Scheduled Revenue Flight

The single engine aircraft departed Los Roques Airport at 0734LT on a schedule service to Porlamar, carrying 11 passengers and two pilots. At 0804LT, while cruising at an altitude of 11,500 feet, the engine exploded the vibrated. The crew shut down the engine, declared an emergency and reduced his altitude. Ten minutes later, in a 30° flaps down configuration, the crew ditched the aircraft at low speed about 7,4 km north of La Tortuga Island. All 13 occupants were quickly rescued and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

On 11 August 2009, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, registered P2-MCB, with two pilots and 11 passengers, was being operated on a scheduled regular public transport service from Port Moresby to Kokoda Airstrip, Papua New Guinea (PNG). At about 1113, the aircraft impacted terrain on the eastern slope of the Kokoda Gap at about 5,780 ft above mean sea level in heavily-timbered jungle about 11 km south-east of Kokoda Airstrip. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces. There were no survivors. Prior to the accident the crew were manoeuvring the aircraft within the Kokoda Gap, probably in an attempt to maintain visual flight in reported cloudy conditions. The investigation concluded that the accident was probably the result of controlled flight into terrain: that is, an otherwise airworthy aircraft was unintentionally flown into terrain, with little or no awareness by the crew of the impending collision.

Following an uneventful flight from Krabi, the crew started the approach to Koh Samui Airport. Conditions at destination were marginal with stormy weather, winds and turbulences. Upon landing on runway 35, the aircraft bounced then landed a second time. It deviated from the centerline to the left, veered off runway, rolled through a grassy area and eventually collided with the concrete structure of the airport tower. The captain was killed and the copilot was seriously injured as the cockpit area was destroyed upon impact. 26 other people were injured.

Shortly after take off from Ahwaz Airport, while in initial climb, the engine n°2 suffered an uncontained failure. The crew informed ATC about the situation and was cleared for an immediate return. The aircraft landed safely 10 minutes later and was stopped on the main runway. All 174 occupants were rescued, among them two passengers were slightly injured. The aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair as n°1 engine and the left wing were also damaged due to debris from the n°2 engine's compressor.

On the morning of Sunday, 2 August 2009, a de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, registered PK-NVC, operated by PT. Merpati Nusantara Airlines as flight number MZ-7960D, departed from Sentani Airport, Jayapura for Oksibil Airport. The flight was planned in accordance with the visual flight rules (VFR). There were 15 persons on board; two pilots, one engineer, 10 adult passengers and two infants. The estimated flight time was 50 minutes. The fuel on board was sufficient for 2 hours and 50 minutes flight time. About 15 minutes prior to the estimated time of arrival at Oksibil the crew of another aircraft informed the Twin Otter crew that the weather in the Oksibil area was partly cloudy. There were no further reports of radio transmissions from the Twin Otter, and it did not arrive at Oksibil. A search was initiated at the time the aircraft would have run out of fuel. On the morning of 4 August 2009, searchers located the wreckage of the Twin Otter at an elevation of about 9,300 feet about 6 Nm from Oksibil. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces, and all of the occupants were fatally injured.

At July 24, 2009, Ilyushin aircraft, model IL-62M of DETA Airline with registration, UP-I6208 and flight IRX1525 of Aria Airline flight with 169 passengers from Mehrabad International Airport/ Tehran, and it has landed at 18:05 local time on RWY 13 L in Mashhad International Airport; then it has run off from end of the runway, without considerable reduction in aircraft speed and it collided with wall of the airport and it was stopped after approximately 185 m. The mentioned aircraft has been leased by Aria Airline as ACMI, according to contract No. 002/IL-62M/ACMI. Subsequently, the ground safety unit of the airport has attended in place of occurring accident, by breaking protective fences and barbed wires of the airport, and then they evacuated passengers and extinguished fire outside of aircraft by carrying out necessary actions. 16 people were killed, 11 crew members and five passengers. All other occupants were rescued, among them 30 were injured. Accident site inspection revealed that the aircraft position had coordinates N 36,218º E 59,666º, at a road in the vicinity of the aerodrome, 1km away from the RWY-31R threshold (130º MH or 133, 5º TH) of the Mashhad airport with the azimuth of 125º (true). Power line along the road was destroyed by the right aircraft wing. Wing fuel tanks of the right wing were damaged evidenced by fuel leaking. Main and emergency exits were open. An inflatable slide was dropped down from the port side. No evidences of fire on board and at the accident site were found. First tracks of intensive braking (black tire tracks) were found at the concrete at a distance of 550 m from the departure threshold of RWY31R. The track of the main gear wheels was going along the RWY in its left part, and diverging further to the right beyond the departure threshold. At about 100m away from the threshold at the end portion of the braking way, a net barrier was found (textile aerodrome emergency braking unit).The aircraft ran over the RWY when moving along the right side of the stop way, 300m long. Beyond the end of the RWY landing gear wheels track could be clearly seen passing over a rough partly grassed surface, and crossing a dirt road. At a distance of 100m from the RWY end, where the right gear crossed the road, a destroyed tire tube was found, which presumably belonged to the right gear front wheel. At a distance of 160m from the RWY end smashed approach lights were found, and after that point the gear wheel track started to diverge to the left from the RWY centerline. The front gear wheel track further merged with the left gear wheel track and extended joining the forward airframe track. At a distance of 320 m from the RWY end another line of broken approach lights were found. Airframe structures were found before the approach lights (along the aircraft way). From that point small aircraft structure pieces were found along the whole aircraft path. 40m past the destroyed approach lights line a ditch of 0,5…1m in depth was found (with an underground pipeline) which was crossing this area from the south to the north. The south-eastern part of the aerodrome was fenced with a brick wall of 2,5m high and 0,4m thick with a concrete strip foundation. It went along the RWY there. The aircraft collided with the fence at a distance of 820m from the departure threshold (520m past the stop way end) with a heading of 105 degrees. The fence was destroyed throughout 70m. Debris of the nose part of the airframe, cockpit, passenger seats, aircraft cabin parts were found behind the fence. Earlier aerodrome employees, police and medical services found at the site and evacuated crew bodies, as well as killed and injured passengers. After the collision with the fence the aircraft kept moving for 160 m with a heading of 105 degrees and came to a stop at the road.

The three engine aircraft departed Tehran-Imam Khomeiny Airport at 1117LT on a regular schedule flight to Yerevan, carrying 158 passengers and 10 crew members. Sixteen minutes after takeoff, while cruising over Qazvin at FL340, the aircraft suddenly changed its heading to 270° and then entered a rapid descent, losing 20,000 feet in 90 seconds. In a near vertical attitude, the aircraft crashed in an open field, causing a large crater. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 168 occupants were killed.

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.

Following an uneventful flight from Sana'a, the crew started a night approach to Moroni-Prince Saïd Ibrahim Airport runway 02. Weather conditions were considered as good with a 10 km visibility, an OAT of 24° C. and a wind from 180° gusting to 25 knots for runway 20. For unknown reasons, the crew initiated a go-around procedure when the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed in the sea about 6 km from the airport. A young girl aged 12 was found alive few hours later while 152 other occupants were killed. Both CVR and DFDR were found almost two months later at a depth of 1,200 metres. The final report was published in June 2013.

Following an uneventful flight from Manila, the crew started the descent to Caticlan Airport and was informed that runway 06 was in use due to the wind component. For unknown reasons, the captain decided to land on runway 24. The approach was too long and the aircraft landed too far down the runway, about 950 metres past the runway threshold. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, it overran and came to rest in a grassy area against the perimeter fence. All 59 occupants escaped uninjured while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.