Brake error blamed for plane accident at Bristol Airport

The plane crashed in foggy conditions. Picture: AAIB (Image: AAIB)

A bmi flight from Frankfurt, with 25 crew and passengers onboard, came off the runway during foggy conditions on December 22, 2017.

Nobody was injured but an investigation into the crash was published on January 10 showing an error was made in the cockpit.

An Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) report said a mix up over brakes caused the error and saw the plane’s tyres burst during the landing process.

Its report said: “At some point during the landing the throttles were moved forward, reducing the rate of deceleration.

The plane crashed in foggy conditions. Picture: AAIB (Image: AAIB)

“As the aircraft left the paved surface, the crew realised that the landing had been carried out with the emergency/parking brake set.

“The aircraft may have remained on the runway surface but for the addition of forward thrust during the landing roll.”

The plane only suffered minor damage, despite ending up 120m from the runway when it came to rest.

The AAIB concluded the ‘inadvertent selection of the emergency/parking brake’ led to the accident.

The speed brake should have been applied instead, but investigators noted the pair are ‘of similar shape and sited close to each other.

The AAIB said there was time for the mistake to be noticed and corrected ahead of the landing, but ‘a busy flight deck environment together with a high workload contributed to it going unnoticed’.

The operator agreed to change landing procedures to ensure pilots confirm the parking brake is turned off.

The crash, coming a few days before Christmas, had a huge knock-on effect with flights due to depart and land at Bristol Airport.

Many flights had to be cancelled to allow investigators to analyse what went wrong, causing a significant amount of disruption to passengers.