Hamburg - Saarbrücken - Luxembourg

On September 30, 2015 at 10:16 AM, Hamburg - Saarbrücken - Luxembourg experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-8-400 (Dash-8), operated by Luxair, with the event recorded near Saarbrücken Saarland.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

20 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 20 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 16, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. On the day of the accident, the crew of four was deployed for flights from Luxembourg (LUX) via Saarbrucken (SCN) to Hamburg (HAM) and back again via Saarbrucken to Luxembourg with a Bombardier DHC-8-402. The crew stated that they had met at about 0530 hrs for pre-flight preparations. The flights up until the take-off in Saarbrucken had occurred without incident. All in all the working atmosphere had been good and relaxed and they had been ahead of schedule. Saarbrucken was the destination airport for 14 passengers. The remaining 16 passengers’ destination airport was Luxembourg. According to the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), the Flight Data Recorder (FDR), and the radio communication recordings, the engine start-up clearance was issued at 1009:47 hrs approximately 25 minutes ahead of schedule. At 1015:03 hrs while taxiing on taxiway C take-off clearance was issued. The Into Position Check was conducted at 1015:33 hrs on runway 09. The Pilot in Command (PIC) was Pilot Flying (PF) and the co-pilot Pilot Non Flying (PNF). The plan was to conduct take-off with reduced engine thrust (81%). During take-off the following callouts were made: 1016:24 PF take off, my controls 1016:25 PNF your controls 1016:27 PNF spoiler is closed 1016:30 PNF autofeather armed 1016:33 PF looks like spring 1016:35 PNF yeah, power is checked 1016:36 PNF 80 knots 1016:37 PF checked 1016:40 PNF V1, rotate 1016:42 Background click sound, probably gear lever UP 1016:43 PNF upps, sorry During the rotation phase with approximately 127 KIAS and a nose-up attitude of approximately 5°, the landing gear retracted. At 1016:44 hrs the airplane’s tail had the first ground contact (tail strike). The tail strike warning light illuminated. Approximately 875 m after the initial ground contact the airplane came to a stop after it had bounced three times and skidded on the fuselage. The cabin crew stated that due to smoke and fume development in the cabin the airplane was evacuated right away. All passengers and the crew were uninjured and left the severely damaged airplane without help.

Aircraft reference details include registration LX-LGH, MSN 4420, year of manufacture 2012.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 49.2465°, 7.0553°.