The serious accident of Cargo Airline 4X-ICM happened on October 01st 2003.

The Boeing B747-271C cargo airplane registered 4X-ICM was operated by Cargo Airline Ltd.

After an uneventful flight from Tel Aviv and a normal ILS approach on runway 05R of Liege, the Cargo Airline 4X-ICM aircraft touched down.

Cargo Airline 4X-ICM

The Captain was pilot flying. Auto speed brakes worked normally and reverses were deployed immediately.

Everything being normal during the first part of the landing roll and normal deceleration being noted, the Captain cut off the autobrakes at an estimated speed of 100kts via brake pedals in order to stop the aircraft further by manual braking.

At an estimated 3000ft from the runway end, the pilots of Cargo Airline 4X-ICM noted that there was “no feeling of deceleration”.

At 80kts no slow down of the aircraft was noted despite “full braking”. The end of the runway was reached with a speed of 50kts and the aircraft had veered 30° to the right compared with the runway QFU.

The aircraft continued its right turn during the slide in the grass and mud behind the concrete runway, to come to a stop against the ILS antennas 500ft from runway end and perpendicular to runway heading. The crew and passengers evacuated uninjured via the right slide.

One of the cause of the event was identified as the low experience of Captain as PIC on B747. Out of his overall 5000 flight hours he had 1800 hrs as PIC but only 50 hours as PIC on B747.

The probable causes and factors of the mishap are:

• High weight of the aircraft (FACTOR).
• Low experience of the Captain as PIC on B747 (FACTOR).
• Late touchdown (FACTOR).
• Poor crew performance and CRM (FACTOR).
• Deviation from published procedures (CAUSE).