Luxair Flight 9642

Luxair Flight 9642 was an international passenger flight from Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, Germany, to Luxembourg-Findel Airport, Luxembourg. On 6 November 2002, the Fokker 50 operating the flight lost control and crashed into an airfield during a missed approach in Luxembourg. This is the deadliest plane crash ever to happen in the country.^[1]

Most of the passengers were senior executives from various German companies. Seventeen people died at the scene of the crash, and five survived, three of whom later died in the hospital.

During the night of the crash, 18 of the 20 deceased bodies were found, with two still missing. The bodies were believed to be buried beneath the burned fuselage of the wreckage.

The captain was Claude Poeckes, 26, with a total of 4,242 flight hours, including 2,864 hours in the Fokker 50. The first officer was John Arendt, 32, with a total of 1,156 flight hours, including 443 hours in the Fokker 50.

Luxair Flight 9642 was a regular flight from Berlin-Tempelhof to Luxembourg Findel Airport on 6 November. It took off at around 07:40 a.m. with 19 passengers and 3 crew members. The pilots were Captain Claude Poeckes and First Officer John Arendt.

At about 08:55 a.m., while flying, the crew checked the weather in Luxembourg and saw that visibility was only 275 meters—too low for their plane to land safely (the minimum needed was 300 meters). Heavy fog was causing poor visibility. Because of this, they had to either wait in a holding pattern or go to another airport.

Despite the low visibility, the crew decided to continue to Luxembourg. When they checked the weather again, conditions hadn’t improved. They talked about how to land in bad weather but didn’t make a decision, so they didn’t do a proper landing briefing.

While First Officer Arendt was talking to the passengers, Captain Poeckes contacted Luxair to see if the fog had cleared, but it hadn’t. The crew was then told to enter a holding pattern over Diekirch. Arendt informed the passengers they would wait for the weather to improve.

Suddenly, air traffic control told the crew to descend to 3,000 feet and change direction. This unexpected instruction confused Arendt, who asked, “Is that for us?” Captain Poeckes confirmed it was. Arendt was still surprised and reacted by saying: “What kind of shit is that?”.

The crew still did not understand the reasons for the descent that had been requested by the controller. Fearing that they had been asked to prepare for an approach, they repeatedly checked the RVR (Runway Visual Range) value with Luxair Dispatch, but the weather in Findel Airport was still below the minimum amount for the landing. They were initially feeling uncertain about whether the controller had sent such transmission for holding or for an approach.^[1]: 55

After lowering the landing gear, the propeller speed increased suddenly, surprising the crew with a loud noise. The plane then quickly lost speed and altitude. The crew discovered that reverse thrust had been activated during flight and tried to recover control. First Officer Arendt retracted the flaps, and Captain Poeckes pushed the thrust lever forward to regain lift. But the aircraft kept falling.

As a last effort, the crew shut down both engines, but the descent continued. Realizing a crash was near, they tried to level the plane as much as possible to reduce the impact.

At a certain point, Findel Airport lost communication with Flight 9642. Its signal had disappeared from the air traffic controller's radar.^[2] The controller attempted to contact Flight 9624, but when there was no response, the airport's emergency services were alerted to a possible accident near the airport. A phone call from a witness eventually confirmed that the plane had crashed near the airport.

Meanwhile, at the crash site, taxi driver Guillaume Wainachter was the first to arrive. He attempted to rescue the passengers inside the fuselage while the wails of survivors could be heard from within the wreckage. While trying to rescue the survivors, he heard a noise coming from inside the fuselage, and flight 9642 immediately burst into flames within seconds.

Rescue services found several passengers who had been ejected from the fuselage as the aircraft moved due to the crash. One of the survivors had been ejected from the plane during the crash and was found a few meters from the wreckage.

Captain Poeckes was found trapped inside the cockpit, but survived because the cabin didn't catch fire. Rescuers had to cut open the fuselage and open a hole to free him from the wreckage. The fog was so thick that some residents didn't notice the accident. Most of them claimed not to have seen or heard anything when the accident happened and only realized something had happened when ambulances and emergency services arrived at the scene.

Following the accident, a Belgian hospital was alerted, and 300 police officers were dispatched to the scene. The Luxembourg government requested additional support from the Belgian government. The Belgian government sent three helicopters to the accident site and made a military hospital available to firefighters and rescuers.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker arrived at the scene hours after the crash, along with Luxembourg Interior Minister Michel Wolter, Transport Minister Henri Grethen, and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Maria Teresa. The prime minister eventually called an emergency meeting to investigate the accident.

The accident is featured in season 25, episode 4 of the Canadian documentary series Air Crash Investigation, titled "Second Thoughts".^[3]

• Administration for Technical Investigations
  • Final Report (Archive) – Translation of French report
  • (in French) Final Report." (Archive) – Original report
  • Preliminary Report (Archive, Alternate) – Translation of French Report
  • (in French) Preliminary Report (Archive, Alternate) – Original report
• "AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT LG9642/LH2420" (Archive). Luxair.
• Government of Luxembourg
  • (in French) Accident aérien au Luxembourg (6 novembre 2002) (Archive)
  • (in French) Communiqué Déroulement de l'accident d'un avion Luxair." (Archive) – 6 Nov 2002
  • (in French) Communiqué du parquet du Luxembourg (2003) (Archive)
• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary
• Pictures of the crash