What happened
A scheduled flight departing from Hanover Airport for Düsseldorf Airport began its descent from FL140 at 0lam 07:39LT. The aircraft, a twin engine plane, was carrying 19 passengers and a crew of two. During the descent to 3,000 feet, air traffic control alerted the crew to nearby thunderstorm activity and suggested an alternative route to bypass the weather. The crew declined the suggestion and proceeded with their original descent path.
While navigating through thunderstorms, the aircraft encountered turbulence and lightning strikes. These strikes led to a total failure of the electrical system, which subsequently caused the loss of cockpit and instrument lighting. This power loss rendered the flight controls, including flaps and stabilizer trim, inoperable. Following this failure, the aircraft entered an uncontrolled dive and began to partially disintegrate mid-air. The plane ultimately crashed in an open field approximately 2 km north of Kettwig, near Essen-Mülheim airport. There were 21 fatalities and no survivors.
Findings
Investigations concluded that the primary cause was the decision by the crew to fly into an area with known electrical discharge risks despite having the option to divert. The lightning strike caused a critical failure of the entire electrical supply, making it impossible for the crew to maintain control or use essential flight instruments.
Several contributing factors were identified:
- A lack of agreement between the crew regarding the flight path through the storm.
- Inadequate preparation for a lightning strike event.
- Potential physical or mental impairment of the crew immediately following the strike.
- Communication difficulties caused by the use of headsets during the electrical failure.
- An unstable aircraft configuration at the time of the strike, with the nose trimmed down and flaps partially extended.
- The inability to restore power due to likely damage to the electrical wiring.
- A lack of sufficient orientation tools to transition the aircraft from an uncontrolled state back to controlled flight.