XL Airways Germany Flight 888T (GXL888T) was an acceptance flight for an Airbus A320 on 27 November 2008. The aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off Canet-en-Roussillon on the French coast, close to the Spanish border, killing all seven people on board.
Background
Purpose of the test flight
The aircraft was on a flight test (or "acceptance flight") that had taken off from Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport, made an overflight of Gaillac, and was flying back to Perpignan Airport approaching over the sea. The flight took place following light maintenance and repainting to Air New Zealand livery in preparation for its transfer from XL Airways Germany, which had been leasing the aircraft from Air New Zealand, the owner.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A320-232, registered D-AXLA, manufactured in 2005, and assigned a manufacturer's serial number of 2500. It first flew on 30 June 2005, and was delivered to Air New Zealand's low-cost subsidiary Freedom Air with the registration ZK-OJL. Star XL German Airlines (as XL Airways Germany was named at the time) took delivery of the aircraft on 25 May 2006. The aircraft had been overhauled by a local French company located at the Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport prior to its return off lease. At the time of the crash it was due to be delivered back to Air New Zealand and re-registered as ZK-OJL.
Passengers and crew
Seven people were on board, two Germans (the captain and first officer, from XL Airways) and five New Zealanders (one pilot, three aircraft engineers, and one member of the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAA)).
The captain was 51-year-old Norbert Käppel, who had been with the airline since 24 August 1987. He became an Airbus A320 captain in February 2006. Käppel had logged a total of 12,709 flight hours, including 7,038 hours on the Airbus A320.
The first officer was 58-year-old Theodor Ketzer, who had been with the airline since 2 March 1988. He had been a first officer on the Airbus A320 since April 2006. Ketzer had 11,660 flight hours, with 5,529 of them on the Airbus A320.
The pilot from New Zealand was 52-year-old Brian Horrell, who had been with Air New Zealand since September 1986. He had been an Airbus A320 captain since 27 September 2004, and had 15,211 flight hours, including 2,078 hours on the Airbus A320. Horrell was seated in the cockpit jumpseat at the time of the accident. He did not speak nor understand German.
The three aircraft engineers were 37-year-old Murray White, 49-year-old Michael Gyles, and 35-year-old Noel Marsh. The member of the CAA was 58-year-old Jeremy Cook.
Accident
The aircraft departed Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport at 14:44 UTC. The overflight at Gaillac was mostly normal. At 15:04, though, angle-of-attack sensor number 1 became blocked, and sensor number 2 became blocked two minutes later.
At 15:33, the aircraft started back towards Perpignan Airport, but at 15:46 UTC during final approach, the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar screens.
The aircraft crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Étang de Canet-Saint-Nazaire near Canet-en-Roussillon. All seven people on board were killed.
Recovery
Two bodies were recovered within hours of the crash; the others were found during later weeks. The extent of shattering of the wreckage indicated that the crash occurred at high speed. The crash area was declared a crime scene and the French justice system opened a manslaughter investigation.
Investigation
The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was quickly found and recovered, and on 30 November, divers recovered the second flight recorder–the flight data recorder (FDR)–and a third body, unidentified at the time. Although the CVR was damaged, experts said a good probability existed of recovering data from it.
In late December, French investigators attempted to retrieve data from the CVR and FDR, but they could not be read. Usable data from the recorders was later recovered by Honeywell Aerospace in the United States.