NLM CityHopper Flight 431

NLM CityHopper Flight 431 refers to a Fokker F-28-4000, registration PH-CHI, that was due to operate an international scheduled Rotterdam–Eindhoven–Hamburg passenger service. On 6 October 1981, the aircraft encountered severe weather on the first leg, minutes after taking off from Rotterdam Airport, and crashed 15 miles (24 km) south-southeast of Rotterdam. All 17 occupants of the aircraft – 13 passengers and crew of 4 – perished in the accident.[1]:183[2]

NLM CityHopper Flight 431
The crash site of NLM Flight 431
Accident
Date6 October 1981
SummaryStructural failure in severe turbulence[1]:183
Sitenear Moerdijk,Netherlands
51°42′N 4°31′E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeFokker F-28-4000
Aircraft nameEindhoven
OperatorNLM CityHopper
RegistrationPH-CHI
Flight originRotterdam Airport
StopoverEindhoven Airport
DestinationHamburg Airport
Passengers13
Crew4
Fatalities17
Survivors0

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident was a Fokker F28-4000, registration PH-CHI, that was built in 1979 with c/n 11141. At the time of the accident the airframe had accumulated 4,485 flight hours and 5,997 cycles.[2]

Description of the accident
PH-CHI, the aircraft involved in the accident, is seen here at May 1981

During the weather briefing 44 minutes before takeoff, the crew was apprised to an area of strong thunderstorms with 3/8 (37.5%) sky coverage of cumulonimbus at a base of 1,200 feet (370 m), south-southwest winds 15 to 25 knots (28 to 46 km/h; 17 to 29 mph) strong, and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) visibility at Rotterdam Airport (IATA: RTM).[2] The aircraft took off at 5:04 p.m. CET (UTC +1) from RTM.[2] The crew noted heavy rain in thunderstorms on the airplane's weather avoidance radar at 5:09 p.m., receiving clearance to avoid the area.[2] At 5:12 p.m. the aircraft entered a tornado while flying through clouds.[2] The weather system the aircraft entered into was apparently the same "tornado-like" system that Zeeland locals described as being responsible for considerable property damage.[3] Meteorologically, these vortices are indeed tornadoes, and the disintegrating airliner was seen exiting cloud cover. A police officer first photographed the tornado, then smoke from the burning plane a few minutes later. An investigation concluded that a sharp increase in altitude registered on the altimeter was not a change in altitude, rather a pressure drop associated with the tornado.[4][5]

Stresses experienced by the airframe owing to severe turbulence (due to a "downburst" or "mircroburst" of a few seconds)[6] resulted in loads of +6.8 g and −3.2 g causing the starboard wing to detach.[2][7] The Fellowship was designed for a maximum G-load of up to 4 g.[8] The aircraft spun down into the ground from 3,000 ft (910 m), crashing some 400 m (1,300 ft) from a Shell chemical plant on the southeastern outskirts of Moerdijk.[3] All 17 occupants of the aircraft perished in the accident.[2]. While observing the unfolding incident from the ground, a firefighter suffered a fatal cardiac arrest.[9]

See also

References
  2. Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 14 November 2011.
  3. "F.28 crashes in bad weather". Flight International: 1127. 17 October 1981. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013.
  4. Grazulis, Thomas P. (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 260–1. ISBN 0-8061-3258-2.
  5. Roach, W.T.; J. Findlater (February 1983). "An Aircraft Encounter with a Tornado". Meteorological Magazine. London: Meteorological Office. 112 (1327): 29–49.
  6. http://www.zero-meridean.nl/c_moerdijk_061081.html
  7. "F.28 wing loss followed severe turbulence". Flight International: 1124. 17 October 1981. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013.
  8. http://www.zero-meridean.nl/c_moerdijk_061081.html
  9. van Tuyl, Johan. "F.28 Fellowship verongelukt bij Moerdijk" [F.28 Fellowship crash at Moerdijk]. AVIACRASH.NL (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 19 May 2006. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
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