The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat,
pressurized, twin-
turboprop airliner
An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...
first produced by
Swearingen Aircraft and later by
Fairchild Aircraft
Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas.
History
Early aircraft
The company was founded by Sherman Fairchild in 1 ...
at a plant in
San Antonio,
Texas.
Design
The Metroliner was an evolution of the
Swearingen Merlin
The Swearingen Merlin or the Fairchild Aerospace Merlin is a pressurized, twin turboprop business aircraft first produced by Swearingen Aircraft, and later by Fairchild at a plant in San Antonio, Texas.
Design and development
The Merlin was an ...
turboprop-powered business aircraft. Ed Swearingen, a Texas
fixed-base operator (FBO), started the developments that led to the Metro through gradual modifications to the
Beechcraft Twin Bonanza
The Beechcraft Model 50 Twin Bonanza is a small twin-engined aircraft designed by Beechcraft as an executive transport for the business market. It was developed to fill a gap in Beechcraft's product line between the single-engined Model 35 Bon ...
and
Queen Air business aircraft, which he dubbed Excalibur.
A new
fuselage (but with a similar nose) and
vertical fin were then developed, married to salvaged and rebuilt
(wet) Queen Air wings and
horizontal tails, and Twin Bonanza
landing gear; this became the SA26 Merlin, more or less a
pressurized Excalibur. Through successive models (the SA26-T Merlin IIA and SA26-AT Merlin IIB) the engines were changed to
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada.
Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously upda ...
, then
Garrett TPE331 turboprops. These were marketed as business aircraft seating eight to ten passengers.
An all-new aircraft was built and named the SA226-T Merlin III with a new nose, wings, landing gear,
cruciform horizontal tail[ This and subsequent Merlin and Metro models have a trimmable horizontal stabilizer (THS) usually used on jet aircraft, one of only a small number of turboprop aircraft to have this design feature (the competing ]Beechcraft Model 99
The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier B ...
being another). and inverted inlet Garrett engines. Ultimately a stretch of the Merlin III was designed, sized to seat 22 passengers and called the SA226-TC Metro. Because
FAA regulations limited an airliner to no more than 19 seats if no
flight attendant
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...
was to be carried, the aircraft was optimized for that number of passengers. The standard engines offered were two TPE331-3UW turboprops driving three-bladed
propellers. A corporate version called the SA226-AT Merlin IVA was also marketed and initially sales of this version were roughly double that of the Metro.
Development
Prototype construction of the Metro began in 1968 and the first flight was on August 26, 1969. Swearingen Aircraft encountered financial difficulties at this stage, and late in 1971 Fairchild (which was marketing the Metro
and building its wings and engine nacelles), bought 90% of Swearingen and the company was renamed Swearingen Aviation Corporation. It was at this point that the previously cash-strapped company was able to put the Metro into production.
In 1974, the original Metro models were replaced by the SA226-TC Metro II after about 20 Metros and about 30 Merlin IVAs had been built.
[The article "Final Metro Delivery" in ''Airways magazine'' Issue 64 states that Metro deliveries totalled 18. The Metro production list shows that by the end of 1974, 22 Merlins had been built.] Among the changes made were larger, squared-oval windows and optional provision for a small
Rocket-Assisted Take Off
JATO (acronym for jet-assisted take-off) is a type of assisted take-off for helping overloaded aircraft into the air by providing additional thrust in the form of small rockets. The term ''JATO'' is used interchangeably with the (more specific ...
(RATO) rocket in the tail cone, this being offered to improve takeoff performance out of "hot & high" airfields in the event of an engine failure.
The Metro and Metro II were limited to a maximum weight of 12,500 pounds (5,670 kg) in the US and countries using
imperial units, and 5,700 kg in countries using
SI units
The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes Pleonasm#Acronyms and initialisms, pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most wid ...
. When this restriction was lifted the Metro II was re-certified as the Metro IIA in 1980 with a maximum weight of 13,100 pounds (5,941 kg) and the Metro II's TPE331-3 engines replaced by -10 engines of increased power.
The SA227-AC Metro III followed, also initially certified in 1980 for up to 14,000 pounds (6,350 kg), this increasing to 14,500 pounds (6,577 kg) as engines and structures were upgraded. An option to go as high as 16,000 pounds (7,257 kg) was offered. Externally, improvements incorporated into the Metro III were a 10 ft (3.05 m) increase in wing span, four-bladed props, redesigned "quick-access" engine
cowlings and numerous drag-reducing airframe modifications, including landing gear doors that closed after the gear was extended.
Once again a corporate version was offered as the Merlin IVC (the model name was chosen to align with the contemporaneous short-fuselage Merlin IIIC). A version with strengthened floors and the high gross weight option was offered as a
cargo aircraft known as the Expediter. Both the Expediter and the Merlin IVC were designated the SA227-AT. Finally, due to reliability problems with Garrett engines in the second half of the 1980s, the Metro IIIA was offered with two
Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6
The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada.
Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously upda ...
A-45R turboprops in place of the Garrett units; however none were actually delivered.
A special model was the SA227-BC Metro III built for Mexican airline
AeroLitoral, which took delivery of 15 of the 18 of this model that were produced.
Improvements beyond the Metro III provided better systems, more power and a further increase in takeoff weight. This design effort resulted in the SA227 CC (for Commuter Category) and SA227-DC models, initially called the Metro IV
["Metro IV & V", ''Commuter Aircraft Directory'',(online archive version).](_blank)
''Flight International'', May 7, 1988, p. 47. Retrieved: December 15, 2008. then renamed Metro 23, so named as they were designed for certification under
FAR Part 23
The Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs) are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs comprise Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). A wide variety o ...
(Amendment 34) standards. A Metro 23 EF with an external pod under the lower fuselage for greater baggage capacity was also offered as well as an Expediter 23 and Merlin 23. The SA227-CC was an interim model with TPE331-11U engines and only a handful were built.
["SA227-CC/-DC Type Certificate."](_blank)
''FAA.'' Retrieved: December 15, 2008
Further development
In the 1960s, Swearingen Aircraft developed a prototype SA-28T eight-seat jet aircraft with a flapless
delta wing
A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ).
Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...
.
[Fricker, John. "At the NBAA Convention, Part 2 - the turboprop types"]
"Metroliner."
'Flight International'', October 16, 1969, p. 595 (online archive version). Retrieved: December 15, 2008. It shared the tail and
cockpit
A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft.
The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...
with the Merlin/Metro. The two engines were to be
Garrett TFE731 turbofans then in development; they were originally to be mounted on the aft fuselage, however during the course of design work their location was moved to under the high-mounted wing. Early flights were to be undertaken with
General Electric CJ610 engines fitted. Development continued after Fairchild acquired the company, but the project was shut down nine weeks from first flight. It was later cut up as scrap and the fuselage used as a Metro display at trade shows.
At the 1987
Paris Air Show, Fairchild released details of proposed developments of the Metro designated the Metro V and Metro VI. These versions would have featured a longer fuselage with a taller "stand-up" cabin providing 69 in (180 cm) of interior height for passengers; a redesigned, longer wing; engines moved further out on the wing from the fuselage; a "T-tail" and various system improvements. A Merlin V corporate version of the Metro V was also planned. The Metro V was to be fitted with the same engines as the Metro 23 and the Metro VI was to be fitted with more powerful TPE331-14 engines.
["Fairchild Dornier Metro."]
''Forecast International.com.'' Retrieved: December 15, 2008.
The Metro VI was shelved within months of being announced due to a lack of customer interest,
''Flight International'', October 17, 1987, p. 20. Retrieved: December 15, 2008. but Fairchild did not proceed with the Metro V either.
One version that did see the light of day was the Metro 25, which featured an increased passenger capacity of 25 at the expense of the baggage space found in earlier models; the deletion of the left rear cargo door, the addition of a passenger door on the right-hand rear fuselage, and a belly pod for baggage. A Metro III was converted as a Metro 25 demonstrator, it flew in this configuration in October 1989. Also mooted but not built was the Metro 25J, which would have been another jet-powered aircraft with TFE731s in over-wing pods.
The type certificates for Metro and Merlin aircraft are currently held by
M7 Aerospace.
Operational history
Two of the original Metro model were delivered in 1972 to Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) in
Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...
,
Zaire, the first customer to put the Metro into service. The first airline to put them into service was
Commuter Airlines in January 1973,
followed shortly after by
Air Wisconsin.
At least one Metro IIA flies in Canada with
Perimeter Aviation. Two SA227-CCs are today registered with Canadian operator
Bearskin Lake Air Service Ltd., while another two are operating in New Zealand. A fifth also flew with
Bearskin Airlines, but was destroyed in a mid-air collision in 1995.
In service with Perimeter Aviation in Canada, this long-term operator of the Metro II and III made a number of modifications to suit its use in northern and remote Canadian sites where rudimentary gravel "strips" were common. Some of the many innovative changes to the design of the Metro allowed the aircraft to fly more efficiently, as well as cutting down on the "noise factor" that was attributed to the early models. The airline installed
Garrett engines with quieter and more efficient four-bladed Hartzell propellers. More recently, in 2016, 5-blade composite propellers are being installed, further enhancing performance and reducing noise levels. Their Metros are also all equipped with modern avionics suites, including the recent installation of Garmin 950
glass cockpit
A glass cockpit is an aircraft cockpit that features electronic (digital) flight instrument displays, typically large LCD screens, rather than the traditional style of analog dials and gauges. While a traditional cockpit relies on numerous mech ...
s and GPS satellite tracking.
Many of the improvements resulting in the Metro 23 came about during work to produce the military
C-26B model for the
United States Air Force.
A Metro III aircraft was modified for the
Colombian Air Force for counternarcotics reconnaissance purposes. The Colombian National Police also operates several Metro 23 aircraft for counternarcotics reconnaissance purposes. In addition, the Peruvian Air Force operates a Metro 23 and the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard operates a Metro III, both similarly configured. A "Regional Security System" Metro III with a large belly radome has been seen in the Caribbean.
In civilian service the type has proved to be popular, with sales in the 19-seat airliner market rivalled only by the
Beechcraft 1900
The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...
.
[The long-fuselage SA226/SA227 series has slightly outsold the Beechcraft 1900 series, but many were built as Merlin corporate aircraft. The similarly sized ]de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...
has outsold both types but is a different class of aircraft. It is especially popular in Australia. Since the first example (a Merlin IVA) arrived in 1975, almost 20% of the fleet has operated there, and, as of December 2008, 61 Metros and Expediters are registered in Australia, more than all of its market rivals combined.
Metro production ended in 1998; however, by this time,
regional jets were in vogue and turboprop types were out of favour with airlines. At the time, several airframes remained unsold at the factory. In 2001, the last aircraft, Metro 23 c/n DC-904B, was finally delivered to National Jet Aviation Services of
Zelienople, Pennsylvania, an
air charter operator.
["Final Metro Delivery." ''Airways magazine'' Vol. 8, No. 4; Issue 64, June 2001, p. 32. Airways International Inc. .] A total of 703 Metro, Expediter, Merlin IV series and C-26 series aircraft were built.
["Turboprop Production Lists."]
''fortunecity.com,'' August 25, 2007.
In addition, 158 other SA226- and SA227-series aircraft were built as short-fuselage Merlin IIIs, IIIAs and IIIBs.
[123 SA226-Ts (of which 31 were Merlin IIIBs built with assigned C/Ns intermingled with those of Metro IIs), and Merlin IIICs and 300s (35 SA227-TTs, of which 25 were IIICs and 10 were 300s; again with assigned C/Ns intermingled with Metros, in this case Metro III/Merlin IVCs). In addition, three SA226-ATs were converted on the production line as SA226-TCs; four SA226-TCs were similarly converted as SA226-ATs; and one short-fuselage SA227-TT was converted as a long-fuselage SA227-AC. These eight aircraft each had two different constructor's numbers of various model names.]
Variants
SA226 series
* SA226-TC Metro and Metro II - 198 built
* SA226-AT Merlin IVA - 56 built
SA227 series
* Metro III - 291 built
** SA227-AC - 273 built (11 to US Armed Forces as C-26As)
** SA227-BC - 18 built (3 to US Armed Forces as C-26Bs)
* - 43 built
** Merlin IVC - 21 built
** Expediter - 22 built
* Metro 23 - 115 built
** SA227-CC - 5 built
** - 110 built (37 to U.S. Armed Forces as C-26Bs)
Military
*
Fairchild C-26 Metroliner - C-26A, C-26B and RC-26B versions for the U.S. military.
* TP 88 - Metro III (two aircraft) delivered to the
Swedish Air Force
The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the air force branch of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the es ...
for use as a
VIP transports. The first was delivered in 1984, and this was replaced by the second (TP 88B) in 1986 and remained in use until 1993. A third dubbed TP 88C, was acquired in 1987 and was used for Erieye/FS-890 AEW trials.
Operators
In July 2019, 196 Metroliners were in airline service; airline operators with three or more aircraft were:
* 45:
Ameriflight
Ameriflight LLC is an American cargo airline with headquarters at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. It is the largest United States FAA Part 135 cargo carrier, operating scheduled and contract cargo services from 19 bases to destinat ...
* 32:
Perimeter Aviation
* 28:
Aeronaves TSM
* 17:
Key Lime Air
* 16:
Sharp Airlines
* 10:
Encore Air Cargo
An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...
* 3:
Berry Aviation
Berry Aviation, Inc is an American charter airline with its headquarters based in San Marcos, Texas. It operates charters for the US Department of Defense in multiple locations worldwide and Part 135 On-Demand Cargo across North America and the ...
Accidents and incidents
* On June 12, 1980, a Metro II operating as
Air Wisconsin Flight 965
Air Wisconsin Flight 965 (registration N650S) was a flight operated by Air Wisconsin that crashed near Valley, Nebraska, on June 12, 1980. The crash was caused by poor weather conditions making the engines fail and failure to recontrol the aircr ...
suffered engine failure following massive water ingestion during a thunderstorm; the crew lost control and crashed near
Valley,
Nebraska. Both crew members and 11 passengers died; two passengers survived with serious injuries.
* On January 30, 1984, a Metro II operated by
Britt Airways crashed shortly after takeoff from Terre Haute, Indiana, on a repositioning flight to Evansville, Indiana. Three Britt employees, including its Director of Operations and Chief Pilot, were killed. The plane, N63Z, was destroyed. The cause was undetermined.
* On January 15, 1987, a Metro II operating as
Skywest Airlines Flight 1834 collided with a single engine
Mooney M-20 near Kearns, Utah. All eight people on the Metro II and both pilots on the Mooney were killed in the accident.
* On January 19, 1988, a Fairchild Metro III, operated by
Trans-Colorado Airlines as
Continental Express Flight 2286
Trans-Colorado Airlines Flight 2286 (operating as Continental Express Flight 2286) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Denver, Colorado, to Durango, Colorado, operated for Continental Express by Trans-Colorado Airlines. On 19 Janu ...
, crashed near
Bayfield, Colorado. Both crew members and seven of the 15 passengers died. Of the surviving passengers, only one was uninjured.
* On February 8, 1988, a Metro III operating as
Nürnberger Flugdienst Flight 108 suffered a lightning strike, following which the electrical system failed. The right wing separated from the aircraft during an uncontrolled descent and the aircraft disintegrated and crashed near
Kettwig,
Germany. Both crew members and all 19 passengers died; the deadliest accident involving the Fairchild Metroliner.
* On February 19, 1988, a Fairchild Metro operating as
AVAir Flight 3378 crashed one mile from the runway after takeoff from
Raleigh-Durham International Airport,
North Carolina. Pilot error was found to be the cause.
* On January 21, 1989, a Fairchild Metro II (OY-ARI) operating a charter flight attempted to make an emergency landing with one engine at Örnsköldsvik (OER) in IFR conditions but failed to feather the propeller making it hard to line up with the runway. The aircraft crashed in deep snow 30 m left of the runway injuring one passenger and destroying the aircraft.
* On September 26, 1989,
Skylink Airlines Flight 070, a Fairchild Metro III was on a scheduled flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Terrace (YXT), British Columbia with two pilots and five passengers on board. The aircraft crashed one quarter mile to the west of Terrace Airport while the crew was attempting to carry out a missed approach in IFR conditions. The aircraft was destroyed by the impact and a post-crash fire. All seven occupants were fatally injured in the crash.
* On February 1, 1991,
SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569, operated with a Metro III, was waiting on a runway at
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...
when
USAir Flight 1493
On the evening of February 1, 1991, USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300, collided with SkyWest Airlines Flight 5569, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprop aircraft, upon landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Though air traff ...
collided with it, resulting in the death of the ten passengers and two crew members on board the Metro.
* On August 25, 1992, a
Lone Star Airlines Swearingen SA 227-AC Metro III on a test flight crashed after takeoff 1km SE of
Memorial Field Airport due to improper maintenance of all primary flight control cables. All three occupants were killed.
* On May 1, 1995, a Metro 23 operating as
Bearskin Airlines (with a crew of two and one passenger on board) collided at 4,500 feet above sea level with an Air Sandy Piper PA-31 Navajo (with one pilot and four passengers on board) while on approach to
Sioux Lookout Airport, destroying both aircraft and killing all persons on both aircraft.
* On September 16, 1995, a Tamair Metro III, VH-NEJ, crashed shortly after takeoff from Tamworth, NSW, Australia, killing two trainees, with the check and training captain surviving with serious injuries. There were no other passengers or crew. The crash occurred following a "V1 cut" at night and raised many questions regarding the safety of asymmetric training operations at night.
* On June 18, 1998,
Propair Flight 420, a Metro II flying from Dorval International Airport (now
Montreal-Trudeau International Airport) to
Peterborough Airport
Peterborough Airport is located south-southwest of the city of Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It includes a main asphalt runway oriented east-west, and a smaller paved (2014) runway oriented northwest-southeast. A new terminal building was bu ...
in
Peterborough, Ontario, experienced a left wheel well fire when the overheated brake and wheel assembly was retracted into the enclosed wheel well. The heat dissipated to the tire and the surrounding structures, eventually causing a fire. During the attempted emergency landing at
Mirabel Airport, the
landing gear was extended on short final and when the aircraft was over the runway, the left wing broke upwards, the fuselage pivoted to the left and struck the ground. All 11 occupants were fatally injured.
*On October 10, 2001, a Merlin IVA operating as
Flightline Flight 101
Flightline Flight 101 was an international flight from Barcelona, Spain to Oran, Algeria. It crashed into the sea, probably due to a lightning strike leading to a loss of electricity.
Aircraft and crew
EC-GDV was a Swearingen SA226-AT Merlin I ...
from Spain to Algeria crashed into the
Mediterranean Sea off the
Columbretes Islands
The Columbretes Islands ( ca-valencia, Les Columbretes, or ''Els Columbrets'' (), are a group of small uninhabited islets of volcanic origin, in the Mediterranean Sea, off Orpesa. Administratively they belong to Castellón de la Plana in the Va ...
in Valencia, Spain, killing all 10 people on board.
* On May 3, 2005, a Metro III operating a cargo flight as
Airwork Flight 23 broke up in midair and crashed near
Stratford,
New Zealand. Both crew members died.
* On May 7, 2005, a
Transair Metro 23 crashed near
Lockhart River, north of
Cooktown, Queensland in Australia. A total of 15 people died in what is, as of December 2009, the worst airline crash in Australia since the 1960s.
* On June 19, 2008, a Fairchild SA-226 Merlin, a coastguard airframe, was being used to conduct pilot flight-skills tests for the Trondheim-based operator
Helitrans
Helitrans is a Norwegian helicopter and maintenance company based at Trondheim Airport, Værnes established in 1990. The airline also has bases in Lillestrøm Kjeller Airport, Ås (kommune), Mo i Rana Airport, Røssvoll, Narvik, Langnes Airpo ...
, the pilots lost control during a stall exercise, and just 37 seconds after the control loss, and with an eventual sink rate of 10,000ft/min, the turboprop hit the sea in a near-horizontal attitude, 18nm west of Bergen, killing all three on board.
* On February 10, 2011,
Manx2 Flight 7100, a Metro III owned by the Spanish airline Air Lada operating on behalf of
Manx2, was on a flight from
Belfast,
Northern Ireland to
Cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
,
Ireland. The aircraft crashed on landing in fog, resulting in the death of six people.
* On September 6, 2011,
Aerocon Flight 238
On 6 September 2011, Aerocon Flight 238, a Fairchild Metro III
The Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (previously the Swearingen Metro and later Fairchild Aerospace Metro) is a 19-seat, pressurized, twin-turboprop airliner first produced by Swea ...
from
El Trompillo Airport,
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia to
Teniente Jorge Henrich Arauz Airport,
Trinidad, Bolivia crashed on approach to Trinidad. The flight was operated by Swearingen SA-227 Metroliner CP-2548. Eight of the nine people on board were killed.
[Hradecky, Simon]
"Accident: Crash: Aerocon SW4 at Trinidad on Sep 6th 2011, missing aircraft found destroyed, one survivor."
''The Aviation Herald,'' September 7, 2011.
* On June 6, 2012, a SA227-C metro en route from Montevideo Carrasco, MVD to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) crashed into the Rio de la Plata close to the coast of Montevideo south of Flores Island. It was registered as CX-LAS operating a freight flight on behalf of DHL.
* On November 3, 2013, a Metro III, CP-2477
Aerocon
Aero Comercial Oriente Norte Ltda., doing business as Aerocon, was a Bolivian airline. Its national office was in Hangar 93 in El Trompillo Airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
It started its operations in 2005. In 2006, the airline transferred ...
airliner crashed when it was trying to land at the airport in
Riberalta Airport (northern Bolivia) that killed eight people.
* On November 10, 2013 a Metroliner operated by Bearskin Airlines under flight number JV311, crashed on final approach to its destination of Red Lake, Ontario, Canada en route from Sioux Lookout, Ontario. The aircraft experienced a near total failure of the left engine at 500 ft AGL which, combined with the aircraft being in the landing configuration, caused a loss of airspeed resulting in an unrecoverable situation. Safety systems to assist in the handling with one engine out did not activate since the engine did not completely shut down; the scenario gave conflicting information to the pilots who did not have time to identify the nature of the failure. Two crew members and three passengers were killed in the crash. Two passengers sustained injuries but survived.
* On December 2, 2013, a Metroliner property of
IBC Airways, flying from
Las Américas International Airport,
Dominican Republic, crashed in the municipality of
Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Arecibo (; ) is a city and municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado and Ciales; east of Hatillo; and west of Barceloneta and Florida. It is about west of San Juan, the ...
. Two people were killed in the accident.
* On April 13, 2015, a Carson Air SA-226 Metro II, operating
Carson Air Flight 66, disappeared somewhere in the North Shore Mountains after taking off from
Vancouver International Airport for
Prince George Airport. Debris was found near the area where the aircraft was last tracked.
* On June 2, 2015, an Aeronaves TSM Fairchild (Swearingen) SA226TC Metro II, registration XA-UKP (msn TC-376 built 1980) crashed shortly after take-off from Querétaro international airport, Querétaro State, Mexico.
* On October 24, 2016, a
CAE Aviation SA227-AT Merlin IVC crashed shortly after take-off from
Malta International Airport. All five people on board were killed. The aircraft was taking part in a French-led surveillance operation to counter people-smuggling.
* On December 6, 2016, a Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III cargo plane, operating as
Key Lime Air flight LYM308, crashed north of
Pelham, Georgia, USA, on a flight from
Panama City, Florida to
Albany, Georgia. The pilot, the sole occupant, was killed. Weather in the area was poor, with a thunderstorm in the vicinity of the destination airport.
* On May 12, 2021, a
Cirrus SR22 ''N416DJ'' and
Key Lime Air Flight 970, a Swearingen SA-226-TC Metro II ''N280KL''
collided on approach to
Centennial Airport in Colorado. The Cirrus made a safe off-airport
parachute-assisted landing, while the Key Lime pilot landed safely at Centennial despite the loss of a section of the cabin roof and damage to the
empennage. There were no injuries.
* On December 10, 2021, a SA 227-DC Metroliner, operating as
Castle Aviation
Castle Aviation is a cargo airline and private passenger airline based in North Canton, Ohio, United States. It operates charter cargo and private passenger services but specializes in priority freight. Its main base is Akron–Canton Airport.
...
Flight 921, crashed in
Bedford, New Hampshire, on approach to nearby
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. The pilot was the only person on board the plane, which was delivering medical supplies. The sole occupant was killed.
* On November 15, 2022, an SA227-AT Expediter crashed on the Western Lakes Golf Club in
Pewaukee, Wisconsin, 6 km short of Runway 10 at
Waukesha County Airport. The plane was flying from New Orleans to Waukesha to deliver dogs to the Humane Animal Welfare Society of Waukesha. All three persons and all 56 dogs on the aircraft survived.
Specifications (Metro III)
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Donald, David, general editor. ''Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada: Prospero Books, 1997. .
* Endes, Günter. "Fairchild (Swearingen) Metro/Merlin". ''The Illustrated Directory of Modern Commercial Aircraft''. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing Company, 2001. .
* Ethell, Jeff. "The Tip of the Spear". ''
Air International
''AIR International'' is a British aviation magazine covering current defence aerospace and civil aviation topics. It has been in publication since 1971 and is currently published by Key Publishing Ltd.
History and profile
The magazine was fir ...
'', Volume 34, Number 4, April 1988. pp. 163–172, 198.
* "World Airliner Census". ''Flight International'', Volume 182, Number 5355, August 28–September 3, 2012, pp. 32–54.
* "World Airliner Census". ''Flight International'', Volume 184, Number 5403, 13–19 August 2013, pp. 40–58.
* Frawley, Gerard. "Fairchild Dornier Metro II, III & 23". ''The International Directory of Civil Aircraft''. Canberra: Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd., 1997. .
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External links
Virtual Museum - Fairchild
{{Swedish military aircraft designations
Metroliner
Swearingen aircraft
C-26 Metroliner
Cruciform tail aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1969
Twin-turboprop tractor aircraft