What happened
Following the discovery of metal chips in an oil filter during a routine inspection, maintenance was transferred from a Swiss facility to a workshop in Nuremberg. On February 7, 2001, the Learjet was flown to the German facility for repairs. The work on the right engine was completed and certified under the supervision of the operator's chief technician.
On February 8, 2001, the aircraft was scheduled to return to Rome for a charter mission. The crew consisted of two pilots and the operator's chief technician. During pre-flight preparations, the crew noted an imbalance in fuel distribution between the left and right tanks and observed a failure in the second pilot's gyro instruments. After receiving departure clearance via the Noerdlingen route, the aircraft departed runway 10 at 15:31.
Approximately two minutes into the flight, the left engine failed without warning. The crew declared an emergency and requested to return to runway 10. While the approach initially proceeded without incident, witnesses near the town of Buch observed the aircraft performing unusual maneuvers and deviating from its landing path. As the aircraft approached the runway, it experienced a sudden stall to the left, rolled into a bank exceeding 90 degrees, and struck a forest in an inverted position at 15:40. The impact resulted in 3 fatalities and the total destruction of the aircraft.
Findings
Investigation revealed that the left engine failed due to intergranular fractures on the high-pressure turbine disk's retention posts. This mechanical failure was driven by the fact that the engine had exceeded its maximum operational cycles because of inaccurate service life documentation.