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| Date: | Wednesday 9 August 1978 |
| Time: | |
| Type: |  Boeing 747-284B |
| Owner/operator: | Olympic Airways |
| Registration: | SX-OAA |
| MSN: | 20742/216 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1973 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 418 |
| Aircraft damage: | Minor |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Athens -
 Greece
|
| Phase: | Take off |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Athens Ellinikon International (ATH/LGAT) |
| John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK, KJFK) | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Olympic flight 411 was a regularly scheduled flight from Athens, Greece, to New York, USA. Just after takeoff rotation the Boeing 747, SX-OAA "Olympic Zeus", suffered an engine failure from the #3 engine. During takeoff and due to a misunderstanding of a captain command, Flight Engineer shut off the water injection from all the engines. Thrust of the remaining engines reduced drastically. The crew were barely able to keep the plane airborne, flying just 200 feet above a densely populated area of Athens. Airspeed was exceptionally slow, the FDR showing as low as 158kts, which was not possible according to Boeing. After almost two minutes flying straight and as low as 153 ft ~ 46 meter~ above ground (tail height from the ground is 19 meter, wingspan is 59 meter), the captain was able to gain some airspeed and finally altitude up to 1,500ft. After quickly dumping fuel over the water, the plane landed safely back at Ellinkon, 30 minutes after takeoff.
It was discovered that the engine's water injection system was mistakenly turned off prior during takeoff, causing the engine to overheat and explode during rotation.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Airways_Flight_411
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9YzsO_ZPGI (Pilot Interview 1993)
Images:
Boeing Official Analysis of this incident.
Media:
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 21-Sep-2020 05:41 | SANMJN | Added |
| 28-Sep-2020 18:19 | SANMJN | Updated [Location, Departure airport] |
| 21-Oct-2020 07:56 | SANMJN | Updated [Location, Departure airport, Destination airport] |
| 16-Jan-2022 17:56 | Charly_E | Updated [Source, Narrative] |
| 09-Aug-2022 00:41 | Captain Adam | Updated [Location, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
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