Accident | |
---|---|
Date | December 19, 1977 |
Summary | Pilot error |
Site | Vieques, Puerto Rico |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Britten-Norman Islander |
Operator | Vieques Air Link |
Registration | N862JA |
Flight origin | St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands |
Destination | Vieques Airport, Vieques, Puerto Rico |
Occupants | 10 |
Passengers | 9 |
Crew | 1 |
Fatalities | 5 |
Survivors | 5, including the pilot |
On December 19, 1977, the 1977 Vieques Air Link crash took place when a Vieques Air Link Britten Norman BN-2A Islander crashed into the waters off the Atlantic Ocean near Vieques, Puerto Rico during a flight from St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands to Vieques.
The airplane was on an international scheduled flight between St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands and Vieques, Puerto Rico.[1]
The airplane started experiencing fuel starvation as it was near Vieques. The aircraft's engines flamed out due to the starvation, and the pilot decided to ditch off, or land the plane on the ocean, before the situation became more critical. The airplane crashed at 07:48AM, local standard time on that day.[citation needed]
There were ten people on board the doomed aircraft, nine of which were passengers and one, its 50-years-old pilot, who was the sole crew member. Of those, five died, all of them passengers. The pilot and four other passengers survived.[2]
The investigation that followed blamed the pilot due to alleged inadequate pre-flight preparation or planning, which later resulted in his mismanagement of the aircraft's available fuel and then the double-engine flame out and subsequent crash.[1]
Approximately seven years later, another Vieques Air Link islander, flying as Vieques Air Link Flight 901A, crashed near the same place after suffering engine problems too, flying a similar route but in the second crash's case from Vieques to St. Croix instead.[3]
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1977 (1977)
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Jan 5 Jan 13 Jan 13 Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 Jan 15 Feb 15 Mar 17 British Airtours Boeing 707 crash Mar 27 Apr 4 Apr 12 Apr 27 May 10 May 14 May 27 Jul 10 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijacking Jul 20 Aug 1 Sep 27 Sep 27 Sep 28 Oct 13 Oct 20 Nov 19 Dec 2 Libyan Arab Airlines Tu-154 crash Dec 4 Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 Dec 13 Dec 17 Dec 18 SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730 Dec 19 | |
Aviation accidents and incidents in Puerto Rico
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Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
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This list is incomplete. |