On September 6, 1971, dozens of vacationers were happily waiting for their flight in Hamburg. For 22 people it will be a journey into death. The machine has to make an emergency landing shortly after take-off.
When the 115 passengers were waiting in Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel on September 6, 1971 for their flight to southern Spain, most of them could be looking forward to a relaxing vacation. But they never arrive in Malaga. Shortly after take-off at 6:19 p.m. this Monday, the engines of the fully occupied British Aerospace 1-11 charter aircraft caught fire. The plane captain of the Munich company Paninternational reacts quickly and prepares for an emergency landing - on the A7 near Hasloh, which is currently under construction, a few kilometers north of Hamburg.
Paninternational Flight 112:Both engines explode
"The moment the kerosene got into the engine, both engines exploded at the same time. Bang, bang. Both engines were practically without thrust," recalled the then captain Reinhold Hüls later in an interview with Schleswig-Holstein Magazin the terrible minutes. "After the engines failed, the remaining time was only 42 seconds until touchdown. I was pretty sure that the emergency landing was quite feasible. I had no doubts that I would be able to do it," says Hüls.
Plane BAC 1-11 crashes into bridge
The BAC 1-11 crashed during the emergency landing at this motorway bridge of the A7.Unfortunately, a bridge overpass of the motorway section under construction stands in the way. The machine crashes into the bridge pillars. Hülst himself loses consciousness as a result of the impact. Minutes later he regains consciousness. The plane immediately catches fire. The smoke mushroom can be seen from downtown Hamburg. A crew member and 21 passengers die in the blaze. "When you have 22 dead on your conscience, it's not easy to put up with," says Hüls later. But through his daring manoeuvre, he saves the lives of the other 99 inmates.
99 people survive the plane crash
Of the 99 survivors, 45 are injured, some seriously. Around 60 ambulances, eleven fire brigades, two accident services and police and army helicopters are ordered to the scene of the accident. More than 280 police officers, 230 of them from Schleswig-Holstein, are on duty. Experts from the Federal Aviation Authority in Braunschweig arrive at the crash site in the evening. The plane wreck is then taken to Braunschweig. There the engine is disassembled and examined.
The BAC 1-11
The BAC 1-11 is a twin-engine passenger aircraft produced by the British manufacturer British Aircraft Corporation. It has retractable nose gear and a pressurized cabin. Both engines are located on the side of the rear. The 1-11's maiden flight took off on August 20, 1963 from Bournemouth Airport in southern England. It went into service on April 9, 1965. The aircraft can accommodate up to 119 passengers. It is almost 33 meters long, almost 7.50 meters high and has a wingspan of 28.50 metres.
Two Rolls-Royce-Spey engines take the machine to a summit altitude of 9,000 metres. It can fly about 2,800 kilometers on one tank of fuel. Serial production ended in 1980 in Bournemouth. The entire 1-11 fleet included 245 aircraft. The last example was retired by the Royal Air Force Oman in July 2010.
Kerosene mistakenly filled into tanks
The reason for the engine fire became known just a few days after the devastating plane crash:investigations revealed that instead of distilled water, a liquid mixed with flammable kerosene had been mistakenly filled into the auxiliary tanks of the One-Eleven. Distilled water is used in difficult weather conditions and with a full load to increase the engine's thrust, which was necessary in Hamburg for the take-off of the aircraft. Due to improper refueling, the aircraft engines overheated and caught fire.
In 1976, after two lengthy trials, the district court in Kiel fined an electrician and an aircraft mechanic from Paninternational, who had made the fatal mistake, a fine of 1,500 marks each.
The airline, which was already in financial difficulties before the accident, ceased operations in 1971.