Lao Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from
Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
to
Pakse
Pakse (or ''Pakxe''; French: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river'; th, ปากเซ) is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Loc ...
,
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
. On 16 October 2013, the
ATR 72-600
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 ...
aircraft operating the flight crashed into the
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...
near Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. The accident was the first involving an ATR 72-600 and the deadliest ever to occur on Laotian soil.
The investigation report concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to properly execute the published
missed approach
Missed approach is a procedure followed by a pilot when an instrument approach cannot be completed to a full-stop landing. The instructions for the missed approach may be assigned by air traffic control (ATC) prior to the clearance for the approac ...
The aircraft was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from
Wattay International Airport
Wattay International Airport is one of the few List of airports in Laos, international airports in Laos and the country's main international gateway, serving the capital Vientiane, located 3 km (2 mi) outside of the city centre. A lar ...
,
Vientiane
Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...
to
Pakse International Airport
Pakse International Airport is one of the few international airports in Laos. Pakse is the former southern capital city of the Kingdom of Champasak.
Facilities
The airport has been in use since 1959 and re-opened after renovations in 2001. A n ...
,
Pakse
Pakse (or ''Pakxe''; French: ''Paksé''; Laotian: ປາກເຊ 'mouth of the river'; th, ปากเซ) is the capital and most populous city of the southern Laotian province of Champasak, and the second most populous city in Laos. Loc ...
, Laos. The flight departed from Vientiane at 14:45
local time
Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...
at 15:55 local time (08:55 UTC) while approaching Pakse for the second time, less than from the airport. The aircraft had already gone around once due to poor weather and was in the downwind leg for another approach when it crashed into a riverbank and was deflected into the nearby river. All five crew and 44 passengers on board were killed.
Marks on the ground indicated that the aircraft landed heavily on the ground before entering the Mekong. The weather was reported to be poor at the time of the accident due to the remnants of Typhoon Nari affecting southern Laos.
Recovery of the victims and wreckage was hampered by the fast-flowing, deep waters of the Mekong. To assist with the search, 50 divers from Thailand were brought in. Eighteen of the victims had been recovered as of 18 October. By 23 October 44 of the 49 victims had been recovered. Identification had been confirmed for 27 of them. Some of the victims were found downstream of the crash site.
Aircraft
The aircraft involved was an
ATR 72-600
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 RDPL-34233, serial number 1071, with a total flying time of just over 700 hours since its delivery to
Lao Airlines
Lao Airlines State Enterprise ." Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
and the United States. At least two children, both from Australia, were among the dead. Early reports that a Canadian was on board were incorrect, since it was later determined that the individual was a Vietnamese national.
The pilots were captain Yong Som (57), who had logged 5,600 flying hours of which 3,200 on the ATR-72, and first officer Soulisack Houvanthong (22), who had logged around 400 hours of flying experience.
ATR ATR may refer to:
Medicine
* Acute transfusion reaction
* Ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3 related, a protein involved in DNA damage repair
Science and mathematics
* Advanced Test Reactor, nuclear research reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory, ...
and the French
Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA, ) is an agency of the French government, responsible for investigating aviation accidents and incidents and making safety recommendations based on what is learned from those inve ...
(BEA) assisted them. The BEA sent four investigators to Laos.() French versionArchive
The wreckage of the aircraft was lifted from the Mekong on 22 October 2013. Within three weeks from the accident, both the
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
and the
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
were successfully recovered from the Mekong.
According to the official investigation report, released in November 2014, the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to execute properly the published missed approach procedure, which resulted in the aircraft flying into terrain. A sudden change of weather conditions and an improperly executed published instrument approach necessitated the
go-around
In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unstab ...
. The recordings show that the flight crew initiated a right turn according to the lateral missed approach trajectory without succeeding in reaching the vertical trajectory. Specifically, the flight crew did not follow the vertical profile of missed approach as the missed approach altitude was set at and the aircraft system went into altitude capture mode. When the flight crew realized that the altitude was too low, the
pilot flying In commercial aviation with a two-person flight crew, the pilot flying (PF) is the pilot operating the flight controls of the aircraft. The other pilot is referred to as the pilot monitoring (PM) or pilot not flying (PNF). Before a flight departs, ...
over-reacted, which led to a high pitch attitude of 33°. It then struck trees. The fuselage collided with the bank and plunged into the river.
See also
*
Garuda Indonesia Flight 200
Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 (GA200/GIA 200) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight of a Boeing 737-400 operated by Garuda Indonesia between Jakarta and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The aircraft overran the runway, crashed into a rice field and burs ...
*
Lion Air Flight 904
Lion Air Flight 904 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. On April 13, 2013, the Boeing 737-800 operating the flight crashed in ...