Cessna 402

The twin engine aircraft departed Caracas-Maiquetía-Simon Bolívar Airport at 2145LT on a charter flight to Los Roques. Few minutes later, it went out of control and crashed in the sea bout 85 km north of Caracas. Some debris were found floating on water but no trace of the wreckage nor the six occupants.

As the flight made a visual approach to the airport from the south over the sea, at night, the pilot changed his navigation radio from the VOR to the ILS system for runway 10 and lost DME reading from the VOR located on a hill north of the localizer course. The localizer showed the flight was south of the localizer course, and without DME from the VOR the pilot believed he was much closer to the island and the airport than the aircraft actually was. As the pilot attempted to make visual contact with the airport and maintain clearance from the hills he allowed the aircraft to descend and crash into the sea about 3 miles southwest of the airport. The pilot had not filed a FAA flight plan for the scheduled commuter flight. The pilot had been flying the route for 5 days and had no previous experience in the area. The pilot reported he had no mechanical malfunctions with the aircraft systems, flight controls, or engines. No FAA Operations inspectors had conducted surveillance on the company's flight operations in the Caribbean since service had begun in December 1996.

On August 5, 1996, about 1335 Atlantic standard time, a Cessna 402B, N403N, registered to Virgin Air, Inc. dba Air St. Thomas, as flight 105, 14 CFR Part 135 scheduled international passenger service, from St. Barthelemy Island to St. Thomas, overran the runway during an aborted takeoff at St. Barthelemy Island. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight plan was filed. The aircraft received substantial damage and the airline transport-rated pilot and 6 passengers were not injured. One passenger received minor injuries. The flight was originating at the time of the accident. The pilot stated the elevator control jammed during the takeoff roll. He aborted the takeoff, but could not stop prior to over running the runway. The aircraft came to rest in about 3 feet of water.

Upon landing, the left main gear collapsed. The aircraft slid on its belly and came to rest, bursting into flames. There were no casualties.

The twin engine aircraft was completing a charter flight from Oranjestad to Punto Fijo with seven passengers and one pilot on board. While descending to Punto Fijo-Josefa Camejo Airport, the pilot informed ATC about the failure of the left engine. Shortly later, the left engine caught fire and detached, causing a part of the left wing to be torn off. Out of control, the aircraft crashed in the sea about 29,5 km north of Punto Fijo Airport. All eight occupants were killed.

Shortly after reaching a cruising altitude of 9,500 feet, the aircraft's course was observed on radar to change from southeasterly to southwesterly. Its average ground speed decreased from 170 knots to 108 knots during this track change. The pilot called ATC with his call sign, and about five seconds later, an unintelligible, one-second-long transmission was heard. At that same time, radar information showed the aircraft at 8,800 feet. Radar and radio contact were lost shortly thereafter. Three days later, wreckage was found where the aircraft had crashed. The crash site was 1,820 feet above sea level and 1/2 mile south-southwest of its last observed radar position; the aircraft's average descent angle from the 8,800-foot-altitude position to the crash site was about 51 degrees. The aircraft was extensively damaged during impact. No damage was noted on tall trees that surrounded the accident site. Also, no preimpact mechanical malfunction or failure of the aircraft or engines was found, and no pre-accident impairment of the pilot was found.

The aircraft departed at night from runway 4R on a flight to transport mail. The pilot-in-command (PIC) was in the left seat, a pilot-rated cargo loader was in the right seat, and another cargo loader was aboard the aircraft, but was not in a seat. During takeoff, the aircraft entered a turn and flew into gradually rising terrain. The initial impact point was about 15 feet higher than the runway elevation and about 0.3 miles abeam the departure end of the runway. Investigation revealed that the company allowed pilot-rated cargo loaders to fly the aircraft from the right seat during positioning and ferry flight segments (to build multiengine flight time) as part of their compensation. There was evidence that at the time of the accident, the aircraft was being piloted on this flight from the copilot's position. The right side of the instrument panel was equipped with only EGT gauges (no flight instruments on the copilot's side). There were cloud layers in the vicinity, no moon illumination, and no visible ground lighting in the direction of flight. No preimpact mechanical malfunction or failure was identified during the investigation. Except at the pilot and copilot positions, the airplane had no other seat and/or restraint system. The operator stated that the pilot was not authorized to carry company personnel or passengers without the required seating.

For unknown reasons, the aircraft belly landed and was damaged beyond repair. There were no casualties.

After takeoff at dawn on a foggy morning, the airplane collided with electrical transmission wires about one mile from the end of the runway, on an extended line about 50 degrees left of the extended runway centerline. The left wing tip fuel tank (left main) was partially severed from the airplane, breaching the tank. Additionally, the top of the vertical stabilizer and rudder were severed, and a portion of the windscreen was separated. A suggestion was made by the operator that the autopilot trim may have been improperly set, precipitating a nose pitch down upon engagement of the autopilot during the climb. The airplane continued to fly for about 20 minutes, then impacted in a steep right wing down attitude into a densely wooded area that was surrounded by open terrain. The ensuing fire precluded any determination of engine malfunction, systems' discrepancies, or wire strike damage to the left propeller. No determination of pilot incapacitation was possible because of the post impact fire. Based upon the ground witness statement, the left engine was probably inoperative following the wire strike. The impact attitude was inconsistent with a decreasing speed loss of control with the left engine inoperative. However, the flight control trim settings, left main fuel tank selected, and throttle quadrant settings all may have been indicative of pilot incapacitation that precluded proper emergency procedure response. Additionally, the airplane impacted into a densely wooded area surrounded by flatter terrain absent of tall obstacles.

The Cessna 402, with five persons on board, took off from Auburn, Indiana, USA, around 0630 local time (1130 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)) for Schefferville, Quebec, with stops en route. Their final leg was from Montreal International (Dorval) to Schefferville, with Wabush, Newfoundland, as the alternate, and they took off at 1523 EDT (1923 UTC). The flights were conducted in accordance with instrument flight rules (IFR). While in cruising flight and west of Wabush, the pilot requested the weather conditions for Schefferville and Wabush. Because of poor conditions in Schefferville, the pilot decided to fly to his alternate, Wabush. During the ILS approach for runway 01, the aircraft was too high to complete the approach, and the pilot requested and received clearance to execute another one. During the missed approach, the pilot proceeded an unknown distance outbound and turned back toward the airport. During the inbound leg, the aircraft contacted trees on the side of a mountain, at an indicated altitude of 2,460 feet asl, and decelerated over a distance of about 900 feet. The aircraft came to rest 23 nautical miles north of the airport, on the extended centre line of runway 01, on a heading of 186 degrees magnetic. The aircraft crashed probably at just after 1907 ADT (2207 UTC) during the hours of darkness. All five occupants were injured.