Plain, Valley

The crew (one instructor aged 58 and one pilot under supervision aged 28) departed Surasi Air Base around 0900LT on a training flight. En route, in unknown circumstances, the single engine airplane crashed near Moo 2 (Sai Yok district). The aircraft disintegrated on impact and both occupants were killed.

The airplane was apparently engaged in an illegal flight, carrying a crew of two. It crashed in unknown circumstances near Champerico, Guatemala, and was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire. According to the flight plan, the aircraft was supposed to fly from Zihuatanejo to Chetumal with one passenger and two crew members. Guatemalan authorities reported that the flight was illegal and that the aircraft was presumed transporting a load of cocaine.

The pilot, sole on board, departed Nîmes-Garons Airport at 1648LT on a fire fighting mission over Générac, a village located about 5 km southwest of the airbase. While approaching the zone to be treated, the twin engine airplane struck trees and crashed, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and the pilot was killed. At the time of the accident, the visibility was reduced due to thick smoke.

On 11 July 2019, at approximately 0852 Eastern Daylight Time, the float-equipped de Havilland DHC-2 Mk. I Beaver aircraft (registration C-FBBG, serial number 358), operated by Hawk Air, departed from the Hawk Junction Water Aerodrome, on Hawk Lake, Ontario. The aircraft, with the pilot and 1 passenger on board, was on a daytime visual flight rules charter flight. The aircraft was going to drop off supplies at an outpost camp on Oba Lake, Ontario, approximately 35 nautical miles north-northeast of the Hawk Junction Water Aerodrome. The aircraft departed heading northeast. Shortly after takeoff, during the initial climb out, just past the northeast end of Hawk Lake, the aircraft crashed in a steep nose-down attitude, severing a power line immediately before impact, and coming to rest next to a hydro substation. The pilot and the passenger received fatal injuries. The aircraft was destroyed as a result of the impact, but there was no post-impact fire.

The crew was completing chemical work to protect sunflower crop from pests. This was the eighth sortie of the day. Shortly after takeoff, while climbing to a height of 20-30 metres, the engine lost power and the airplane started to lose altitude. No suitable terrain was available for an emergency landing. The airplane collided with trees and crashed in a wooded area, bursting into flames. Both crew members escaped uninjured while the aircraft was totally destroyed by a post crash fire.

The crew was engaged in a spraying mission on behalf of Rodina Agrofirm and completed five rotations in the morning. After refueling with chemicals, the airplane took off from an airfield located about 10 km from the village of Rodina. Shortly after takeoff, it collided with the wooden pillar of an electric power line, lost height and crashed in flames 100 metres further. The captain was killed while two other occupants were seriously injured. The following day, the copilot died from his injuries.

The pilot departed on the cross-country flight with the airplane about 730 lbs over its maximum gross weight. While in cruise altitude at 27,000 ft mean sea level (msl), the pilot reported to air traffic control that he observed weather on his radar along his route and ahead of his position. The areas of weather included thunderstorms with cloud tops up to 43,000 ft msl. The controller acknowledged the weather; however, she did not provide specifics to the pilot, including the size and strength of the area of precipitation or cloud tops information, nor did she solicit or disseminate any pilot reports related to the conditions, as required. The airplane entered an area of heavy to extreme precipitation, likely a thunderstorm updraft, while in instrument meteorological conditions. Tracking information indicated that the airplane climbed about 300 ft, then entered a right, descending spiral and broke up in flight at high altitude. The recovered wreckage was found scattered along a path about 2.6 miles in length. Both wings separated, and most of the empennage was not located. The airplane was likely about 148 lbs over the maximum allowable gross weight at the time of the accident. Examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of a pre accident malfunction or failure that would have prevented normal operation. The pilot, who owned the airplane, did not possess an instrument rating. The pilot-rated passenger in the right seat was instrument-rated but did not meet resency of experience requirements to act as pilot-in-command. Toxicology testing detected a small amount of ethanol in the pilot’s liver but not in muscle. After absorption, ethanol is uniformly distributed throughout all tissues and body fluids; therefore, the finding in one tissue but not another is most consistent with post-mortem production. Hazardous weather avoidance is ultimately the pilot’s responsibility, and, in this case, the airplane was sufficiently equipped to provide a qualified pilot with the information necessary to navigate hazardous weather; however, the controller’s failure to provide the pilot with adequate and timely weather information as required by Federal Aviation Administration Order JO 7110.65X contributed to the pilot’s inability to safely navigate the hazardous weather along his route of flight, resulting in the penetration of a thunderstorm and the resulting loss of airplane control and inflight breakup.

While descending to Urimán Airport following an uneventful flight from La Paragua, the crew encountered an unexpected situation and attempted an emergency landing when the aircraft impacted ground and came to rest against a group of palm trees located 13 km from Urimán. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Two instrument-rated commercial pilots and one passenger were conducting a cross-country flight in instrument meteorological conditions when they began discussing an electrical malfunction; they then reported the electrical problem to air traffic control. The airplane subsequently made a descending right turn and impacted wooded terrain at a high speed. Most components of the airplane were highly fragmented, impact damaged, and unidentifiable. Based on the limited discussion of the electrical problem on the cockpit voice recorder and the damage to the airplane, it was not possible to determine the specific nature of the electrical malfunction the airplane may have experienced. While it was not possible to determine which systems were impacted by the electrical malfunction, it is possible the flight instruments were affected. The airplane's descending, turning, flight path before impact is consistent with a system malfunction that either directly or indirectly (through a diversion of attention) led to the pilot's loss of awareness of the airplane's performance in instrument meteorological conditions and subsequent loss of control of the airplane.

In the morning, the Guatemala Army Forces were informed by ATC that a PA-31 entered the Guatemala Airspace without prior permission. The twin engine airplane crashed in a wooded area located near the farm of Sepens located in the region of Sayaxché, Petén. The aircraft was partially destroyed by impact forces and both occupants were killed. A sticker was set on the fuselage with the registration N2613 which is wrong.