in transit to the retracted position”.
A fuel-fed fire broke out as the right engine was ripped off and the plane skidded on its belly before coming to a rest.
The 16 crew were widely praised for their prompt actions in safely evacuating all 282 passengers before the plane exploded.
In a passage headlined “Safety Concerns and Actions”, the report said no such concerns had been issued at this stage.
Citing cabin crew members, the 28-page report said that when the aircraft slid along the runway, passengers started to unfasten their seatbelts and stand up.
Despite the chaotic situation, all the passengers, as well as the 18 crew members, survived the accident, although a firefighter attending the crash was fatally injured during a wing tank explosion about 9min after the jet had come to rest.
The accident marks the first time in Emirates’ 31-year history that the airline suffered irreparable damage to one of its aircraft.
Emirates would review the report carefully, and was also conducting its own “rigorous internal investigation to proactively review what we know about the accident, and consider measures that may enhance our operations or procedures”.
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The PF transmitted a Mayday call and advised that the aircraft was being evacuated.
