Heraklion

The single engine airplane departed Buochs Airport on December 12 on a delivery flight to its new owner, Smart Cakrawala Aviation based in Indonesia. The crew made a stop in Maribor and Podgorica then continued to Heraklion. On December 15, shortly after takeoff from Heraklion-Nikos Kazantzakis Airport runway 09, en route to Hurghada, the airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,400 feet when the pilot reported problems and declared an emergency. After completing a right turn to return to the airport, the airplane lost height and speed then stalled and crashed into the sea off Karteros. The pilot aged 26 was slightly injured while the passenger, an Indonesian citizen aged 68, died shortly later. The airplane floated for a while then sank. Named 'Franz', the airplane was the last PC-6 built by the Swiss manufacturer.

Following an uneventful flight from Oxford-Kidlington Airport, the airplane landed at night on runway 27 at Heraklion-Nikos Kazantzakis Airport. After touchdown, the nose gear failed and the airplane slid for few dozen metres before coming to rest. All seven occupants evacuated safely and the airplane was later considered as damaged beyond repair.

The Jetstream 41 aircraft, with registration number SX-DIA, operated by “SKY EXPRESS”, took off on 2nd February 2015 at 07:00 hrs. local time from the Airport of Heraklion ‘N. Kazantzakis’, performing the scheduled flight No. ‘SEH100’, the first in the day, destined for the Airport of Rhodes ‘Diagoras’. Pre-flight checks were completed with no findings and in this flight the Captain was designated as the Pilot Flying. A 3-member crew and 16 passengers were onboard. The flight crew reported for duty one hour prior to the time of flight and proceeded with all actions as laid down in the Company manual. The flight crew was also briefed that in the area of the Airport of Rhodes the winds were S-SE at 17 kt with Wind Gust 36 kt. At 07:23:54 hrs., approximately 12 min prior to landing, in the first contact of the flight crew with the Control Tower of the Airport of Rhodes, the flight crew was briefed by the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) with respect to the weather conditions at the area of the airport, variable winds prevailing with a direction from 20° to 160°, average wind direction from 110°, wind velocity 20 kt gusting 38 kt. As laid down in the airport procedures, ATC, given the weather conditions, alerted the fire service vehicles to be stationed in readiness at their designated positions on the taxiways. At 07:24:43 hrs. Rhodes ATC contacted the flight crew wishing to remind that as a result of the strong wind shear and turbulence, landing at the airport is not recommended under the circumstances. At 07:29:34 hrs. Rhodes ATC contacted again the flight crew informing that the wind is shifting from 40° to 260°, average wind direction from 120°, mean wind velocity 20 kt and wind gust 32 kt. At 07:32:36 hrs., at about 8nm to the airport, the ATC contacting again the flight crew informed that wind in the last ten minutes is shifting in all directions, with mean wind velocity 16 kt and wind gust 37 kt; ATC also reminded that under these conditions landing is not recommended. At 07:34:04 hrs., at about 4 nm to the airport, Rhodes ATC contacted again the flight crew informing that wind is shifting from 60° to 200°, mean wind velocity 15 kt, wind gust 32 kt and that runway 07 is free for landing. At 07:35:08 hrs. ATC again reports wind direction from 110°, 17kt. Communication between ATC and the flight crew was smooth without any problem, with the flight crew each time acknowledging the information provided by ATC. Given the prevailing winds, landing with 9° flaps and an airspeed of about 129 kt was selected. With the flight crew having performed all pre-landing checks prescribed in the manual and with the indicator lights for the ‘Down and Lock’ landing system being illuminated green, at about 07:36 hrs. the aircraft landed, with the right main landing gear touching down first. During deceleration immediately after touchdown, with the flight crew having performed all checks specified in the a/c manual and after ATC directed the aircraft to vacate the runway via taxiway ‘C’, the aircraft veered to the left and came to rest at the left edge of the runway without exiting the runway, with an eastward direction. With the fire service vehicle approaching the aircraft, the flight crew contacted the Control Tower of the airport stating that everything is ok, and then reporting inability to taxi when asked whether the aircraft is able to taxi; when asked whether a tire was burst, the flight crew confirmed that this is the case. At 07:37:49 hrs. the Fire Service advises the Control Tower of the airport that the fire truck sprays foam due to fuel leakage. At 07:41:08 hrs. the Control Tower, when so asked by the ‘follow me’ vehicle, inquired of the flight crew whether passengers could be disembarked and the answer was that getting off from the passenger door (forward left) would not be feasible given the presence of the fire-fighting foam on the runway, and that the rear right door (Emergency Exit) would be used instead. As reported by the Air Traffic Controller passengers were disembarked 15 minutes after the incident, and the process lasted approximately 10 minutes. Upon a first visual inspection at the accident site and before the left wing of the aircraft was raised on jacks, it appeared that the left main landing gear folded back resulting in the aircraft’s left side dragging the runway (the left main landing gear and its housing into contact with the runway) and stopping at the left edge of the runway facing to the east.

Flight SEH102/103 of 12 February 2009 was a scheduled passenger carrying flight performing the route Heraklion – Rhodes – Heraklion. The crew that was going to perform the flight reported for duty at 16:00 h. The aircraft had earlier on the same day performed, with a different flight crew, four routes (Heraklion – Rhodes – Heraklion and Heraklion – Samos – Heraklion), without any problems being reported. Nothing had been observed during the pre-flight check. The aircraft departed Heraklion at 16:55 h and landed at Rhodes at 17:35 h without incident. At 18:30 h the aircraft departed Rhodes for Heraklion, carrying three crew members and 15 passengers. The pilot flying (PF) this particular sector was the Pilot in Command (PIC). At a distance of 30 nm from Heraklion and at a altitude of 7700 ft on its descent to 3000 ft, the crew informed the Air Traffic Control that it had the runway in sight and requested and was granted clearance to perform a visual approach. The aircraft, fully configured for landing from a distance of 7nm, approached the airport for landing at runway 27. The wind information provided by the Air Traffic Control was 18 kt – 25 kt, from 210°. While approaching the runway, the PF asked the First Officer (FO) to check the angle of descent based on the APAPIs’ of the runway. The FO confirmed the correct angle of descent, saying “one white, one red”. The aircraft crossed the threshold with a speed of 112 kt and after flaring the PF reduced speed to Flight Idle and touched down with a speed of 86 kt. As the speed was being gradually reduced, the PF had difficulty with controlling the aircraft along its longitudinal axis and noticing that the aircraft was leaning somewhat to the right, reported to the FO that “the gear has broken”. Immediately afterwards, the blades of the right propeller of the aircraft struck the runway. As the aircraft continued to move with the left main landing gear wheel operating normally and the collapsed right main landing gear, folded backwards under the wing, being dragged along the runway, the crew stopped the engines, reported to the Airport Control Tower that the right landing gear had broken and requested evacuation. The aircraft stopped in the runway with its nose wheel at 4.6 m to the right of the center line, at a distance of 930 m from the point of the propeller’s first contact with the runway. Immediately afterwards the PF ordered the cabin crew to open the cabin door and evacuated the aircraft, and the FO, who observed some fuel leaking from the right engine, switched off the electrical systems and requested through the Airport Control Tower that the fire trucks, which were on their way, to throw foam on the right wing to prevent any fire being started. The passengers disembarked from the left aft door without any problems with the assistance of the cabin crew, while the fire trucks covered the right wing with foam as a preventive measure. The airport, applying the standing procedures, removed the aircraft and released the runway for operation at 22:30 h. During the period of time that runway 09/27 remained out of operation, two flights approaching the airport for landing were diverted to Chania Airport, and the departures of another three flights were delayed.

The crew departed Bousfer Airbase in Algeria on a long distance navigation training mission to Heraklion, Greece, on behalf of the Flotille 21.F based at Nîmes-Garons NAS, France. Following an uneventful flight, the crew was approaching Heraklion Airport when an engine caught fire. Control was lost and the airplane crashed few km from the runway threshold. Four crew members were injured and nine others were killed. The civil registration of the aircraft was F-XCUR.
Those killed were:
OE3 Henri Schimpf,
EV2 Pollard,
PM Brocard,
MT Le Bris,
MT Henry,
MT Didier,
MT Aguen,
SM François,
SM Jégou.

The crew was performing a cargo flight from Birmingham to Aden with intermediate stops at Nice, Brindisi, Heraklion, Cairo and Jedda. The departure from Heraklion Airport was completed by night from runway 27. Following a takeoff roll of 1,800 meters, the twin engine aircraft lifted off and continued the initial climb to a height of 100 feet when the crew encountered technical problems with the engines. The airplane bank left and crashed into the sea, killing all three crew members.

The approach was completed in strong cross winds. After touchdown, the aircraft went out of control, veered off runway and hit a ditch. On impact, the undercarriage were sheared off and the aircraft came to rest on its belly. Both occupants were unhurt while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Crashed on takeoff for unknown reason, killing all three crew members.
Crew:
F/Sgt Frank F. Giordano,
Sgt Robert P. Marin,
1st Lt Leon I. McCaskill.

The airplane crashed in unknown circumstances at Heraklion Airport. Three crew members were killed and a fourth was injured.
Crew:
Lt Horst Simon, pilot, †
Ogefr Johann Krause, observer,
Ogefr Walter Herrmann, radio operator, †
Ogefr Willi Bormann, flight engineer. †

The airplane departed Shallufa Airbase at 2300LT on May 28 to bomb the Maleme Aerodrome that was just captured by the German forces. An abnormal fuel consumption forced the crew to divert to Heraklion for an emergency landing. The aircraft belly landed and came to rest. While it was damaged beyond repair, all six crew members were unhurt and became PoW.
Crew:
Sgt Sydney Dawson,
W/O Walter Richard Faulkner,
F/Sgt William Wallace Oakley,
Sgt Herbert Reginald Walter Watkins,
Sgt Henry Wheelan,
Sgt E. Webb.