Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Washington, District Of Columbia
Monday, June 7, 2004 7:32 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On June 7, 2004, at about 0732 edt, a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-311, G-VFLY, operating as a 14CFR Part 129 scheduled passenger flight from Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) to London Heathrow International Airport (LHR), was mis-loaded at IAD. The captain noticed an unusually rapid rotation at IAD, but continued the takeoff. Enroute the crew received two Fuel Excess Aft CG warnings, about 10 minutes apart, 2-1/2 hours into the flight. The gross weight CG indication was 34.0 and 34.2, respectively. He transferred all of the "trim tank" fuel forward, isolated the trim tank, and continued to LHR. Interviews with key ground personnel revealed that approximately seven tons of baggage was loaded in the aft cargo hold (positions 32-42) instead of the forward cargo hold (positions 23-26) as depicted on the load plan. There were 203 passengers, 12 cabin attendants, 2 flight crew, and 1 additional crewmember on board. There were no injuries and the airplane was not damaged.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The incorrect loading of baggage into the aft cargo compartment instead of the forward compartment, which resulted in aft CG light in-flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 6/7/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 732 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Washington |
| Event State | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IAD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 218 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22748 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Comm Center/Virgin Atlant |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 9 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2007 3:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | G-VFLY |
| NTSB Number | DCA04IA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 129: Foreign |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus Industrie |
| Aircraft Model | A340-311 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | VIRGIN ATLANTIC AIRWAYS LTD |
| Operator Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Street Address | The Office Manor Royal |
| Operator City | Crawley |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | UK |
| Operator Zip code | RH10 9NU |
| Operator Code | VAWF |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | IAD |
| Departure City | Washington |
| Departure State | DC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 732 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LHR |
| Destination City | London |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | UK |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing - engine(s) not operating |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 24 2005 8:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | HILF |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |