Lufthansa Flight 2904

Lufthansa Flight 2904 was an Airbus A320-200 flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Warsaw, Poland that overran the runway at Okęcie International Airport on 14 September 1993.

Lufthansa Flight 2904 was cleared to land at Okęcie International Airport Runway 11 and was informed of the existence of wind shear on the approach.

With the resulting increased speed, the airplane hit the ground at approximately 170 knots (310 km/h; 200 mph) and far beyond the normal touchdown point; its right gear touched down 770 metres (2,530 ft) from the runway threshold.

Only when the left gear touched the runway did the ground spoilers and engine thrust reversers start to deploy, these systems depend on oleo strut (shock absorber) compression.

The aircraft departed the runway at a speed of 72 knots (133 km/h; 83 mph) and rolled 90 metres (300 ft) before it hit the embankment and an LLZ aerial with the left wing.

Only when the left landing gear touched the runway did the automatic aircraft systems allow the ground spoilers and engine thrust reversers to operate.

Illustration of time elapsed between touchdown of the first main strut, the second and engagement of brakes.
Illustration of distance relative to main strut touchdown. The striped line marks 1400 m, which divides the runway in half. Red indicates that the landing gear have not touched down, blue indicates hydroplaning and green indicates wheels on the ground.