Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera Island

The two pilots and three passengers were conducting a cross-country flight over the ocean from South Carolina to the Bahamas. About 30 minutes into the flight, while climbing through 24,300 ft to 25,000 ft about 95 miles beyond the coast, the pilot made a garbled radio transmission indicating an emergency and intent to return. At the time of the transmission the airplane had drifted slightly right of course. The airplane then began a descent and returned on course. After the controller requested several times for the pilot to repeat the radio transmission, the pilot replied, "we're descending." About 15 seconds later, at an altitude of about 23,500 ft, the airplane turned sharply toward the left, and the descent rate increased to greater than 4,000 ft per minute, consistent with a loss of control. Attempts by the air traffic controller to clarify the nature of the emergency and the pilot's intentions were unsuccessful. About 1 minute after the sharp left turn and increased descent, the pilot again declared an emergency. No further communications were received. Search efforts coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard observed an oil slick and some debris on the water in the vicinity of where the airplane was last observed via radar, however the debris was not identified or recovered. According to recorded weather information, a shallow layer favorable for light rime icing was present at 23,000 ft. However, because the airplane was not recovered, the investigation could not determine whether airframe icing or any other more-specific issues contributed to the loss of control. One air traffic control communication audio recording intermittently captured the sound of an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) "homing" signal for about 45 minutes, beginning near the time of takeoff, and ending about 5 minutes after radar contact was lost. Due to the intermittent nature of the signal, and the duration of the recording, it could not be determined if the ELT signal had begun transmitting before or ceased transmitting after these times. Because ELT homing signals sound the same for all airplanes, the source could not be determined. However, the ELT sound was recorded by only the second of two geographic areas that the airplane flew through and began before the airplane arrived near either of those areas. Had the accident airplane's ELT been activated near the start of the flight, it is unlikely that it would be detected in the second area and not the first. Additionally, the intermittent nature of the ELT signal is more consistent with an ELT located on the ground, rather than an airborne activation. An airborne ELT is more likely to have a direct line-of-sight to one or more of the ground based receiving antennas, particularly at higher altitudes, resulting in more consistent reception. The pilot's initial emergency and subsequent radio transmissions contained notably louder background noise compared to the previous transmissions. The source or reason for the for the increase in noise could not be determined.

On Tuesday December 2nd, 2014 at approximately 8:45 am (1345Z) a Ferg’s Air Limited, Piper PA-31-350 Navajo aircraft, registration C6-REV, operated as Southern Air Limited Flight 302, ditched in waters approximately 6nm from shore in the southwestern district of New Providence. The flight originated at Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera (MYEM) with 10+1 persons on board at approximately 8:15 am in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC). At around 8:30am, the aircraft 15 nautical miles east of Lynden Pindling International Airport at 4,500 feet contacted Nassau Air Traffic Control Tower. The aircraft was instructed that runway 09 was in use and they can expect a landing on that runway. Upon final approach to runway 09, with the landing gears selected to the “EXTEND” position, only the nose and right main landing gear lights indicated the “down and locked” position. The left main landing gear light did not illuminate to indicate the “down and locked” position, so the landing was aborted and the pilot requested to go around so he could recycle and troubleshoot the landing gear issue. The pilot made a left turn, flew over the north western shoreline and recycled the landing gears a few times and also tried the emergency hand pump in an attempt to extend the gear. Despite all efforts, the left main landing gear light still did not illuminate to indicated the gear was in the safe “down and locked” position. At this time the aircraft was allowed to fly by the tower so that the controller may make a visual check of the landing gears to see if they were in the extended position. The controller advised the pilot that all gears “appeared to be extended”. Once again the pilot proceeded outbound to make another attempt for landing. For this approach the pilot made a right turn over the southwestern shoreline and proceeded downwind to runway 09. While on the downwind to runway 09 the pilot stated he began to experience problems with the right engine. The engine eventually stopped and all attempts to restart were unsuccessful. As a result of single engine operation, level flight could not be maintained even after retracting the gears and cleaning up the airplane. The decision was made by the pilot to ditch in the water vs. attempting to make the airport where numerous trees and obstacles would make the landing more difficult if the runway could not be made. After touching down on the water the most of the occupants were able to evacuate the aircraft through the normal and emergency exits before the aircraft sank into the ocean. One passenger died during the process. Witness stated that “the plane skipped across the water three times before rotating and hitting with a severe impact. The port (left) tail section received the bulk of the impact as did the port side of the plane.” Eye witness further stated that the passenger that died and “luggage from the baggage compartment were ejected from the rear of the plane on the port side.” “Multiple passengers could not swim or were extremely limited in their ability to swim.” Despite the plane having the full complement of survival equipment (life vests), only two were taken out of the aircraft. Passengers were holding on to bags and other debris that floated out of the aircraft as it submerged. Passengers helped each other until rescuers arrived to assist. Estimates from eye witness were that “the entire plane disappeared under water from 30 to 60 seconds after impact.” The depth where the aircraft came to rest on the water was reported as in excess of 6,500 feet. Once the aircraft settled, it submerged and was not able to be recovered. Safety concerns raised by eye witness could not be confirmed as the plane was never recovered.

Following an uneventful flight (service UP353) from Nassau, the crew started the descent to Governor’s Harbour. After landing on runway 15, the left main gear collapsed. The aircraft slid for few dozen metres then turn slightly to the left and came to rest on the main runway. All 51 occupants evacuated safely, nevertheless, few passengers suffered minor injuries. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

The pilot had received an outlook briefing during the morning hours before the accident. The briefing included information regarding widely scattered thunderstorms and rain showers along portions of the pilot's planned route of flight. At the time of the accident, a convective weather significant to the safety of all aircraft (convective SIGMET) was in effect for the pilot's route of flight, and the information about the convective SIGMET was broadcast to the pilot by air traffic control (ATC). Several airplanes in the vicinity of the accident airplane were deviating around weather. Conversations between the accident pilot and the ATC controller were consistent with the accident airplane's weather radar functioning, and the possibility that the accident airplane's weather radar was providing more information than the ATC weather radar. Although the pilot initially declined a deviation query by ATC, he later accepted one. Shortly after, the pilot was unable to maintain his assigned altitude of 28,000 feet msl (FL 280), and the airplane impacted terrain consistent with a vertical descent. At the time of the accident, at FL 280, weak to moderate weather radar echoes existed. Very strong to intense weather radar echoes were seen about FL 200. The ATC facility was equipped with NEXRAD derived weather displays. The weather displays had four settings: below FL 240, between FL 240 and FL 330, above FL 330, and from sea level to FL 600. At the time of the accident, the ATC controller's weather display indicated weak to moderate echoes above FL240. Very strong to intense weather radar echoes existed about FL200; however, the ATC controller did not have his weather display set to that altitude as he was not controlling traffic at that altitude. The investigation could not determine if the pilot was aware of the stronger intensity echoes below his altitude, or if the airplane's weather radar was depicting the stronger echoes. Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any preimpact mechanical malfunctions.