DHL Flight 209

European Air Transport Leipzig Flight 209, or just DHL Flight 209 is a Boeing 757-200F that overran the runway while taking off due to pilot fatigue.

## Accident

### Summary

Pilot fatigue leading to incorrect calculations of takeoff throttle and speed

## Background

### Crew

There were only two pilots on the plane.

The Captain was Heribert Helmut Siebert, he is 45 years old and is German. By the time of the crash, he had accumulated 6,590 hours of flight time, most of which was on the Boeing 757.

The First Officer was 32 years old Hartley Wheeler, he is British. By the time of the crash, he had 4,320 hours of flight time, with 2,340 of them on the Boeing 757.

### Aircraft

The aircraft was a 21 years old Boeing 757-200PCF, with the registration D-ALEA. The aircraft was in good shape, only having a few small errors with the Captain's navigation instruments. It had 20,870 hours of flight time when the accident happened.

## Accident

The Captain was going to be taking off the plane. First, the flight was going normal, with nothing out of the ordinary, albeit the crew were somewhat tired and showing signs of fatigue. When the Captain asked the First Officer to calculate the takeoff weight of the aircraft, the First Officer did it incorrectly, and somehow, when the Captain double-checked, he still didn't notice. The pilots inputted the incorrect information into the computer.

The plane quickly set up for departure, running up their last checklists without knowing that disaster is near. After being granted permission from ATC, they put their throttles for takeoff. After hitting VR, the plane still didn't pitch up. The Captain quickly pushed the throttles to full and trimmed the plane. Then the aircraft overran the runway for 317 meters, and crashed. Witnesses reported the aircraft hitting many trees, catching fire and then stopping. Both pilots survived but were badly injured. The firetrucks and ambulances arrived in time to save the pilots.

## Investigation

The plane was destroyed beyond repair, and the pilots were given time to recover, physically and mentally from the accident. DHL, Boeing and the BFU launched an investigation to see why the plane crashed.

### Flight Recorders

Shortly after the crash, the flight recorders were taken and analyzed. The discovery of the pilots' fatigue were found in the CVR and interviews from the pilots.

CVR Transcript:

(**Bold** = Spoken on Radio)

(*Italic* = Unconfirmed transcript)

**Capt.: Ground, Postman 209, Taxi to 08R.**

**GND: Postman 209, taxi to uhh.. (Unintelligible)**

**Capt.: Postman 209, taxi to *.. 2 ..***

F/O: Is that what the ATIS says?

Capt.: Yes, maybe, I think so..

\*click\* \*unknown alarm\*

F/O: Did he say 08R, right?

Capt.: He did s- \*click\* -es.

F/O: We have a few aircrafts here, wouldn't it be a great night?

Capt.: Yeah, if not we work on long trips with little sleep.

**\*GND talking to other aircrafts\***

F/O: We'll leave after this one.

\*click\*

F/O: Before taking off, checklist.

Capt.: We're reviewed.

F/O: Pac-

Capt.: We're good, auto.

F/O: Flaps?

\*click\*

Capt.: Set, 15, check.

F/O: Stabilizer trims?

Capt.: Check.

F/O: Flight control?

Capt.: Checked.

Capt.: Taxi's (lights) off.

**GND: Postman 209, tune to 119.7 for Tower.**

F/O: Checklist completed.

F/O: What's the frequency?

Capt.: 119.7?

\*click\* F/O: -kay.

**F/O: Tower, Postman 209, requesting permission to line up on runway 08R.**

**ATC: Postman 209. Line up on 08R and wait for my permission.**

Capt.: We gotta move onto Takeoff (Checklist)

F/O: Anti-collision? (Lights, not to be confused with TCAS)

\*click\*

Capt.: Check, on.

F/O: Landing lights?

\*click\*

Capt.: Check.

F/O: Transponder?

Capt.: TA/RA.

Capt.: We're aligned.

**ATC: Alright Postman 209, you're cleared for takeoff.**

**F/O: 209, cleared for takeoff.**

\*sound of throttle moving\*

?: We're good.

F/O: 80 knots.

F/O: V1.

F/O: VR.

\*unknown alarm\*

Capt.: It's not pitching!

Capt.: Full throttle.

\*sound of thrust increasing\*

F/O: We're not good.

F/O: It's a few hundred (meters) from *overruning!*

Capt.: Trim it, Hartley! (Name of First Officer)

F/O: Damn!

[[UNKNOWN ALARM]]

(Aircraft overruns)

Capt.: *Can't we pull it up?!*

\*Sound of aircraft impacting trees\*(Continues until the end of the CVR)

((Unintelligible screaming and swearing))

[[UNKNOWN ALARM]]

(End of recording)

### Witnesses

The crash was witnessed by ATC, other planes in the airport and other passengers. The ATC, who keeped an eye on the plane from its takeoff to the crash, said that "the plane was struggling to gain altitude, when it overran, it hit trees and caught fire." the ATC immediately called for fire and ambulance. Thanks to him, the pilots of the plane was able to survive.

Other witnesses also described the accident like the ATC did.

### Results

After about 3-5 months of investigation, the BFU concluded that the cause of the accident was because of pilot fatigue, mentioned in the CVR and the pilots' interviews. Due to being tired, the First Officer calculated the weight of the plane incorrectly, leading to accident. The BFU found this after re-calculating and estimating the aircraft's weight.

## Aftermath

After recovering, the pilots continued flying in DHL. As reported by other pilots, Captain Heribert and First Officer Hartley were more cautious since the crash. As for the plane, it was damaged beyond repair, got scrapped and sold into scrap metal.

Captain Heribert would then retire at age 54, while Hartley would still fly for DHL.