Alta – Båtsfjord

On June 14, 2001 at 04:08 PM, Alta – Båtsfjord experienced a crash involving De Havilland DHC-8-100 (Dash-8), operated by Wideroe - Wideroe's Flyveselskap, with the event recorded near Båtsfjord Finnmark.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

27 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 27 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 24, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The twin engine aircraft departed Alta Airport at 1522LT on a regular schedule service to Båtsfjord, carrying 24 passengers and a crew of three. Following an uneventful flight, the crew started a LOC/DME approach to runway 21. Shortly after passing the missed approach point, the pilot-in-command lost visual contact with the runway so the captain took over controls and continued the approach. The airplane became unstable and the crew encountered control problems due to difficulties to disengage the autopilot system. This caused the aircraft to lose height during the last segment and it landed hard, causing the right main gear to collapse upon impact. The aircraft slid for few dozen metres then veered off runway to the right and came to rest in a grassy area 23 metres to the right of the runway. All 27 occupants evacuated safely while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Aircraft reference details include registration LN-WIS, MSN 247, year of manufacture 1990.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 70.6143°, 30.3274°.