Airbus A330 incident near Phuket, Th, December 20, 2012
On December 20, 2012 at about 1:41 pm local time, a Airbus A330, registered DABXA, suffered minor damage in an incident near Phuket (Phuket, Thailand airport). It was flown under non-U.S. commercial rules. No one was hurt; 257 people were on board or involved.
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The NTSB has not yet published a probable cause for this incident. Investigations usually take one to two years; this page updates when the final report is released.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- December 20, 2012 · about 1:41 pm local time
- Place
- Phuket, Thailand · Phuket, Thailand
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 257 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- not recorded
- Aircraft
- Airbus A330 200 · all A330s on the register
- Registration
- DABXA · no longer on the register
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight · non-U.S. commercial rules
The NTSB's narrative preliminary · quoted from the NTSB record
On December 20, 2012, at about 1341 UTC, an Air Berlin Airbus Industrie A330-200 airplane, registered in Germany as D-ABXA, experienced a failure of the left engine, a Pratt & Whitney PW4168, shortly after takeoff from Phuket, Thailand. After the engine failed, the airplane also experienced a hydraulic failure. The airplane returned to Phuket for an overweight landing. There were no injuries to 10 flight crewmembers and 247 passengers on board. The airplane had just departed Phuket for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The investigation is being conducted by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation (BFU). As the state of manufacture of the PW4168 engine, the NTSB has designated a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the BFU with their investigation under the provisions of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. All inquiries should be directed to the BFU at: Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigation Hermann-Blenk-Str. 16 38108 Braunschweig Germany Website: http://www.bfu-web.de
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
The aircraft
- Landing gear: fixed
- Operator: Air Berlin
The flight
- Departed from: HKT Phuket
- Destination: AUH Abu Dhabi
- Flight plan: not recorded
Weather at the time
- Temperature: 0°F (-18°C), dew point 0°F (-18°C)
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabi | 8 | |||
| Flight crew | 2 | |||
| Passengers | 247 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.