What happened
On the morning of the incident, a Hansa Jet was performing a positioning flight from Hamburg to Cologne. The purpose of the flight was to collect passengers for a trip to Paris. During the descent through heavy cloud cover near Cologne, the aircraft experienced a mechanical failure in the high pressure fuel pump of the right engine. Approximately 22 seconds following this initial failure, the aircraft's electrical system also ceased to function.
As the plane entered a spiral descent, the crew lost visibility of their instruments due to the loss of power. The first officer used a flashlight to illuminate the instrument panel, revealing that the aircraft was in a severe right bank. Following instructions from the first officer, the pilot initiated a left turn and increased pitch to recover the aircraft. Once the flight was stabilized, the crew climbed above the cloud layer.
Seeking an emergency landing site with better visibility, the crew altered their course to a heading of 330 degrees toward the North Sea, anticipating clearer weather. After roughly thirty minutes of flight, the crew identified the island of Texel through a break in the clouds. Unable to locate an airfield, the crew performed a forced belly landing on the beach of the island. There were no fatalities reported, though the aircraft suffered significant damage during the landing and subsequent salvage operations.
Findings
- The primary mechanical failure was identified as a malfunction of the right engine's high pressure fuel pump.
- This failure was followed by a total loss of electrical power to the aircraft systems.