See article "Double Standards"
Accident data come from Flight International's own research and from Airclaims' World Airline Accident Summary (WAAS)*, a quarterly updated analytical record of accidents and incidents worldwide since 1945. The WAAS, a UK Civil Aviation Authority publication, benefits from Airclaims' exclusive information exchange with the CIS Interstate Aviation Committee Commission for Flight Safety. The WAAS now lists accidents by operator and location, as well as by type of occurrence and aircraft type.
Airline accident and incident information supplied by the Aviation Department of Lloyds of London, the international insurance market, is also gratefully acknowledged.
Although details of non-fatal incidents are not made officially available by the authorities in many countries, Flight International continues to list as many of these incidents as possible, in the interests of maximising the availability of relevant information. We accept that the non-fatal listing may be unfairly weighted against the airlines of those countries which make safety information more readily available.
*Airclaims, Cardinal Point, Newall Road, Heathrow Airport, London TW6 2AS, UK; tel: +44 (181) 897 1066; fax: +44 (181) 897 0300.
ABBREVIATIONS: AA airfield approach/early descent; AAL above airfield level; ADC air-data computer; ADF automatic direction finder; AF air force; AGL above ground level; AMSL above mean sea level; ASI airspeed indicator; ATC air-traffic control; C climb; C-B circuit-breaker; CFIT controlled flight into terrain; CVR cockpit-voice recorder; DME distance-measuring equipment; ER en route; FDR flight-data recorder; DFDR digital FDR; ECAM electronic centralised aircraft monitor; EFIS electronic flight-instrument system; EICAS engine-indicating and crew-alerting system; FAA Federal Aviation Administration FL flight level = altitude, expressed in hundreds of feet, with international standard pressure-setting (ISA) of 1013.2mb set on altimeter (eg: FL100 = altimeter reading of 10,000ft with ISA set); FMS flight-management system; G on ground; GPU ground power unit; GPWS ground-proximity warning system; HP high pressure; ILS instrument-landing system; ISA international standard atmosphere=sea-level pressure of 1013.2mb and standard temperature/pressure lapse rate with altitude; L landing; LP low pressure; MTOW maximum take-off weight; NDB non-directional beacon; NTSB US National Transportation Safety Board; PF pilot flying; PNF pilot not flying; RA runway/final approach; VFR visual flight rules; VHF very high frequency; VMC visual meteorological conditions; VOR VHF omni-range navigation beacon; TO take-off; V1 take-off decision speed Conversion factors: 1nm=1.85km; 1ft=0.3m; 1kt=1.85km/h
| Fatal accidents: scheduled passenger flights | ||||||
| Date | Carrier | Aircraft type/registration | Location | Fatalities Crew/pax | Total occupants crew/pax | Phase |
| 02-Feb | Cebu Air | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 (RP-CQ507) | Mt Sumagaya, Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, Philippines | 5/99 | 5/99 | AA |
| CFIT. The aircraft hit a mountain during a non-radar VOR let-down to Cagayan de Oro airport. The weather was generally good but the high ground was cloud covered. | ||||||
| 16-Feb | China Airlines | Airbus Industrie A300-600R (B-1814) | Chiang Kai Shek Airport, Taipei, Taiwan | 14/182 | 14/182 | RA |
| The pilot, deciding that the aircraft was far too high on the ILS approach (about 1,300ft with 2km to go to the threshold) to continue safely, began a go-around. During the go-around the aircraft climbed rapidly to 2,750ft, adopting a maximum pitch-up during the climb of 42.7°. During the descent, the aircraft banked dramatically left and right, and the maximum nose-down pitch angle was -44.6°. The pilot regained control too late to recover from the dive and the aircraft hit the ground tail first to the left of the runway. | ||||||
| 20-Apr | TAME Ecuador | Boeing 727-200Adv (HC-BSU) | Cerro el Cable, Nr Bogota, Colombia | 10/43 | 10/43 | C |
| CFIT. Operating an Air France code-share flight bound for Quito, Ecuador, the aircraft hit a mountain about 10km south-east of Bogota Airport during climb out from runway 13. The appropriate departure involves a 90° right turn within 4km of take-off, but the aircraft flew straight ahead to hit the mountain in cloud about 150ft below its top at the 10,000ft level. The airfield elevation is 8,355ft. Early information suggests that the aircraft's transponder was not switched on, depriving ATC of aircraft height information. | ||||||
| Fatal accidents: non-scheduled passenger flights | ||||||
| Date | Carrier | Aircraft type/registration | Location | Fatalities crew/pax | Total occupants crew/pax | Phase |
| 19-Mar | Ariana Afghan Airlines | Boeing 727-200 (YA-FAZ) | Mt Shakhi Baranta, Nr Kabul, Afghanistan | 10/35 | 10/35 | AA |
| CFIT. The aircraft, flying a charter from Dubai to Kabul, hit the mountain at about 10,000ft, some 15km south of the destination airport. The weather was poor with rain and snow. | ||||||
| 29-Mar | Peru AF | Antonov An-32 (FAP388) | Nr Piura, Peru | 28 | 55 | RA |
| The aircraft was providing an air bridge service for local people when towns had been cut off because roads had been washed away in torrential rains. At about 2km from Piura Airport, one of the engines lost power and the aircraft was unable to maintain height. It crashed into houses and came to rest in a canal. | ||||||
| 05-May | Peru AF | Boeing 737-200 (FAP351) | Nr Andoas, Peru | 5/69 | 7/80 | AA |
| On charter to Occidental, the Peruvian AF-operated flight from Iquitos crashed 10km from the Andoas runway during a night NDB approach carried out in rain with overcast conditions. | ||||||
| Fatal accidents: regional and commuter airlines | ||||||
| Date | Carrier | Aircraft type/registration | Location | Fatalities crew/pax | Total occupants Crew/pax | Phase |
| 28-Jan | Myanmar Airways | Fokker F27-600 (5H-PAT) | Thandwe, Myanmar | 14 | 45 | TO |
| An engine failure appears to have caused the aircraft to veer off the runway, where it ran into a bank. | ||||||
| 03-Feb | Precision Air Services | Cessna T207A (5H-PAT) | Nr Arusha, Tanzania | 1/4 | 1/4 | C |
| Pilot reported a technical problem about 2min after T/O for Zanzibar and said he was returning. Witnesses report that the aircraft developed a steep bank, lost height, crashed and burned. | ||||||
| 18-Mar | Formosa Airlines | Saab 340 (B-12255) | Sea near Hsinchu, Taiwan | 5/8 | 5/8 | |
| Within 1min 45s of the night take-off, when the engine output was reduced from take-off to climb power, the aircraft is reported to have begun an unplanned right turn. Shortly after this, the pilot appears to have lost control and the aircraft dived steeply into the sea. | ||||||
| 26-May | MIAT Mongolian Airlines | Harbin Y-12 (JU-1017) | Nr Erdenet, Mongolia | 2/26 | 2/26 | C |
| The aircraft crashed into high ground 13min after take-off. It was overloaded with passengers, being a 19-seater, but many of the passengers were children. | ||||||
| 18-Jun | Propair | Fairchild Metro II (C-GQAL) | Montreal Mirabel Airport, Canada | 2/9 | 2/9 | C |
| About 13min after take-off from Montreal Dorval, the pilot reported hydraulic problems and requested return. About 7min later the pilot declared an emergency with a fire in the left engine and smoke in the cockpit. With the engine shut down, the pilot requested diversion to Mirabel. ATC provided vectors for runway 24, but the aircraft crashed on the runway. Conditions were daylight, visibility 2,000m with a 300ft cloudbase. | ||||||
| Fatal accidents: non-passenger flights | ||||||
| Date | Carrier | Aircraft type/registration | Location | Fatalities crew/pax | Total occupants crew/pax | Phase |
| 12-Jan | Aeroservice International | Let L-410UVP Turbolet (YV-928CP) | Nr Prace, Czech Republic | 2 | 2 | RA |
| The aircraft crashed 5km short of Brno airfield on its second approach in darkness and thick fog, having diverted to Brno because of bad weather. The crew was on a ferry flight from Russia to Kunovice. | ||||||
| 04-Feb | Air Sofia | Antonov An-12 (LZ-SFG) | Lajes Airport, Azores, Portugal | 7 | 7 | C |
| Soon after getting airborne, as the aircraft climbed through 80ft, it veered and began to lose height. The aircraft, operating a mail flight to the Portuguese mainland, crashed 500m from the runway. | ||||||
| 21-Feb | Ibertrans | Fairchild Metro II (EC-GDG) | Barcelona, Spain | 2 | 2 | C |
| Soon after take-off in fair weather for a ferry flight, the pilot reported a "problem" and his intention to return. The aircraft crashed and burned on the runway extended centreline about 5km short of the threshold. | ||||||
| 05-Mar | FedEx/Baron Aviation | Cessna 208B Caravan I (N840FE) | Clarksville, Tennessee, USA | 1 | 1 | ER |
| The aircraft crashed in a steep dive from cruising flight for an unknown reason. Radar returns show a gradual reduction in ground speed from 158kt to 125kt in the 8min before loss of contact. | ||||||
| 10-Mar | Air Memphis | Boeing 707-320C (SU-PBA) | Moi International, Mombasa, Kenya | 6 | 6 | TO |
| The aircraft got airborne but failed to climb. It hit approach lights and finally a mound outside the airport, crashed and burned. The aircraft was on a flight from Mwanza to Cairo with a technical stop at Mombasa. | ||||||
| 31-Mar | Linea Aerea Mexicana de Carga | Convair 240 (XA-TAP) | Nr Mexico City, Mexico | 2 | 4 | C |
| The pilot reported an engine failure about 8min after take-off and was vectored for an ILS approach to runway 05R. Losing height, the captain declared an emergency and asked for radar vectors to 23L. Then the pilot reported engine fire and about 1min later the aircraft crashed and burned. | ||||||
| 07-Apr | FedEx/Corporate Air | Cessna 208B Caravan 1 (N868FE) | Nr Bismarck, North Dakota, USA | 1 | 1 | RA |
| Pilot acknowledged landing clearance with about 1.5-3km to go on a daylight IMC ILS approach to runway 31, and appears to have lost control after that. | ||||||
Airline Safety Review - Non-fatal accidents
Source: Flight International