South Bimini - Fort Lauderdale

On September 19, 2010 at 02:40 PM, South Bimini - Fort Lauderdale experienced a crash involving Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftain, operated by Pioneer Air Service, with the event recorded near South Bimini Bimini.

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

7 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 7 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

Crew on board: 1, crew fatalities: 0, passengers on board: 6, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. On September 19, 2010, at 1440 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA31-350, N84859, registered to Spirit Air Inc, and operated by Pioneer Air Service was on initial climb out when the lower half of the main cabin door came open. The pilot reversed his course and returned to the departure airport, landing on runway 27. The right main landing gear tire blew out on the landing roll. The airplane went off the right side of the runway, struck a tree, caught fire and came to a complete stop. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight plan was filed. The commercial pilot and five passengers were not injured and the airplane received substantial damage. The flight originated from Bimini Airport, South Bimini Island, Bahamas, at 1435, and was operated in accordance with 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135.

Aircraft reference details include registration N84859, MSN 31-7305043, year of manufacture 1973.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 25.7033°, -79.2733°.