1977 Vieques Air Link crash

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.

1977 Vieques Air Link crash
Vieques Air Link Britten-Norman BN-2A-9 Islander, similar to the crashed aircraft but with a later VAL livery
Accident
DateDecember 19, 1977
SummaryPilot error
SiteVieques, Puerto Rico
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBritten-Norman Islander
OperatorVieques Air Link
RegistrationN862JA
Flight originSt. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
DestinationVieques Airport, Vieques, Puerto Rico
Occupants10
Passengers9
Crew1
Fatalities5
Survivors5, including the pilot

Flight

edit

The airplane was on an international scheduled flight between St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands and Vieques, Puerto Rico.[1]

Accident

edit

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]

Passengers and crew

edit

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]

Investigation

edit

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]

edit

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]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Descripción del Accidente ASN 19 DEC 1977 Britten-Norman BN-2A-6 Islander N862JA - Vieques". aviation-safety.net.
  2. ^ "Accident detail". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  3. ^ "Nine die in Caribbean air shuttle crash". UPI.