YR-LCC, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 1994
Accident
Date
31 March 1995 (1995-03-31)
Summary
Auto-throttle failure and pilot incapacitation (possible heart attack) leading to loss of control
Site
Balotești, near Otopeni International Airport, Bucharest, Romania 44°35′54.5″N26°06′23.2″E / 44.598472°N 26.106444°E / 44.598472; 26.106444
Aircraft
Aircraft type
Airbus A310-324
Aircraft name
Muntenia
Operator
TAROM
IATA flight No.
RO371
ICAO flight No.
ROT371
Call sign
TAROM 371
Registration
YR-LCC
Flight origin
Otopeni International Airport, Bucharest, Romania
Destination
Brussel-Zaventem Airport, Brussels, Belgium
Occupants
60
Passengers
49
Crew
11
Fatalities
60
Survivors
0
TAROM Flight 371 was a scheduled international passenger flight, with an Airbus A310 from Otopeni International Airport in Romania's capital Bucharest to Brussels Airport in Brussels, Belgium. The flight was operated by TAROM, the flag carrier of Romania. On 31 March 1995, the Airbus A310-324, registered as YR-LCC, entered a nose-down dive after takeoff and crashed near Balotești in Romania. All 60 people aboard were killed in the crash.[1]
Investigation of the crash revealed that a faulty auto-throttle reduced the left engine to idle during climb. While this was happening, the captain became incapacitated (possible heart attack),[2][3] leaving the first officer to react instinctively, over the final 60 seconds of the flight, based on his training and experience – but as he spent most of his flying career flying Soviet-built planes with a different style Attitude Direction Indicator than on the A310, he was unable to respond properly to the situation. The crash was the deadliest plane crash in Romania's history.[4][5] It was also the deadliest plane crash in TAROM's operational history.[6]
^"15 ani de la cea mai mare catastrofă aeriană din istoria României" [15 years from the biggest air catastrophe in Romania's history]. Adevărul (in Romanian). 31 March 2010. Archived from the original on 24 December 2010.
^"Final Report of the Administrative Investigation Comission [sic]" (PDF). aias.gov.ro. Romania: Civil Aviation Inspectorate, Ministry of Transport. 21 September 2000.
^"Tarom A310 crash pilot was 'incapacitated'". Flight Global. 10 December 1997. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
^Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A310-324 YR-LCC Bucharest-Otopeni International Airport (OTP)". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
^Ranter, Harro. "Romania air safety profile". Aviation Safety Network. Flight Safety Foundation. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
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