Author Topic: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter  (Read 11967 times)

Offline joeyb747

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
  • Nothing Like A 747!
I found this article interesting and thought I'd share it...

"An Air Transat Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, registration C-FTNA performing flight TS-906 from Lyon (France) to Berlin Schoenefeld (Germany) with 197 passengers and 14 crew, was climbing through FL190 out of Lyon about 42nm north of Lyon at a speed of 300 KIAS, when the airplane encountered severe hail twice. The crew immediately turned right out of the hail and decided to return to Lyon, where the airplane landed safely. No injuries occured, the airplane sustained substantial damage and was written off.

The French BEA now (August 2010, 9 years later) released their final report in French concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

The passage of the aircraft through a very active area of cloud, the chromatic symbolism of which on the weather radar did not resemble the severity and transient nature of the phenomena. The crew chose to avoid the worst area of the thunderstorm as depicted and flew through an area, the color representation of which did not show activity."


From:

http://avherald.com/h?article=42fca893&opt=0

Below are some pics of Air Transat Lockheed L-1011-385-1-14 TriStar 150 C-FTNA (cn 193M-1019) taken after the incident:

#1 is nose-on view...damage to radome and windscreen plainly visible.
#2 is wing and engine detail. Damage is obvious.
#3 is Captains side of nose. Dents and windscreen damage obvious.
#4 is Copilots side of nose. Windscreen damage apparent here.



Offline ect76

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 223
  • EGPH
Re: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2010, 11:31:24 PM »
Very interesting - Thanks for posting!

Looking on a.net, there's a photo of the interior taken this year:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Air-Transat/Lockheed-L-1011-385-1-14-TriStar/1745370/&sid=0d5b9214dc0dbd005150045181390feb

Looks a very strange layout...Anyone know why?
Is this how the aircraft served or have the seats been moved around after the incident?

Also, looks to have ground power attached at the time...

Regards
« Last Edit: August 18, 2010, 11:33:10 PM by ect76 »

Offline joeyb747

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
  • Nothing Like A 747!
Re: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2010, 08:47:21 PM »
From what I've read, the aircraft was stored at Lyon after the incident. Air Transat wrote the aircraft off...and the airport used it for fire fighter training. I'm not sure why the seats have been moved to the sides...

Offline joeyb747

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
  • Nothing Like A 747!
Re: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2010, 08:50:41 PM »
In the report is a shot of the flight deck...how the flight crew landed the aircraft with a windscreen like that blows my mind! Bravo to the crew!

Offline iflyhi

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 63
Re: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2010, 09:46:39 AM »
att:  joeyb    gotta agree.   talk about flyin blind !   wow.

Offline joeyb747

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1745
  • Nothing Like A 747!
Re: Report: Air Transat L1011 near Lyon on Jul 6th 2001, hail encounter
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2010, 07:35:49 PM »
att:  joeyb    gotta agree.   talk about flyin blind !   wow.

Indeed! From the article:

"The crew noticed no anomaly with any aircraft system, the windscreen however had basically turned opaque. Using the best remaining sight through the windshield the crew managed a safe landing on Lyon's runway 18R 30 minutes after departure."

:-o