An Air Serbia E195 suffered extensive damage after remaining on the ground for a long distance past the end of the runway, before lifting off.
This accident happened on Sunday the 18th of February. It involved flight JU-324, departing from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport (LYBE) in Serbia. This is a regular flight, to Dusseldorf International Airport (EDDL) in Germany. Air Serbia changes between the Airbus A320 and the Embraer E190 or E195, to perform this service.
On the day of this accident, 106 passengers and crew were on board the aircraft. Aside from a short delay in departure time (just under 15 minutes), we don’t know of any pre-departure issues with the flight.
The visibility and other weather conditions don’t appear to have been a factor in this accident. The flight departed at 16:39 UTC, using runway 30L:
- LYBE 181630Z 33002KT CAVOK 10/04 Q1030 NOSIG=
- LYBE 181700Z 02002KT CAVOK 10/04 Q1030 NOSIG=
The E195 flight crew of this Air Serbia flight intended to make an intersection departure on runway 30L. The tower controller reportedly cleared the crew to enter the runway using taxiway D6 (see above). However, the flight crew entered the runway at D5 instead.
Seeing this, the tower controller informed the crew and cleared them to backtrack to their intended departure point, abeam D6. Now fully aware of where they were, the crew announced that they could depart from their current position.
Air Serbia E195 Takes Off
The tower controller cleared the Air Serbia flight for takeoff and the E195 started rolling down the runway. At D5, the flight crew had approximately 1,273 meters (4,177 feet) of runway remaining. ADS-B data shows that the aircraft was still on the ground at least 500 meters (1,640 feet) past the runway.
This means that the Air Serbia flight rolled through approach lighting and other equipment, damaging the fuselage and wings of the E195. CCTV video at the airport shows that the aircraft suffered a tail strike just as it left the runway surface.
After finally lifting off, the aircraft initially gained little altitude. The E195 crew stopped their climb at 4,000 feet. But despite telling ATC that they would return to Belgrade immediately, the flight would spend around 55 minutes in the air.
After working through their checklists and burning some fuel, the E195 pilots landed the Air Serbia flight safely back on runway 30L. The runway was still usable after the accident, however the damage to equipment precluded the possibility of performing CATIII landings.
The aircraft has remained on the ground ever since, as of this writing, and seems to need substantial repairs before it can return to service. This is a 15-year-old Embraer E195LR with registration OY-GDC. The E195 belongs to Marathon Airlines, who leased it to Air Serbia last October.
There have been some recent changes at Belgrade Airport, including the construction of the runway this crew used. Some construction work is still ongoing. It is not clear if these changes played a role in this accident. However, the flight crew clearly knew their location before their takeoff roll.
15 comments
Bertrand F
Still Human factor is the prime cause of this accident, who, no one been lost or severe injury….
some luck.
Iskender Kutlucinar
Didn’t these pilots calculated the fuel, passengers, cargo weight, before takeoff?
Eugene
I’m very surprised the plane actually flew and the structure of the wing didn’t bend up or something because there were some serious damage to the wing. Can’t believe it managed to fly
Phil
Dumbasses😡
Zoran Lovric
Preliminary report is out: https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/s/T9a18QWqqf
Luka
This was so avoidable. I feel like they were just too lazy to backtrack and tookoff from a shorter distance resulting in an accident that thankfully had no loss of life but could have been avoided. I am also dissapointed that the ATC didn’t enforce his call to backtrack.
Alan
Pilots please stop all intersection takeoffs. We’ve seen loss of life in two avoidable incidents.
Patrick
Wow.. I used to live about 1km straight from the runway on BEG.
This could have ended so much worse if the damage to the wing or stabilizer were more significant.
Glad to hear they landed safely and that it was not an Air Serbia crew.
geoffrey nicholson
This accident demonstrates why airport planning requirements demand that structures in the approach and overrun areas of a runway have to be ‘Frangible’
Had they not been frangible the damage could have been much worse and maybe catastrophic.
geoffrey nicholson
This accident demonstrates why airport planning requirements demand that lighting and other structures in the approach and overrun areas have to be ‘Frangible’. Had they not been the damage and results of this accident could have been catastrophic.
Michael
Unfortunate for the pilot’s. They probably lost their job. I hope they are going to write off the plane because who would want to fly the airplane after its fix. Very sad in this situation.
Eduardo Kaftanski
Career ending takeoff
Bo Abrahamsen
I suppose they may have used the settings for the full length runway and derated trust unless the weights were off? Good job that nothing more serious happened.
Zoran Lovric
This was a wet lease. Both the plane and the crew were from Marathon airlines.
Bo Abrahamsen
Agree. Danish media reported today that Air Serbia has terminated their contract.