El Al 1862, Amsterdam, 4 October 1992

On 4 October 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747-258F freighter, lost both right-wing engines shortly after taking off from Amsterdam Schiphol and crashed into apartment buildings in the Bijlmermeer.

47 people died: three crew and one passenger aboard, and 43 people on the ground.

What happened

Fatigue cracks in the fuse pins attaching the number 3 engine pylon to the wing gave way. The pylon and engine separated — and did so in a way that tore off the number 4 pylon and engine with it.

Fuse pins are meant to work like a mechanical fuse: in a severe event they are designed to fail so the engine departs cleanly, rather than twisting the wing structure and rupturing the fuel tanks. Here they failed from fatigue rather than from an overload, and the departing engine took its outboard neighbour with it.

The damage to the leading edge and the loss of hydraulic systems left the aircraft very difficult to control. Approaching to land, at low speed and with the right wing badly damaged, control was lost.

What changed

Fuse pin inspection. The accident prompted urgent inspections and redesign of engine pylon attachment fittings across the 747 fleet, and much closer attention to fatigue in components whose purpose is to fail in a controlled way.

Freighter loading and documentation. The cargo manifest became a long-running public controversy in the Netherlands, and the handling of information about the load contributed to changes in how dangerous goods on freighters are documented.

It also remains one of the clearest illustrations of a risk unique to freighters: they fly the same routes as airliners but over cities, and their loads are concentrated, heavy and — as National Airlines 102 later showed — dangerous if they are not held down.

Related

• All 747 accidents
• The 747-200