737-800 accident report
On September 29, 2006, 737-8EH PR-GTD of GOL Linhas Areas crashed in the Serro do Chachimbo mts. Mid Air Collision with a brand new Embrear EMB135BJ Legacy 600 (N600XL 14500965 from ExcelAire) with 7 occupants., this aircraft manages to make a successful emergency landing on Cachimbo afb with a damaged wing and tail. Boeing crashes in the inhospitable rainforest of Serro do Cachimbo mountains (9°S 55°W), 30km from Peixoto de Azevedo, state of Matto Grosso, with fatal consequences for all 148 passengers and 6 crew members. On board of the Legacy was the columnist Joe Sharkey of the New York Times. The Legacy was on the delivery flight from the Embraer factory in Sao Jose dos Campos (SJK), via Manuas (MAO) to the USA. GOL flt 1907 Rio de Janeiro > Brasilia. Worst aviation disaster in history of Brazil. The 737 of GOL was delivered on 12 Sep 2006 and only had 236 flight hours on the clocks. It was on its way to Brasilia, on airway UZ6 at 37000ft in SE direction. Legacy flew on UZ6 in NW direction. Legacy was at the wrong height, but also lost radio and radar contact (transponder) with ATC. Left tip Legacy hit left wing of the 737. It is plausible that the 737 lost control and then exceeded the maximum diving speed after which it broke into pieces.
c/n 34653/2039 airframe hrs : 202 cycles : 162 CFM56-7B26 engines. (location crash site as stated in the final report 22°38'40”S 42°19'13”W does not seem correct)
(location crash site +-100km 10°39’S 52°54’W )
On May 5, 2007, Kenya Airways’ (KQ) 737-8AL 5K-KYA crashed near Douala.
Flight 507 Abidjan (ABJ) via Douala (DLA) to Nairobi (NBO), crashed shortly after TO RW12 Douala. Take-off was delayed for hours by thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. Rose after TO to 3000ft but then started to fall for unclear reasons. KQ has an excellent reputation for safety. crashed in a mangrove swamp. They had difficulty finding the wreck, in the end it turned out that it crashed only 5 km from the RW. However, it took 36 hours!! before the rescuers reached the wreck. Was due to the heavy rains and the difficult to access terrain. The aircraft was still very new, it was delivered 31 Oct 2006, first flight 09 Oct.2006. airframe hours : 2100, cycles : 734. Unfortunately, all passengers were killed, 108 passengers and 6 crew members. c/n 35069/2079 CFM56-7B24 engines. crash site location (from the accident report) +- 100m 3°57'18.83"N 9°44'58"E
On February 25, 2009, the 737-8F2 TC-JGE c/n 29789 of Turkish Airlines makes a crash landing in a field 500m in front of the Polderbaan (RW18R) at Schiphol, Amsterdam airport (AMS). There are 9 dead and 63 wounded. Had taken off in Istanbul (IST) as flight TK1951 with 128 passengers and 7 crew members. Cause: Radio altimeter was defective, causing the autopilot to take back engine power and stalled the aircraft. First flight : 24 Jan.2002 engines : CFM56-7B26. (crash site location +-50m 52°22'37"N 4°42'51"E )
25 January 2010 Ethiopian airlines 737-8AS (WL), ET-ANB c/n 29935 first flight : January 2002 airframe hrs : 26459 cycles : 17823 engines : CFM56-7B27 pax : 82 crew : 8 fatalities : 90 flight ET409 from Beirut (BEY) to Addis Ababa (ADD). After take-off the crew could not maintain stable flight resulting in loss of control and crashing into Mediterranean sea. location (from the accident report) : +- 100m 33°44.6’N 35°24.58’E
22 May 2010 Air India express Boeing 737-8HG (WL) VT-AXV c/n 36333
First flight : 20 Dec. 2007, airframe hrs : 7199 cycles : 2833 engines : CFM56-7B27/3 pax : 160 crew : 6 fatalities : 158 flight IX812 from Dubai (DXB) to Mangalore-Bajpe airport (IXE), India. Landing to fast and to steep at 1585m from RW24 Threshold, leaving only 853m of concrete runway. The aircraft overrun an fell into a gorge. Location (from the accident report) : +-25m 12°56’49.29”N 74°52’24.18”E
19 March 2016 Flydubai Boeing 737-8KN (WL) A6-FDN c/n 40241
First flight : December 2010 airframe hours : 21257 cycles : 9421 engines : CFM56-7B27.
Pax : 55 crew : 7 fatalities : 62 Flight FZ981 from Dubai (DXB) to Rostov (ROV).
Crashed during second landing attempt in bad weather at Rostov-on-Don.
Location : +-25m : 47°15’ 54.39”N 39°49’43.15”E
28 September 2018 Air Niugini 737-8BK (WL) P2-PXE c/n 33024 pax 35 crew 12
Fatalities : 1, 6 pax seriously wounded. First flight : April 2005 aircraft flt hrs : 37160 flt cycles : 14788. It had three 56 pax life rafts
Flight PX073 from Pohnpei to Chuuk, in Micronesia. The aircraft impacted the water of Chuuk Lagoon, 460m short of the 1831m long runway 04 threshold. Engines : CFM56-7B26. fuel for the sector from Pohnpei to Chuuk was 3,100 kg. The 1831m long runway is too short for a fully loaded 737-800 and needs to operate with reduced weights.
Crash location : +- 25m 7°27’12.55”N 151°50’9.86”E
8 January 2020, Ukraine International 737-8KV (WL) UR-PSR, c/n 38124 flight PS752 from Tehran, Iran (IKA) to Kiev (KBP) with 167 pax and 9 crew. Took-off from RW29 at Tehran but was then hit by a SAM missile launched by the Iran military who misidentified the aircraft. Crashed in suburb Khalaj Abad near Sabashahr killing all on board. fatalities : 176 First flight : 21-06-2016 engines : CFM56-7B24E location (from the accident report) : +- 50m 35°33’40.56”N 51°6’13.64”E
5 February 2020 Boeing 737-86J (WL) Pegasus Airlines TC-IZK c/n 37742 flight PC2193 with 177 pax and 6 crew. Following an uneventful flight from Izmir-Adnan Menderes Airport (ADB), the crew initiated the approach to Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen Airport (SAW) runway 06. Weather conditions were poor with thunderstorm activity, rain, CB's and a wind from 290 gusting to 37 knots. After touchdown on a wet runway, the airplane was unable to stop within the remaining distance. It overran, turned slightly to the left then went down an embankment (25 meters high) and came to rest, broken in three. Three passengers were killed while all 180 other occupants were evacuated to local hospitals. It is understood that the airplane apparently landed 1,500 meters past the runway threshold (runway 06 is 3,000 meters long) with a non negligible tailwind component that must be confirmed. First flight : 23-01-2009 engines : CFM56-7B24 Location : +-50m 40°54’20.05”N 29°19’38.32”E
7 aug 2020 Air India express ltd. Boeing 737-8HG (WL) VT-AXH c/n 36323 flight IX1344 Dubai (DXB) > Kozhikode (CCJ), India. Returning stranded passengers due to the corona pandemic.
Pax : 184 crew : 6 fatalities : 21 aircraft , first flight : 15-11-2006 flight hours : 43691 cycles : 15309. Engines : VFM56-7B27 On 2 nd landing attempt at Koshikode-Calicut apt. in light rain at RW10 landed halfway the 2700[m] long (wet) runway with a 15 kts tailwind and a groundspeed of 165 knots (305 km/hr). Could not stop in time and overshoot the runway location (from the accident report) : +-25m 11°07’59.7”N 75°58’13.5”E
China Eastern 737-89P (WL) B-1791 c/n 41474 crashed 21 March 2022.
The airplane departed Kunming-Wujiaba Airport at 1315LT on a schedule service (flight MU5735) to Guangzhou, carrying 123 passengers and a crew of nine. At 1420LT, while cruising at an altitude of 29,100 feet, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent until 7,400 feet then climbed to 8,600 feet. It finally entered a steep descent and crashed almost two minutes later in a vertical attitude on hilly and wooded terrain located southwest of Wuzhou. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 132 occupants were killed. Two days after the accident, the CVR was found while the DFDR was found on March 27.
Aircraft cycles : 8986 flight hours : 18239 hours first flight : 05 June 2015
Cause of the accident not known, still under investigation, nov 2022
Location (from the CAAC preliminary crash report) : +- 25m 23°19’25.52”N 111°06’44.30”E
Total 737-800 fatalities : 920 in 11 accidents, 4979 737-800 built
Literature :