Crash of a Rockwell Aero Commander 500B off Dominica: 2 killed
Date & Time:
May 31, 2002 at 1315 LT
Registration:
N78336
Survivors:
No
MSN:
500-1187-94
YOM:
1962
Crew on board:
1
Crew fatalities:
Pax on board:
1
Pax fatalities:
Other fatalities:
Total fatalities:
2
Circumstances:
On May 31, 2002, about 1315 Atlantic standard time, an Aero Commander 500-B, N78336, registered to Bevins Air Service Inc., operating as a 14 CFR Part 135 air-taxi passenger/cargo flight ditched into the Atlantic Ocean, near Roseau, Dominica. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was filed. The airplane has not been located and is presumed to be destroyed. The commercial pilot has not been located and is presumed to be fatally injured. The deceased passenger was recovered from the Atlantic Ocean on June 4, 2002. The flight originated from Melville Hall Airport, Roseau, Dominica, at 1240. According to Organization of East Caribbean States (OECS) the pilot informed Guadeloupe Air Traffic Control that the airplane was experiencing engine problems and that he was returning to Dominica. The airplane was last observed on radar about six miles north of Dominica.
