Keflavik

At 14:01 on August 9th, 2015, a pilot along with a friend, a contracted ferry flight pilot, planned to fly airplane N610LC, which is of the type De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) from Akureyri Airport to Keflavik Airport in Iceland. The purpose of the flight was to ferry the airplane from Akureyri to Minneapolis/St. Paul in the United States, where the airplane was to be sold. The airplane was initially flown in Eyjafjörður in a northernly direction from Akureyri, over Þelamörk and then towards and into the valley of Öxnadalur. The cloud ceiling was low and it was not possible to fly VFR flight over the heath/ridge of Öxnadalsheiði. The airplane was turned around in the head of the valley of Öxnadalur and flown towards the ridge of Staðartunguháls, where it was then flown towards the heath/ridge of Hörgárdalsheiði at the head of the valley of Hörgárdalur. In the valley of Hörgárdalur it became apparent that the cloud base was blocking off the heath/ridge of Hörgárdalsheiði, so the airplane was turned around again. The pilots then decided to fly around the peninsula of Tröllaskagi per their original backup plan, but when they reached the ridge of Staðartunguháls again the pilots noticed what looked like a break in the cloud cover over the head of the valley of Barkárdalur. A spontaneous decision was made by the pilots to fly into the valley of Barkárdalur. The valley of Barkárdalur is a long narrow valley with 3000 – 4500 feet high mountain ranges extending on either side. At the head of the valley of Barkárdalur there is a mountain passage at an elevation of approximately 3900 ft. About 45 minutes after takeoff the airplane crashed in the head of the valley of Barkárdalur at an elevation of 2260 feet. The pilot was severely injured and the ferry flight pilot was fatally injured in a post crash fire.

The accident flight was a part of a ferry flight from Kuwait to USA. The flight departed from Keflavik, Iceland with planned destination Narsarsuaq, Greenland. The commander did not get visual contact with the runway on the instrument approach to Narsarsuaq and the flight diverted towards Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. During the flight towards Kangerlussuaq, the amount of fuel became critical low and the aircraft landed on the Greenlandic icecap. The aircraft was destroyed during the landing attempt. The commander suffered minor injuries. The accident occurred in daylight and under visual meteorological conditions (VMC).

The flight, during which the accident occurred, was part of a non-scheduled international cargo flight from Gdansk (EPGD) to Louisville (KSDF). The flight crew had previously on August 4, 2001, on another charter flight, flown the aircraft from Hanover (EDDV) to Palma de Mallorca (LEPA) and then to EPGD in order to bring the aircraft in position for the cargo flight. The flight was chartered by a cargo courier to depart EPGD at 2000 hrs on August 4, 2001, and arrive at KSDF at 0900 hrs on August 5, 2001. Technical landings (fuel uplift) were planned at EKCH in Denmark, at Keflavik (BIKF) in Iceland, at BGBW in Greenland and at Sept-Iles (CYZV) in Canada. The aircraft had a two hour delay at LEPA due to a slot time. For that reason, the aircraft did not arrive at EPGD until 2106 hrs. The aircraft was refuelled and the flight crew loaded the cargo themselves. The aircraft departed EPGD at 2218 hrs and arrived at EKCH at 2238 hrs. Then the aircraft departed EKCH at 2313 hrs and arrived at BIKF at 0202 hrs. At BIKF, the aircraft was refuelled with 1034 USG of JET A1. The commander filed an ATC flight plan for BGBW with Kangerlussuaq (BGSF) in Greenland as destination alternate. At BIKF no weather reports for BGBW were valid for the flight crew’s flight planning. The handling agent directed the Commander’s attention to the lack of updated weather reports for BGBW, but the Commander seemed not to be concerned. It was the general opinion of the handling agent that the Commander seemed stressed. At 0246 hrs, the flight crew requested start up and shortly after they got an ATC clearance to BGBW via EMBLA, 63N 30W, 62N 40W and NA at FL 240 with cruise Mach at 0.76. The aircraft departed BIKF at 0300 hrs and the flight crew got an ATC clearance with FL 260 as the final cruising level inbound BGBW. The First Officer was the pilot flying and the Commander was the pilot non-flying. At 0423:24 hrs, the Commander contacted Narsarsuaq Flight Information Service (FIS) on frequency 121.300 MHz. The Commander reported that they expected to be overhead NA (358 KHz) at 0438 hrs. At this time, the aircraft was cruising at FL 260 and was inbound NA on a magnetic track of 280° approximately 50 nm east of the aerodrome. Through link to Gander ATC, Narsarsuaq FIS cleared the aircraft to descend out of controlled airspace on QNH 1004 and to report FL 195 descending. The Commander was now the pilot flying and the First Officer was the pilot non-flying. The Commander had experience of flying to BGBW. The aircraft left FL 260, and at 0434:27 hrs, the First Officer reported that the aircraft was passing FL 195. Narsarsuaq FIS requested the flight crew to report 10 nm from the aerodrome. While descending, the flight crew made a briefing on the NDB/DME approach procedure to runway 07. At 0437:00 hrs, the First Officer reported that the aircraft was 10 NM from NA. Narsarsuaq FIS requested the flight crew to contact Narsarsuaq AFIS on frequency 119.100 MHz. At 0437:17 hrs, the flight crew was in contact with Narsarsuaq AFIS and the First Officer reported passing FL 130. The AFIS Operator reported that there was no reported traffic in the TIZ and that the flight crew could make an approach by their own discretion. The weather was reported to be a wind direction and speed of 080° at 24 knots, visibility 10 kilometres with broken clouds at 6000 feet and overcast at 9000 feet, light rain, temperature +14°C, dew point +3°C and the QNH 1004 hPa. At 0440:26 hrs and at 0440:52 hrs, one of the flight crewmembers made cockpit call outs of passing 6 nm and 8 nm respectively outbound from NA. At 0441:45 hrs, one of the flight crewmembers made a cockpit call out of the aircraft being on base. The Commander ordered the extension of the landing gear. With reference to the CVR read out, there were no audible flight crew call outs concerning the use of checklists, altitude checks and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) during the descent, the initial and the final approach phase. At 0442:29 hrs, the First Officer reported that the aircraft was on final to runway 07. The AFIS operator reported the threshold wind for runway 07 to be 070° at 22 knots gusting to 29 knots and the runway to be free. The AFIS operator made a visual scan of the approach sector, but he did not see the aircraft, as he normally would have, when an aircraft was established on final in dark night and under similar weather conditions. At approximately 0443:07 hrs, the aircraft impacted in landing configuration mountainous terrain at approximately 700 feet msl. The accident occurred 4.5 nm southwest of the aerodrome. On the CVR read out, there were no audible flight crew call outs immediately before the impact. Several times from 0452 hrs until 0459 hrs, Narsarsuaq AFIS tried to get in radio contact with the aircraft, but there was no reply.

Two private pilots, citizens of the United States, who intended to participate in the “London - Sydney Air Race” set to take place 11 March to 7 April 2001, were operating the private aircraft, N272BB. The flight originated at Cape Cod in the United States and the aircraft was to be flown via Greenland, Iceland and Scotland to London, England, where the air-race was to commence. The aircraft arrived at Narsarsuaq, Greenland, on 4 March 2001 at 01:35 hrs. The next morning the pilots requested fuel and according to a statement by the Narsarsuaq airport personnel, 338 litres of LL100 avgas were put on the main fuel tanks that were filled. No fuel was put on the aircraft internal ferry-tank. The pilots received weather briefing and en-route information before departure and there was no anomalies noted by the airport personnel. The flight was planned at Fl-130 from Narsarsuaq, over the Greenland ice cap, to 62°N 040°W and then at FL110 to the border between the Greenland Soendrestrom Flight Information Region and the Reykjavik Flight Information Region. The takeoff from Narsarsuaq airport was at 14:29 hrs. The flight from Narsarsuaq Airport to Iceland was uneventful and the aircraft landed at Keflavik Airport Iceland at 18:59 hrs. Initially the pilots planned to continue the flight from Iceland that night but after studying the weather forecast they decided to stay overnight. At 19:50 hrs 447 litres of LL100 was put in the aircraft main tanks and the aircraft was then placed in a hangar. In the morning of 6 March 2001 the pilots arrived at Flight Operations Office at Keflavik Airport. The pilots were provided with current weather information and weather maps for the planned route and flight planning preparations for the flight to Stornoway, Scotland and onwards to London, England was completed. The plan was from Keflavik Airport (KEF) VOR, direct to ALDAN reporting point (62° 58' 49'' N 018° 45' 50'' W), direct to 61° N 012° 34' W, direct to 60° N 010° W, and direct to Stornoway. The flight level was 150 and the True Air Speed (TAS) was 145 kts. Prestwick in Scotland was filed as the alternate airport. The instrument flight plan was filed with the Air Traffic Control Centre in Reykjavik. The estimated flying time from KEF-VOR to ALDAN was 0:30 hrs, to 61° N 012° 34' W total 2:00 hrs and 02:30 hrs to 60° N 010° W. The planned time from Keflavik Airport to Stornoway was 4:00 hrs or the estimated time of arrival was at 12:19 hrs. The fuel endurance was given 10 hrs. The aircraft was cleared by ATC in accordance with the submitted instrument flight plan and assigned transponder code was 3575. The aircraft taxied out from the ramp at 08:08 hrs towards runway 11 and the take-off was at 08:19 hrs. After take-off the communication with Keflavik Approach Control was normal. The flight was then changed over to Reykjavik Area Control Centre (OACC) at 08:46 hrs and normal communication was established. The track to Aldan will take the aircraft overhead VM-NDB, 53 NM from KEF VOR, and then to Aldan, 120 NM from KEF VOR. Error was on the ATC slip indicating 30 minutes to Aldan. The controller changed that to 1:01, or estimate for Aldan at 09:20. The last communication with the crew took place at 08:49:50 when the aircraft was climbing slowly through about 14400 feet towards the planned cruising level, FL150. At 09:24:55 hrs Reykjavik OACC called N272BB in order to confirm the position, but there was no answer and repeated calls were in vain. The Shanwick Air Traffic Control Centre was notified at 09:29:15 hrs of the N272BB estimates and again at 09:38:01 hrs that ATC had lost contact with the aircraft. A subsequent replay of the ATC radar data showed that at 08:56 hrs the aircrafts target was lost from radar. The last plotted position was at 63° 32' 04'' N 020° 39' 36'' W, or about 8 NM from the south coast of Iceland. At 12:12 hrs a decision was taken to initiate a search in the area by available ships and fishing vessels in the area. An Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter was launched from Reykjavik into the search area at 12:32 hrs. At 13:49 hrs a debris from the missing aircraft and human remains were subsequently found floating on the ocean in a line spread north-westwards over a distance of about 5 NM from the point the target disappeared from radar. Both female pilots were killed.

Start-up, taxi and take-off were apparently normal with an IFR clearance for a noise abatement right turn-out on track towards the Talla VOR beacon. Soon afterwards the pilot was given clearance to join controlled airspace on track towards Talla at FL 140 and to expect the flight planned level of FL 200 when cleared by Scottish Radar. As the aircraft was climbing through FL 120 the Talla sector controller first cleared the pilot to climb to FL140 and then almost immediately re-cleared him to climb to FL 200. The pilot replied "ER NEGATIVE I WOULD LIKE TO MAINTAIN ONE FOUR ZERO FOR THE TIME BEING" and the controller granted his request. At 16:21 hrs the pilot transmitted "SCOTTISH NOVEMBER SIX FOUR SEVEN ONE NINE ER REQUESTING HIGHER TO GET OUT OF SOME ICING". Initially the controller offered FL 160 but the pilot replied "IF POSSIBLE TWO ZERO ZERO". Immediately he was given clearance to climb to FL 205, the correct quadrantal cruising altitude. Recorded radar data showed that for the next six minutes, the aircraft's rate of climb and airspeed were erratic. The pilot made one brief transmission of "SCOTTISH" at about 16:30 hrs but nothing more was said by him or the controller for another 20 seconds. Then the controller said "NOVEMBER SIX FOUR SEVEN ONE NINE ER I SEE YOU'RE IN THE TURN DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM". There was no reply and so the controller repeated his message, eventually receiving the reply "YES I HAVE ER AN EMERGENCY". The controller asked the pilot to "SQUAWK SEVEN SEVEN ZERO ZERO" but the pilot replied "HANG ON". By this time the aircraft was descending rapidly in a gentle right turn. The controller twice asked the pilot for the nature of his problem but the pilot asked the controller to 'HANG ON FOR A MOMENT". The controller could see the aircraft was near high ground and losing altitude rapidly. He twice passed messages to this effect to the pilot but he did not receive an immediate reply. At 16:33 hrs the pilot transmitted "CAN YOU GET ME ER SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN LAND I CAN'T MAINTAIN ALTITUDE AT ALL". Immediately the controller instructed the pilot to take up an easterly heading and gave him the aircraft's position relative to the airport at Perth. The controller then asked the pilot for his flight conditions (twice) to which the pilot eventually replied "I'M COMING OUT OF ER THE CLOUDS NOW" followed by "JUST BREAKING OUT". The controller then said "ROGER DO YOU HAVE ANY POWER AT ALL OR HAVE YOU LOST THE ENGINE". The pilot replied "I GOT POWER AGAIN BUT I HAVE NO CONTROL". That was his last recorded RTF transmission made at 16:34:40 hrs. The final radar return placed the aircraft at an altitude of 3,150 feet overhead Drummond Hill which is on the north bank of Loch Tay, near the village of Fortingall, and rises to 1,500 feet amsl.

On final approach, when the landing gears were extended, the crew heard loud cracking noise. The landing was aborted and the aircraft passed the tower for visual inspection and one of the crew went to the cabin for visual check of the landing gears where he observed that the right landing gear lock strut rear member had broken loose from the side member assembly and was hanging down. Upon touchdown the gear folded up and the aircraft right propeller, wing tip and bottom of the fuselage touched ground and the aircraft went off the runway in a gentle right turn. The fuselage bottom skin and frame structure sustained extensive damage and the right wing tip, propeller blades, lock strut assembly and drag strut were destroyed. The aircraft operated on a ferry flight from Billund, Denmark to Miami-Opa Locka, Florida, with en route stops at among others Aberdeen and Keflavík.

On final approach to Vágar Airport runway 12, the crew encountered extreme atmospheric turbulences. Control was lost and the aircraft crashed on the slope of a mountain located 2 km short of runway. All nine occupants were killed, among them Admiral Hans Jørgen Garde, Chief of the Danish Army, and his wife Anna garde. At the time of the accident, the visibility was good but severe turbulences were present in the approach path.

The pilot, sole on board, was completing a delivery flight from Europe to the US via Iceland and Greenland. Eight minutes after her departure from Reykjavik Airport, outbound to Narsarsuaq, the pilot informed ATC that her portable GPS fell on the ground and was not able to locate it. It such conditions, she decided to divert to Keflavik Airport when less than five minutes later, while descending, the right engine failed. For unknown reasons, she did not feather the propeller and did not elected to restart the engine. Due to drag and a loss of speed, the aircraft lost altitude and crashed near the village of Njarðvík, about 5 km east of Keflavik Airport. The aircraft was destroyed and the pilot was seriously injured.

While approaching Iceland on a ferry flight from Frobisher Bay, the crew declared an emergency due to fuel shortage and requested the permission to divert to Keflavik Airport. On final approach to runway 29, both engines failed simultaneously. The aircraft stalled and crashed on a road located 1,500 meters short of runway. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was destroyed.

Recently purchased by the Spanish operator Drenair, the aircraft departed West Palm Beach, Florida, on a delivery flight to Spain, carrying four passengers and two pilots. After a fuel stop in Bedford, Massachusetts, and Goose Bay, Newfoundland, the aircraft continued to Keflavik, Iceland. While approaching Keflavik, the crew declared an emergency due to fuel exhaustion, informed ATC about his position and ditched the aircraft approximately 70 km southwest of Keflavik. All six occupants were quickly rescued by the crew of a helicopter while the aircraft sank and was lost.