On 28 July 2018, Air Vanuatu Flight 241, operated by

ATR-72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR (french: Avions de transport régional or it, Aerei da Trasporto Regionale), a joint venture formed by ...

registration Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

YJ-AV71 suffered an in-flight engine fire while operating a domestic scheduled passenger flight from

Whitegrass Airport Whitegrass Airport , also known as ''White Grass Airport'' or ''Tanna Airport'', is an airport on the island Tanna, in the Taféa province in Vanuatu. It is located at Whitegrass (White Grass), north of Lénakel township. Facilities The air ...

, Tanna to

Bauerfield International Airport Bauerfield International Airport (french: Aéroport International Bauerfield) is an airport located in Port Vila, Vanuatu. The airport is relatively small in size, but its runway has the capability and length to accept jets up to the Airbus A330. ...

Port Vila Port Vila (french: Port-Vila), or simply Vila (; french: Vila; bi, Vila ), is the capital and largest city of Vanuatu. It is located on the island of Efate. Its population in the last census (2009) was 44,040, an increase of 35% on the pr ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

. On landing at Port Vila, a runway excursion occurred. The aircraft collided with two

Britten-Norman Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

s, writing one off and severely damaging the other. Thirteen of the 43 people on board sustained minor injuries.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved in the accident were: *An

Air Vanuatu Air Vanuatu is an airline with its head office in the Air Vanuatu House, Port Vila, Vanuatu. It is Vanuatu's national flag carrier, operating to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and points in the South Pacific. Its main base is Bauerfiel ...

YJ-AV71.

msn MSN (meaning Microsoft Network) is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps for Windows and mobile devices, provided by Microsoft and launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release of Windows 95. The Microsoft Net ...

720. The aircraft first flew on 6 June 2005. At the time of the accident, it had accumulated 19,887 hours and 39 minutes flight time. *A

of Unity Airlines, registration YJ-OO9, msn 65. The aircraft had first flown on 11 April 1969. *A

of Air Taxi, registration YJ-AL2, msn 609. It had first flown in 1971.

Flight

Flight 241 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from

, Tanna to

. On 28 July 2018, the ATR-72 operating the flight suffered an engine fire in the right engine, while over the island of

Erromango Erromango is the fourth largest island in the Vanuatu archipelago. With a land area of it is the largest island in Tafea Province, the southernmost of Vanuatu's six administrative regions. Name The endonym for Erromango in Erromangan is ''Nelo ...

. Smoke and flames were witnessed by passengers, with smoke entering the aircraft's cabin. The engine was shut down and the aircraft continued to Port Vila. The pilots experienced difficulty controlling the aircraft, with uncommanded roll occurring. On landing, the aircraft departed the runway and collided with two Britten-Norman Islander aircraft belonging to Air Taxi and Unity Airlines. The aircraft belonging to Air Taxi was severely damaged, with its vertical stabilizer ripped off. It was damaged beyond repair. The other plane, of Unity Airlines was also damaged beyond repair. Although nobody was injured in the collision, thirteen passengers were treated for

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

. All four crew and 39 passengers on board evacuated the aircraft without injury. The pilots of the ATR-72 reported that they had no brakes or nose wheel steering, which they gave as the reason for the runway excursion and subsequent collision.

Investigation

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vanuatu asked Papua New Guinea's Accident Investigation Commission to investigate the accident. It released a preliminary report on 10 August. Canada's Transportation Safety Board is assisting the investigation.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2018 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2018 Aviation accidents and incidents in Vanuatu 2018 in Vanuatu Accidents and incidents involving the ATR 72 Accidents and incidents involving the Britten-Norman Islander July 2018 events in Oceania

Aircraft

Flight

Investigation

See also

References