Britten-Norman Trislander

Great Barrier Airlines

At about 1300 on Sunday 5 July 2009, ZK-LOU, a 3-engined Britten Norman BN2A Mk III Trislander operated by Great Barrier Airlines (the company), took off from Great Barrier Aerodrome at Claris on Great Barrier Island on a regular service to Auckland International Airport. On board were 10 passengers and a pilot, all of whom were wearing their seat belts. That morning the pilot had flown a different Trislander from Auckland International Airport to Claris and swapped it for ZK-LOU for the return flight because it was needed for pilot training back in Auckland. Another company pilot had that morning flown ZK-LOU to Claris from North Shore Aerodrome. He had completed a full engine run-up for the first departure of the day, as was usual, and said he noticed nothing unusual with the aeroplane during the approximate 30-minute flight. For the return flight the pilot said he completed the normal after-start checks in ZK-LOU and noticed nothing abnormal. He did not do another full engine run-up because it was not required. He taxied the aeroplane to the start of sealed runway 28, applied full power while holding the aeroplane on brakes and rechecked that the engine gauges were indicating normally before starting the take-off roll. The aeroplane took off without incident, but the pilot said when it was climbing through about 500 feet he heard an unusual “pattering” sound. He also heard the propellers going out of synchronisation, so he attempted to resynchronise them with the propeller controls. He checked the engine’s gauges and noticed that the right engine manifold pressure and engine rotation speed had dropped, so he adjusted the engine and propeller controls to increase engine power. At that time there was a loud bang and he heard a passenger scream. Looking back to his right the pilot saw that the entire propeller assembly for the right engine was missing and that there was a lot of oil spray around the engine cowling. The pilot turned the aeroplane left and completed the engine failure and shutdown checks. He transmitted a distress call on the local area frequency and asked the other company pilot, who was airborne behind him, to alert the local company office that he was returning to Claris. The company office manager and other company pilot noticed nothing unusual with ZK-LOU as it taxied and took off. The other pilot was not concerned until he saw what looked like white smoke and debris emanate from the aeroplane as though it had struck a flock of birds. Despite the failure, ZK-LOU continued to climb, so the pilot said he levelled at about 800 feet and reduced power on the 2 serviceable engines, completed a left turn and crossed over the aerodrome and positioned right downwind for runway 28. There was quite a strong headwind for the landing, so the pilot elected to do a flapless landing and keep the power and speed up a little because of the possibility of some wind shear. The pilot and other personnel said that the cloud was scattered at about 2500 feet, that there were a few showers in the area and that the wind was about 15 to 20 knots along runway 28. The visibility was reported as good. After landing, the pilot stopped the aeroplane on the runway and checked on the passengers before taxiing to the apron. At the apron he shut down the other engines and helped the passengers to the terminal, where they were offered drinks. The company chief executive, who lived locally, and a local doctor attended to the passengers. Three of the passengers received some minor abrasions and scrapes from shattered Perspex and broken interior lining when the propeller struck the side of the fuselage.

Línea Aérea Puertorriqueña

The aircraft was making a charter flight from Santiago de los Caballeros to New York with an intermediate stop at Mayaguana, Bahamas. The flight departed Santiago-Cibao Airport, Dominican Republic, at 1605LT. Thirty-five minutes later, while cruising off the Turks & Caicos Islands, the pilot sent a brief mayday message and the aircraft crashed 25 km off Providenciales. SAR teams and US Coast Guards did not find any trace of the aircraft nor the 12 occupants. A spokesman from the Dominican Pilots Association later reported that the pilot's licence had been suspended in October 2006.

Air Saint Barthelemy

Crashed in unknown circumstances in the sea off Little Farmer's Cay. There were no casualties.

Bali International Air Service

Upon arrival in Sampit, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and the captain decided to initiate a go-around and to follow a holding circuit for weather improvement. The aircraft turned for about three hours over the area when it crashed in a mountainous area located few km from Sampit. All 17 occupants were killed.

Vanair

While approaching Port Vila following an uneventful flight from Lenakel, all three engines failed due to fuel exhaustion. The pilot attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft struck coconut trees and crashed in a pasture. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and all occupants were rescued.

Aero Cozumel

En route from Chichén Itzá to Cozumel, the crew encountered engine problems and was cleared to divert to Playa del Carmen for an emergency landing. On final, the aircraft lost height and crashed 3 km short of runway. Six passengers were killed while 13 other occupants were injured.

Aviation West

The aircraft was engaged upon a contracted freight (mail) flight, from Liverpool to the Isle of Man, U.K, and was planned to depart Liverpool at 07:29 hrs. Prior to departure the fuel gauges indicated between 80 and 85 Imperial Gallons (IG). As the required fuel for the planned flight was 82 IG, the aircraft was not refuelled. After an uneventful flight, made a radar approach to runway 09 at the Ronaldsway-Isle of Man Airport. Having failed to see the runway by decision height, 460 feet, the commander carried out a go-around procedure and returned to the VOR approach beacon before departing on course to the selected diversion. Considering the wind, the pilot made a return to Liverpool (86 nm) instead of the planned diversion airfield of to Valley RAF Station (51 nm). When abeam the Wallasey VOR, 15 nm from Liverpool airport, the aircraft was positioned, by radar, downwind for an approach to runway 27. As the aircraft turned onto the final approach path, the right engine lost power but. The pilot did not feather the propeller, in the belief that the engine was still producing some power. As the rate of descent increased, he applied full throttle to all three engines but, despite this and the selection of the speed necessary to achieve the optimum climb rate, the aircraft continued to descend at a rate which made a landing considerably short of the runway inevitable. The commander made a truncated MAYDAY call and firmly placed the aircraft in a convenient open field below and slightly to the north of the normal approach path. The accident site was a low lying field of winter crop that was subject to tidal flooding. Approximately halfway across the field there was a 2.4 metre wide by 2.4 metre deep drainage ditch, which ran at 45 degrees to the direction of travel of the aircraft. The initial touchdown was some 76 metres to the east of the ditch, on a heading of 270 degrees magnetic. Just after initial touchdown, the right main landing gear failed rearwards and the aircraft continued on its nose and left landing gear, until a collision with an embankment bordering the ditch caused the remaining landing gears to collapse. The aircraft finally came to rest with its fuselage in the drainage ditch, supported by the wings which were resting on the embankments either side.

Turks and Caicos Airways - Turks and Caicos National Airline

En route from Kingston, Jamaica, to Cockburn Town, Grand Turk, the three engine aircraft crashed in unknown circumstances in the sea off Port-de-Paix, Haiti. All occupants were rescued while the aircraft sank and was lost.

Kondair

The pilot, sole on board, was completing a night cargo flight from Stansted to Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport. He was cleared for an ILS approach to runway 06 at 0253LT. Six minutes later, he initiated a go-around procedure as he was too high on the glide. He was then cleared to start an approach to runway 19R and climbed to the altitude of 2,000 feet before turning to base. At a distance of 3 nm from runway threshold at a height of 750 feet, the aircraft made a right turn then descended, turned left and crashed in a field, bursting into flames. The only occupant was killed.

Aviones de Panama

Suffered an accident somewhere in Panama.

Aero Cozumel

Suffered an accident somewhere in Mexico in May 1984. The exact date remains unknown.

Aviones de Panama

Suffered an accident somewhere in Panama.

Air Liberia

Crashed in unknown circumstances. Occupant's fate unknown.

Questor Surveys

Suffered an accident somewhere in Canada. There were no casualties.

Eagle Airways - Australia

While flying over the Snowy Mountains on a cargo flight from Bankstown to Melbourne, the pilot reported icing conditions. Shortly later, the three engine airplane went out of control and crashed in a wooded area. The aircraft was destroyed and both occupants were killed. It was later reported that a cold front was coming across the area with low temperatures and icing conditions.

Provincial Air Services

After liftoff from Annanberg Airfield, the three engine airplane encountered difficulties to gain height, stalled and crashed in the Ramu River. Four passengers were drowned while 12 other occupants were injured. The aircraft was destroyed.

Bali International Air Service

During the takeoff roll at Balikpapan Airport, the captain decided to abandon the takeoff procedure and initiated an emergency braking manoeuvre. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the three engine airplane overran and collided with obstacles. Two passengers were killed while seven other occupants were injured.

Loganair

Upon touchdown, the tree engine aircraft went out of control and came to halt. There were no casualties but the aircraft was written off.

Amphibians Air Charters

The aircraft was making a charter flight in visual meteorological conditions (VMC from blombasa, Malindi, Amboseli, Wilson, Meru Mulika, Samburu, Wilson, Governor's Camp, Kilaguni and then back to Mombasa). The aircraft left Mombasa on 23 July, 1978, at 0400 hours with 6 passengers on board and 180 US gallons of usable fuel. On arrival at Malindi four more passengers came on board. The aircraft departed from Malindi at 0445 hours on the same day, taking 1 hour 15 minutes to Amboseli for a short stopover. The flight departed from Amboseli at 0830 hours for Wilson Airport for more fuel; the fuel uplift was 351 litres. The flight left Nairobi Wilson with the same party, i.e. ten passengers and the same pilot and a total of 160 US gallons of fuel. The flight time to Meru Mulika was 50 minutes. On arrival at Meru Mulika at 1040 hours, they decided to night stop. On 24 July, 1978, the party departed from Meru Mulika at 0500 hours arriving at Samburu at 0525 hours. At 0830 hours the flight departed from Samburu for Nairobi Wilson (a flight of 50 minutes). Since departure from Mombasa on 23 July until departure from Samburu on 24 July, 1978, the flight was conducted in VMC weather and was an uneventful flight. Upon departure from Samburu, in clear weather, the pilot climbed to 8 500 feet on a standard setting of 1 013 mb. The pilot contacted Nanyuki Airforce base and asked for a clearance to cross Nanyuki zone and was asked to report time inbound, then abeam and then Naro Moru outbound. The pilot had flown this route several times before in the past in different types of aeroplanes and quite often had to make diversion including continuing by instrument flight rules (IFR) to Nairobi. The flight passed abeam Nanyuki at approximately 0855 hours. The pilot states that at this time, i.e. abeam Nanyuki, they could not see the top of Mt. Kenya but could see the lower slopes, Mt. Kenya Safari Club and Nanyuki and that visibility was more than 15 NM. The pilot further states that further along their flight p a t h , t h e r e was a heavy build up of stratus clouds with scattered cumulonimbus sprouting out of the top The clouds seemed to extend from 2 000 feet up to 11 000 feet and more. The pilot called Nanyuki Airforce tower when abeam Naro Moru and was told to continue with East Air Centre. The flight left Naro Moru and the main road to Nanyuki was on the right. The pilot states that at the prevailing temperature of 14OC (outside air temperature) the density altitude was 10 000 feet. Considering the performance of the aircraft (which has a service ceiling of 10 000 feet) the pilot decided to fly below the clouds and continue VFR. Therefore he started to descend from 8 500 feet. He then realized that the weather was deteriorating very rapidly and within the next minute or two the visibility had been reduced to a few yards. The pilot states he realized his proximity to the ground and at the same time realized the chances of turning back were not good, since he would have had to make a steep turn which would result in losing more height. He decided to climb, in almost zero visibility, to a safe height and so applied full power and initiated a climb. At this stage, he saw a glimpse of trees approaching on the flight path. So he increased the angle of attack for a more rapid ascent but to no avail. He felt the undercarriage hitting trees and the whole aircraft crashing through the trees. The aircraft had normal R/T with East Air Centre and Nanyuki Airforce control but during the accident, the pilot had no time to radio either East Air Centre or Nanyuki Tower of this predicament. The airplane was totally destroyed by impact forces, five passengers were killed and six other occupants were injured.

Transportes Colombiana de Aviacion - TAVINA

The three engine airplane departed Barranquilla-Ernesto Cortissoz Airport at 0820LT on a regular schedule service to Valledupar, carrying 16 passengers and a crew of two. About half an hour into the flight, the right engine lost power and failed. unable to maintain the prescribed altitude, the crew attempted an emergency landing and ditched the airplane in shallow water in the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta lagoon. All 18 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Southern Aviation - South Africa

The crew was taking part to a demo flight on an airshow at Lanseria Airport. On approach, the pilot-in-command made a sharp turn to the left and descended to the runway when the airplane, too low, struck the runway surface. The undercarriage were torn off as well as the right engine. The aircraft went out of control and crash landed in a grassy area adjacent to the runway. Both occupants were slightly injured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Bali International Air Service

Crashed in unknown circumstances at Samarinda Airport. There were no casualties.