189 people died because of the nest of a tropical wasp (6 photos)

Dominican Republic! Paradise place: warm sea, soft climate, palm trees, low prices… A favorite vacation spot for millions Europeans. Convenient air service connects many cities of the Dominican Republic with European continent. One of the airports is located in the city Puerto Plata, it is located right on the Caribbean Sea.





February 6, 1996 Boeing 757 Birgenair operated a flight from Puerto Plata to Frankfurt am Main. On board - 189 people, 13 crew members and 176 passengers. air commander vessel (PIC) - a very experienced pilot, Ahmet Erdem. He worked in airline is about 28 years old, has flown more than 24,750 hours - this is very great experience. Next to him is an experienced co-pilot and a replacement PIC, since flight duration is very long.



Puerto Plata Airport, Dominican Republic

The Boeing 757 took off from the Dominican airport at 23:42. More on takeoff, the PIC noticed that the speed indicator on the instrument panel in front of it gives incorrect readings. He did not attach much importance to this - especially since the co-pilot's speed sensor worked properly - and continued to take off. The plane crashed into the water five minutes after takeoff. Caribbean Sea 26 kilometers from the airport. All 189 people at the same time died.





Boeing 757 a year before the same death

What happened in the cockpit?! KVS speed sensor gave incredible performance on takeoff - over 650 km/ h. At the second the pilot's indicated speed corresponded to the truth - 370 km/ h. Because of difference in performance, the autopilot turned off, and the pilots took up manual control. Devices give out sound warnings about too low, then too high speed. Trying to recognize the situation the pilots are even more confused. Reduce speed - the plane starts shake. As pilots continue to climb, they increase their pitch angle. (lift the nose of the plane high). In conditions of insufficient speed there is a sharp loss of lift, while the left engine. Boeing 757 falls into a flat tailspin.



Scheme of operation of the air pressure receiver, pay attention to the pitot tube

The commission to analyze the causes of the crash for a long time could not understand cause of the ship's death. After a detailed inspection of all the wreckage it turned out that one of the pitot tubes - from the side of the PIC - was faulty. Therefore, the PIC's IAS was displayed incorrectly. Pitot tube serves as an air conduit for the air pressure receiver, which under the pressure of the incoming air mass measures the speed of the aircraft. The pitot tube on modern types of aircraft is equipped with a powerful heating device - to avoid clogging of the hole with ice.



Tropical sand (burrowing) wasp

As it turned out after a thorough analysis of the wreckage, the tube Pito was blocked from the side of the FAC… by a nest of a sand wasp. This kind wasp, living in the tropics, builds its nests from lumps of clay and always plugs the entrance with a large mud ball when he leaves his nest. During a long stop of a Boeing 757 at Puerto Plata Airport the sand wasp built its nest in the Pitot tube from the side of the FAC, and the technicians during the pre-flight inspection of the aircraft could not find it.



A sand wasp plugs its nest with a ball of clay