| Image Upright: | 1.15 |
| Occurrence Type: | Accident |
| Summary: | Crashed on hard landing due to windshear and foggy weather |
| Site: | Faro Airport, Faro, Portugal |
| Coordinates: | 37.0128°N -7.9647°W |
| Plane1 Image: | Martinair_DC-10-30CF_PH-MBN_FAO_1985.png |
| Plane1 Image Upright: | 1.15 |
| Plane1 Caption: | The aircraft involved in the accident, seen at Faro Airport, the accident site, in 1985. |
| Aircraft Type: | McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF |
| Aircraft Name: | Anthony Ruys |
| Operator: | Martinair |
| Iata: | MP495 |
| Icao: | MPH495 |
| Callsign: | MARTINAIR 495 |
| Tail Number: | PH-MBN |
| Destination: | Faro Airport |
| Occupants: | 340 |
| Passengers: | 327 |
| Crew: | 13 |
| Fatalities: | 56 |
| Injuries: | 106 |
| Survivors: | 284 |
Martinair Flight 495 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 operated by Dutch airline Martinair, that crash-landed in severe weather conditions at Faro Airport, Portugal on 21 December 1992. The aircraft carried 13 crew members and 327 passengers, mainly holidaymakers from the Netherlands. The crash killed 54 passengers and 2 crew members;[1] 106 of the other occupants were badly injured.
The aircraft involved was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30CF, registered PH-MBN, which was built in 1975 carrying the serial number 46924.[1] The aircraft was named Anthony Ruys in honour of one of Martinair's former commissioners.[2]
The captain was 56-year-old H. Willem van Staveren, who had been with Martinair since January 1968. He was a DC-10 flight instructor with a total of 14,441 flight hours. He previously served in the Royal Netherlands Navy from 1962 to 1966 and had worked for Schreiner Airways from 1966 to 1968.
The first officer was 31-year-old Ronald J. H. Clemenkowff. He had been with Martinair for three years with 2,288 flight hours, 1,787 of them on the DC-10.
The flight engineer was 29-year-old Gary W. Glans, who had been with Martinair for only eight months. However, he had worked for both Canadian Airlines and Swissair from 1988 to 1992. Glans had a total of 7,540 flight hours, including 1,700 hours on the DC-10.
All three pilots survived the crash.
On the morning of the accident, the plane was delayed at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol due to a faulty thrust-reverser. This was not fixed. Nevertheless, the plane left for Faro at 04:52 UTC. According to Martinair, the faulty thrust-reverser was not a contributing factor in the accident.
A large thunderstorm had developed near Faro airport, accompanied by heavy rain, windshear and low cloud. The control tower informed the crew of the thunderstorm activity, in addition to stating that there was water on the runway. Following one unsuccessful landing attempt, the crew attempted a VOR/DME procedure approach to runway 11 (later runway 10), during which the aircraft flew through at least two microbursts. According to the Portuguese final accident report, firefighters saw an explosion coming from the aircraft 22 seconds before it crashed.
The aircraft made a hard landing with a vertical speed exceeding the manufacturer's design limits. Following this, the starboard main gear collapsed, the starboard wing separated from the fuselage and the starboard fuel tank ruptured and the contents ignited. The DC-10 fuselage split in two, coming to rest with the front section lying on its side.
Opinions differ as to the cause(s) of this disaster.
According to the Portuguese aviation authority (DGAC), the cause(s) were likely to have been:
The DGAC describes the following additional factors:
The Dutch Office for the Investigation of Accidents and Incidents of the National Aviation Authority (RLD) indicated that the probable cause(s) could be as follows:
According to the RLD, additional factors were:
On 14 February 2011, the Algemeen Dagblad reported, among other things, a new investigation that was carried out at the request of relatives by researcher Harry Horlings.[3] According to Horlings, there was no wind shear at the Faro disaster and the pilots had made serious mistakes.[4] Furthermore, the data from the black box was incomplete in the Dutch report from 1993; the last seconds were missing.[5] [6] In the cover letter to the report of the American Aviation Service, in which the data from the black box were presented, it was indicated that the autopilot had been used incorrectly. The report also recommended improving the training of pilots.[7]
The Dutch Safety Board stated that it was unable to respond because the Council had not been able to view and assess the report from Horlings. Attorney Jan Willem Koeleman, who assisted some of the surviving relatives, announced that he would request Martinair to recognize liability and pay additional compensation. On 8 December 2012, Koeleman reported Martinair and the Dutch state to complain before the 21st of that month. After that date the case would be barred.[8]
The case against Martinair, which had, in the meantime, become part of KLM, finally served on 13 January 2014 in Amsterdam.[9] On February 26, 2014, the court rendered judgment, ruling that additional damages were not necessary.[10]
The case against the state of the Netherlands served on 20 January 2014 in The Hague. On the same day on which the District Court ruled in Amsterdam, 26 February 2014, a decision was also made here by means of an interlocutory judgment. Unlike the court in Amsterdam, the court in The Hague deemed further investigation necessary and wished to hear experts.
In January 2020, the District Court of the Hague ruled that the Dutch state was partly responsible for the accident.[11]
The disaster at Faro happened a few months after the crash of El Al Flight 1862, in an Amsterdam neighbourhood. Although the crash at Faro was more deadly, it received relatively little media attention.
Survivors felt that too little attention was being given to their experience from the crash. They united as the "Anthony Ruys Foundation", after the name of the aircraft, to engage with the media. This foundation was dissolved in May 2011.[12]
On 16 January 2016, the Dutch current affairs program EenVandaag aired an episode about the disaster. In the broadcast, a former technical controller from Martinair stated that, sometime before the date of the flight and under great pressure from his supervisors, he had signed a form in which the replacement of a landing gear of the aircraft was postponed for a third time. Such a postponement could only be granted twice. The episode included an interview with attorney Jan Willem Koeleman, who assisted victims and survivors, detailing he had discovered that an archive of the Aviation Council should remain secret. CDA member of parliament, Pieter Omtzigt, called this "very inappropriate" and demanded that the government ask for clarification.[13]
Martinair Flight 495 was featured on season 22 of the Canadian documentary series Mayday, in the episode titled "Peril over Portugal".[14]