Serious incident Boeing 737-8K5 (WL) G-FDZJ,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 205942
 
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Date:Thursday 28 September 2017
Time:18:04 UTC
Type:Silhouette image of generic B738 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Boeing 737-8K5 (WL)
Owner/operator:Thomson Airways
Registration: G-FDZJ
MSN: 34690/2184
Year of manufacture:2007
Engine model:CFM56-7B27/3
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 142
Aircraft damage: None
Category:Serious incident
Location:Malta-Luqa Airport (MLA/LMML) -   Malta
Phase: Take off
Nature:Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi
Departure airport:Malta-Luqa Airport (MLA/LMML)
Destination airport:Manchester Airport (MAN/EGCC)
Investigating agency: AAIB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
Flight BY2453 was a charter flight from Malta to Manchester. The aircraft, with a capacity for 189 passengers, had 136 passengers, 2 pilots and 4 cabin crew on board.
The load sheet recorded a takeoff weight of 65.6 tonnes and a centre of gravity of 23.4%. The pilots elected to take off from intersection F for runway 13 and calculated the following speeds for takeoff with Flap 10: V1 141 kt, VR 142 kt and V2 145 kt. Stabiliser trim was set to 4.5 units based on the load sheet information entered into the Flight Management Computer (FMC).
Although not certain, the crew believe that all the passengers sat in their allocated seats.
The takeoff acceleration was normal. At VR, the commander, who was pilot flying (PF), pulled back on the control column, but no rotation occurred with the normal pull effort. The PF continued to pull back and then with approximately ¾ elevator deflection the aircraft started a slow rotation. The aircraft was airborne with approximately 300 m of runway remaining. Once the aircraft was safely climbing away the PF applied rearward trim to remove the control force. The flight proceeded without further incident.

Conclusion
The aircraft took off with incorrect stabiliser trim set because an incorrect CofG was shown on the load sheet. This occurred because the seating position of the passengers was not passed to the handling agent. The handling agent assumed an even distribution of passengers within the cabin, when the actual loading created a forward bias.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: AAIB
Report number: EW/G2017/09/19
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 4 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

AAIB
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/g-fdzj#f086154

History of this aircraft

Other occurrences involving this aircraft
10 March 2021 HL8322 Jeju Air 0 Busan-Gimhae (Pusan) International Airport (PUS/RKPK) min

Images:


Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
10-Feb-2018 17:34 harro Added
10-Feb-2018 17:36 harro Updated [Photo, ]

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