Lao Airlines Flight 301

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Lao Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Vientiane to Pakse, Laos. On 16 October 2013, the ATR 72–600 aircraft operating the flight crashed into the Mekong River in Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. The accident, the first involving an ATR 72–600, was the deadliest ever to occur on Laotian soil and the third-deadliest involving an ATR 72 behind Aero Caribbean Flight 883 and American Eagle Flight 4184, which both killed 68. It was also the first fatal accident for Lao Airlines since 2000. The investigation report suggests pilot error as the probable cause. The accident was the second-deadliest aviation incident in 2013, behind Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363.

Accident

The aircraft was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Wattay International Airport, Vientiane to Pakse International Airport, Pakse, Laos. The flight departed from Vientiane at 14:45 local time (07:45 UTC) and crashed into the Mekong River at 15:55 local time (08:55 UTC) while approaching Pakse for the second time, less than 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the airport. The aircraft had already gone around once due to poor weather and was in the downwind leg for another approach when the aircraft impacted the nearby river.

There were five crew and 44 passengers on board, all of whom are presumed to have died upon impact. 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 19 kilometres (12 mi) downstream of the crash site.

Investigation

The Laotian Department of Civil Aviation opened an investigation into the accident. The aircraft's manufacturer ATR and the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) are assisting them. The BEA sent four investigators to Laos.

The wreckage of the aircraft was lifted from the Mekong on 22 October 2013. More than two weeks after the accident, on 31 October 2013, the Cockpit Voice Recorder was successfully recovered from the Mekong. The Flight Data Recorder was recovered two days later on 2 November.

According to the official investigation report, released on 28 November 2014, the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to properly execute the published missed approach procedure, which resulted in the aircraft impacting terrain. A sudden change of weather conditions and an improperly executed published instrument approach necessitated the go-around. 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 didn't follow the vertical profile of missed approach as the missed approach altitude was set at 600 ft and the aircraft system went into altitude capture mode. When the flight crew realized that the altitude was too close to the ground, the PF over-reacted, which led to a high pitch attitude of 33°. It then impacted trees. The fuselage struck the bank and plunged into the river.

Incident summary
Date	16 October 2013
Summary	Pilot error, controlled flight into terrain
Site	Done Kho Island, Mekong River, Pakse, Laos
Passengers	44
Crew	5
Fatalities	49
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	ATR 72–600
Operator	Lao Airlines
Registration	RDPL-34233
Flight origin	Wattay International Airport, Vientiane, Laos
Destination	Pakse International Airport, Laos

Air Crash Investigation

CHC Helicopters Eurocopter AS332

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The 2013 CHC Helicopter Eurocopter AS332 crash involved a Eurocopter AS332L2 Super Puma Mk 2 (G-WNSB) belonging to CHC Helicopters that crashed into the sea 2 nm from Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands, Scotland while en route from Borgsten Dolphin oil platform. The accident killed four of the passengers; 12 other passengers and two crew were rescued. An investigation by the UK's Air Accident Investigation Branch is ongoing.

Accident

The helicopter was on an otherwise normal approach to Sumburgh Airport, when at 18:17–18:20 local time, the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control. No mayday was sent out by the pilots as they attempted to make a controlled ditching into the North Sea, 1.5-2 nm west from Sumburgh. The helicopter fell into the sea and then turned upside down during the evacuation. The helicopter was found broken into several pieces up against rocks at Fitful Head.

Recovered flight data noted by the Air Accident Investigation Branch suggests that the helicopter engines remained powered until impact. The manufacturer's initial analysis based on that data indicated that a combination of factors had placed the helicopter into a vortex ring state at low altitude which made impact "unavoidable".

Investigation

The Police Scotland and Air Accidents Investigation Branch have launched an investigation into the cause of the accident. On 5 September 2013, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch special bulletin reported that there is no evidence of a causal technical failure that could have led to the crash. Both the wreckage and black boxes are still being examined.

Incident summary
Date	23 August 2013
Summary	Under Investigation
Site	Fitful Head, 2 NM W off Sumburgh, Shetland Islands, Scotland
Passengers	16
Crew	2
Fatalities	4
Injuries (non-fatal)	14
Survivors	14
Aircraft type	Eurocopter AS332L2 Super Puma
Operator	CHC Helicopters
Registration	G-WNSB
Flight origin	Aberdeen Airport
Destination	Sumburgh Airport

Air Crash Investigation

UPS Airlines Flight 1354

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UPS Airlines Flight 1354 was a scheduled cargo flight from Louisville International Airport to Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport. On August 14, 2013, the aircraft flying this route, a UPS Airlines Airbus A300-600F, crashed and burst into flames short of the runway on approach to Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport in the US state of Alabama. Both pilots were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. They were the only people aboard the aircraft.

Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched an investigation and sent a 26-member "go team" to the crash site to "collect perishable evidence". At a press conference held later on the same day, the NTSB said they had been unable to recover the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder as the tail section (where the recorders are housed) was still on fire. Both recorders were recovered on the following day, and were sent for analysis.

At their third media briefing on August 16, 2013, the NTSB reported that 16 seconds before the end of the recording, the aircraft's ground proximity warning system sounded two "sink rate" alerts, meaning that the aircraft was descending too rapidly. Three seconds later, Captain Beal reported having the runway in sight, which was confirmed by First Officer Fanning. The CVR recorded the sound of the first impact with trees 3 seconds after the pilots reported seeing the runway. A final "too low terrain" alert by the GPWS was then recorded, followed by the final sounds of impact. The crew had briefed the approach to runway 18 and were cleared to land by air traffic control two minutes prior to the end of the recording.

To represent the country of manufacture, the French aviation accident investigation agency BEA, assisted by Airbus technical advisors, participated in the investigation.[13] Members of the FBI Evidence Response Team also assisted the NTSB. The NTSB stated in late August that no mechanical anomalies had yet been uncovered, but that the complete investigation would take several months.

On February 20, 2014, the NTSB held a public hearing in connection with its investigation. Excerpts from the cockpit voice recorder were presented, in which both the captain and first officer discussed their lack of sufficient sleep prior to the flight. On September 9, 2014 the National Transportation Safety Board announced that it had determined the probable cause of the accident was that the aircrew had continued an unstabilized approach into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport during which they failed to monitor their altitude and thus inadvertently descended below the minimum descent altitude when the runway was not yet in sight resulting in a controlled flight into terrain approximately 3,300 feet short of the runway threshold. The NTSB also found that contributing factors in the accident were: the flight crew’s failure to properly configure and verify the flight management computer for the profile approach; the captain’s failure to communicate his intentions to the first officer once it became apparent the vertical profile was not captured; the flight crew’s expectation that they would break out of the clouds at 1,000 feet above ground level due to incomplete weather information; the first officer’s failure to make the required minimums callouts; the captain’s performance deficiencies likely due to factors including, but not limited to, fatigue, distraction, or confusion, consistent with performance deficiencies exhibited during training, and; the first officer’s fatigue due to acute sleep loss resulting from her ineffective off-duty time management.

Incident summary
Date	August 14, 2013
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site	North of Birmingham's runway 18
Passengers	0
Crew	2
Fatalities	2
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Airbus A300F4-622R
Operator	UPS Airlines
Registration	N155UP
Flight origin	Louisville International Airport
Destination	Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport

Air Crash Investigation

Southwest Airlines Flight 345

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Southwest Airlines Flight 345 was a scheduled flight from Nashville International Airport to New York City's LaGuardia Airport on July 22, 2013. The Boeing 737 suffered a collapse of its front landing gear while landing at LaGuardia Airport, injuring 9 people on board. The aircraft, which was worth an estimated $15.5 million at the time, was written off as a total loss and scrapped as a result of the accident.

Investigation

On July 23, 2013, the National Transportation Safety Board opened an accident investigation. On July 26, 2013, the NTSB issued a press release disclosing its initial findings, which included:

The cockpit voice recorder recorded 2 hours of good data, including the full duration of the last flight from Nashville to New York City.
The flight data recorder provided 27 hours of data, including all parameters for the last flight from Nashville to New York City. From the flight data recorder download:
The flaps were changed from 30 degrees to 40 degrees 56 seconds before touchdown.
The aircraft flared reaching 134 Knots Indicated Airspeed (KIAS) and an attitude of 2 degrees nose-up at 32 feet above ground level (AGL), then 4 seconds later dropped the nose to 3 degrees nose-down at 133 KIAS at touchdown.
The aircraft came to rest 19 seconds after touchdown.
Both the obtained flight data and the available video record have the nose gear making contact with the ground before the main landing gear did, which is the opposite order from the normal landing sequence.

No mechanical malfunctions were found, but the nose landing gear collapsed due to stress overload. The NTSB's investigation became focused on the behavior of the flight crew during Flight 345's approach into LaGuardia Airport. The NTSB discovered that Flight 345's captain had been the subject of multiple complaints by first officers who had flown with her. Southwest's flight operations manual requires its pilots to abort a landing if the plane is not properly configured by the time it descends to 1,000 feet. Analyzing flight recorder data, the NTSB determined that the captain had changed the airplane's flaps from 30 degrees to 40 degrees at an altitude of only 500 feet. At 100 to 200 feet, the captain observed that the plane was still above the glide slope, and ordered the first officer to "get down" instead of aborting the landing. At an altitude of only 27 feet and 3 seconds from touching down, the captain took control of the aircraft from the first officer. The plane was descending at 960 feet per minute in a nose-down position when its nose wheel struck the runway.

The NTSB ultimately concluded that the crash was due to pilot error. Specifically, the NTSB faulted the captain for failing to take control of the aircraft or abort the landing earlier, noting that the captain had warnings at 500 feet (due to the flaps misconfiguration) and at 100 to 200 feet (when the captain observed the plane was above the glide scope) and could have aborted the landing at that time. The NTSB determined that the captain's failure to take control until the plane had descended to only 27 feet "did not allow her adequate time to correct the airplane's deteriorating energy state and prevent the nose landing gear from striking the runway.

NTSB file photo, showing the extent of the damage to the electronics bay, with the collapsed nose gear jammed into it, only right axle attached

Incident summary
Date	July 22, 2013
Summary	Landing gear collapse due to pilot error
Site	LaGuardia Airport
Passengers	145
Crew	5
Fatalities	0
Injuries (non-fatal)	9
Survivors	150(all)
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-7H4
Operator	Southwest Airlines
Registration	N753SW
Flight origin	Nashville International Airport
Destination	LaGuardia Airport

Air Crash Investigation

Asiana Airlines Flight 214

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Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea, to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in the United States. On the morning of Saturday, July 6, 2013, the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft operating the flight crashed on final approach into SFO. Of the 307 people aboard, two passengers died at the crash scene, and a third died in a hospital several days later, all three of them teenage Chinese girls. Another 187 individuals were injured, 49 of them seriously. Among the injured were three flight attendants who were thrown onto the runway while still strapped in their seats when the tail section broke off after striking the seawall short of the runway. It was the first crash of a Boeing 777 that resulted in fatalities since that aircraft model entered into service in 1995.

Crash

On July 6, 2013, Flight OZ214 took off from Incheon International Airport (ICN) at 5:04 p.m. KST (08:04 UTC), 34 minutes after its scheduled departure time. It was scheduled to land at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at 11:04 a.m. PDT (18:04 UTC). The flight was cleared for a visual approach to runway 28L at 11:21 a.m. PDT, and told to maintain a speed of 180 knots (330 km/h; 210 mph) until the aircraft was 5 miles (8.0 km) from the runway. At 11:26 a.m., Northern California TRACON ("NorCal Approach") passed air traffic control to the San Francisco tower. A tower controller acknowledged the second call from the crew at 11:27 a.m. when the plane was 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away, and gave clearance to land.

The weather was very good; the latest METAR reported light wind, 10 miles (16 km) visibility (the maximum it can report), no precipitation, and no forecast or reports of wind shear. The pilots performed a visual approach[3] assisted by the runway's precision approach path indicator (PAPI).

At 11:28 a.m., HL7742 crashed short of runway 28L's threshold. The landing gear and then the tail struck the seawall that projects into San Francisco Bay. Both engines and the tail section separated from the aircraft. The NTSB noted that the main landing gear, the first part of the aircraft to hit the seawall, "separated cleanly from [the] aircraft as designed". The vertical and both horizontal stabilizers fell on the runway before the threshold.

The remainder of the fuselage and wings rotated counter-clockwise approximately 330 degrees, as it slid westward. Video showed it pivoting about the wing and the nose while sharply inclined to the ground. It came to rest to the left of the runway, 2,400 feet (730 m) from the initial point of impact at the seawall.

After a minute or so, a dark plume of smoke was observed rising from the wreckage. The fire was traced to a ruptured oil tank above the right engine. The leaking oil fell onto the hot engine and ignited. The fire was not fed by jet fuel. Two evacuation slides were deployed on the left side of the airliner and used for evacuation. Despite damage to the aircraft, "many ... were able to walk away on their own". The slides for the first and second doors on the right side of the aircraft (doors 1R and 2R) deployed inside the aircraft, pinning the flight attendants seated nearby.

According to NBC reports in September 2013, the US government had been concerned about the reliability of evacuation slides for decades: "Federal safety reports and government databases reveal that the NTSB has recommended multiple improvements to escape slides and that the Federal Aviation Administration has collected thousands of complaints about them." Two months before the accident at SFO, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive ordering inspection of the slide release mechanism on certain Boeing 777 aircraft, so as to detect and correct corrosion that might interfere with slide deployment. This was the third fatal crash in Asiana's 25-year history.

Passengers

Two 16-year-old girls with Chinese passports were found dead outside the aircraft soon after the crash, having been thrown out of the aircraft during the accident. One was accidentally run over by an airport crash tender after being covered in fire-fighting foam. On July 19, 2013, the San Mateo County Coroner's office confirmed that the girl was still alive prior to being run over by a rescue vehicle, and was killed due to blunt force trauma. On January 28, 2014, the San Francisco city attorney's office announced their conclusion that the girl was already dead when she was run over. Four flight attendants seated at the rear were ejected from the aircraft when the tail section broke off, and they survived.

Ten people in critical condition were admitted to San Francisco General Hospital and a few to Stanford Medical Center. Nine hospitals in the area admitted 182 injured people. San Francisco Fire Department Chief Joanne Hayes-White, after checking with two intake points at the airport, told reporters that all on board had been accounted for. A third passenger, a 15-year-old Chinese girl, died of her injuries at San Francisco General Hospital six days after the accident.

Of the passengers, 141 (almost half) were Chinese citizens. More than 90 of them had boarded Asiana Airlines Flight 362 from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, connecting to Flight 214 at Incheon. Incheon serves as a major connecting point between China and North America. In July 2013, Asiana Airlines operated between Incheon (Seoul) and 21 cities in mainland China. Seventy students and teachers traveling to the United States for summer camp were among the Chinese passengers. Thirty of the students and teachers were from Shanxi, and the others were from Zhejiang. Five of the teachers and 29 of the students were from Jiangshan High School in Zhejiang; they were traveling together. Thirty-five of the students were to attend a West Valley Christian School summer camp. The Shanxi students originated from Taiyuan, with 22 students and teachers from the Taiyuan Number Five Secondary School and 14 students and teachers from the Taiyuan Foreign Language School. The three passengers who died were in the Jiangshan High School group to West Valley camp.

Investigation

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) sent a team of 20 to the scene to investigate. On July 7, 2013, NTSB investigators recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and transported them to Washington, D.C., for analysis. Additional parties to the investigation include the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and the Korean Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board (ARAIB). ARAIB's technical adviser is Asiana Airlines. ARAIB tested the pilots for drug use four weeks after the accident; the tests proved negative.

The NTSB's investigative team completed the examination of the airplane wreckage and runway. The wreckage was removed to its secure storage location at San Francisco International Airport. The Airplane Systems, Structures, Powerplants, Airplane Performance, and Air Traffic Control investigative groups completed their on-scene work. The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder groups completed their work in Washington. The Survival Factors/Airport group completed their interviews of the first responders. The next phase of the investigation included additional interviews, examination of the evacuation slides and other airplane components, and a more detailed analysis of the airplane's performance. The final report was released in June 2014. On July 19, San Mateo County coroner confirmed that one passenger died of injuries received from a responding fire truck, not from the crash itself.[45] The District Attorney ruled that her death was accidental and that the driver of the fire truck involved would not face any criminal proceedings.

The final report into the crash was released on June 24, 2014. The NTSB found that the "Mismanagement of Approach and Inadequate Monitoring of Airspeed Led to Crash of Asiana flight 214". The NTSB determined that the flight crew mismanaged the initial approach and that the airplane was well above the desired glidepath. In response, the captain selected an inappropriate autopilot mode, which, without the captain's awareness, resulted in the autothrottle no longer controlling airspeed. The aircraft then descended below the desired glide path with the crew unaware of the decreasing airspeed. The attempted go-around was conducted below 100 feet, by which time it was too late. Over-reliance on automation and lack of systems understanding by the pilots were cited as major factors contributing to the accident.

The NTSB further determined that the pilot's faulty mental model of the airplane's automation logic led to his inadvertent deactivation of automatic airspeed control. In addition, Asiana's automation policy emphasized the full use of all automation and did not encourage manual flight during line operations. The flight crew's mismanagement of the airplane's vertical profile during the initial approach led to a period of increased workload that reduced the pilot monitoring's awareness of the pilot flying's actions around the time of the unintended deactivation of automatic airspeed control. Insufficient flight crew monitoring of airspeed indications during the approach likely resulted from expectancy, increased workload, fatigue, and automation reliance. Lack of compliance with standard operating procedures and crew resource management were cited as additional factors. The NTSB reached the following final conclusion:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the flight crew's mismanagement of the airplane's descent during the visual approach, the pilot flying's unintended deactivation of automatic airspeed control, the flight crew's inadequate monitoring of airspeed, and the flight crew's delayed execution of a go-around after they became aware that the airplane was below acceptable glidepath and airspeed tolerances. Contributing to the accident were the complexities of the autothrottle and autopilot flight director systems that were inadequately described in Boeing's documentation and Asiana's pilot training, which increased the likelihood of mode error; the flight crew's nonstandard communication and coordination regarding the use of the autothrottle and autopilot flight director systems; the pilot flying's inadequate training on the planning and executing of visual approaches; the pilot monitoring/instructor pilot's inadequate supervision of the pilot flying; and flight crew fatigue, which likely degraded their performance.

Incident summary
Date	July 6, 2013
Summary	Descent below visual glidepath and impact with seawall due to pilot error
Site	San Francisco International Airport
Passengers	291
Crew	16
Fatalities	3
Injuries (non-fatal)	187
Survivors	304
Aircraft type	Boeing777-28EER
Operator	Asiana Airlines
Registration	HL7742
Flight origin	Incheon International Airport
Destination	San Francisco International Airport

Air Crash Investigation

Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 6517

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On 4 January 2013, a Britten-Norman BN-2A-27 Islander, registration YV2615, operated by Transaereo 5074, went missing during a flight from Los Roques Airport to Caracas Airport, both in Venezuela.The plane took off about midmorning, in decent weather conditions.

Accident

Flight 6517 departed Bajawa Turulelo Soa Airport at 09.00 a.m local time carrying 46 passengers and 4 crews on board with an ETA of 9:40 a.m. The flight was uneventful until its landing. First Officer Vunpin was the pilot flying and Captain Aditya was the Pilot Monitoring. At 09:22, the flight crews made first communication with El Tari Control Tower controller (El Tari Tower) and reported their position and maintaining 11,500 ft. The pilot received information that the runway in use was 07 and the weather information. Flight 6517 later descended approved their descent clearance of 5.000 ft. At 09.38 local time, the crew reported the aircraft was passing 10,500 ft and stated that the flight was on Visual Meteorological Condition (VMC). El Tari Airport then obtained visual contact with Flight 6517 and issued a landing clearance. At 09.51 a.m, the crew reported that their position was on final and the El Tari Tower re-issued the landing clearance. Flight 6517 then retracted its landing gear.

On 10.15 a.m, Flight 6517 bounced for three times[16] and slammed onto the tarmac. It broke into two sections. Both the left wing and the right wing were bent forward and both propellers were destroyed. Eyewitness recalled that there was a massive explosion when the crash occurred. It then skidded for several meters. After the aircraft stopped, the flight attendants assessed the situation and decided to evacuate the passengers through the rear main entrance door.

A total of 25 people were injured in the crash. One pilot and four passengers who seated on row number three, seven and eight suffered serious injury. Several injured passengers suffered shock from the crash and was taken into El Tari's VVIP Lounge. Several people were admitted to the airport's military hospital, the Kupang Military Hospital, located on the west of the airport. Several of the injured were taken to the Prof. Dr. WZ Johannes Public Hospital. Military personnel immediately assisted the survivors and sterilized the crash site. A police line then extracted by authorities.

Investigation

The Vice Minister of Transportation Ministry Bambang Susanto immediately ordered three main things in response to the crash, which were evacuation process of the survivors, immediate investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee, and immediate clean-up at El Tari Airport.

Most survivors stated that before the plane touched the runway, the aircraft "swayed and shook" for several times. Shortly afterwards the aircraft bounced and slammed onto the tarmac. Investigators then analysed the FDR and CVR. The FDR was downloaded in Surabaya on 13 June with good quality. Further analysis was conducted in Jakarta. Based on the FDR analysis of the flight's approach, the approach was not on profile as published for runway 07, while the approach angle greater than 2.9°. Investigators then noticed that the left power lever was in the range of BETA MODE while the aircraft altitude was approximately 112 ft and followed by the right power lever at 90 ft until hit the ground. The FDR also recorded a vertical acceleration of +5.99 G followed by -2.76 G and stopped recording 0.297 seconds after touchdown. The CVR was downloaded at NTSC facility on 12 June 2013 and contained 120 minutes of good quality recording. The audio files were examined found to contain the accident flight. The recording showed that First Officer Vunping intended to reduce the power to correct the speed. Then, sounds similar to changing of engine and propeller were heard in the recording. First Officer Vunpin then exclaimed "Oops", possibly realizing his mistake. The aircraft then impacted terrain.

Noticed by the abnormal situation on the thrust lever, investigators then examined it. The power levers should have prevented to move from flight idle to ground idle during flight by the function of Electric Magnetic Lock Systems and Mechanical Power Lever Stop Slot. At the accident aircraft was found that the electric magnetic lock system (Power Lever lock) was on open position. With power lever lock on open position, the solenoid of the electric magnetic lock system disengage and allow the power lever moves to ground idle in flight whenever the mechanical power lever stop slots lifted. Based on simulator test conducted by the NTSC, if the engine entered this condition, the aircraft would lose lift and eventually descended rapidly. The movement of power lever to ground idle will result to the propeller pitch angle changes to low pitch angle which produces significant drag. The NTSC stated that because it happened on 112 ft, it was impossible to not crash.

Interviews from Merpati officials revealed that the first two aircraft had several problems on the Power Lever Lock System, whereas the automatic power lever lock system sometimes failed to open after landing. In May 2008, the board of instructors had agreed to revise the Normal Checklist that the Power Lock system selects to “OPEN” before landing. However, further analysis revealed that there were no faults in the engines.

Investigators then turned on the pilot who flew the plane, First Officer Vunpin. First Officer Vunpin have some experiences of delay on moving the power lever to Ground Idle during landing. On the accident flight, he aware to previous experienced and lifted the mechanical power lever stop slots during approach. He realized that he retarded the Power Lever backward at about 70 ft of aircraft altitude and unintentionally entered the Beta Range. Interviews with First Officer Vunpin revealed that he have some experiences of delay on moving the power lever to Ground Idle during landing. This experience became his belief (cognitive). First Officer Vunpin has been planned to do the flight check to be qualified First Officer, and he wanted to prove that he was qualified as a First Officer. Knowing that he had repeated the errors in the past flights, he tried to prove that he had overcome his errors. However, he unintentionally moved the power lever beyond flight idle (behavioral). The aircraft lost lift and subsequently crashed.

Incident summary
Date	10 June 2013
Summary	Pilot error, wrong thrust position during landing led to structural failure
Site	El Tari Airport, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
Passengers	46 (including 1 infant)
Crew	4
Fatalities	0
Injuries (non-fatal)	25 (5 seriously)
Survivors	50 (all)
Aircraft type	Xian MA60
Operator	Merpati Nusantara Airlines
Registration	PK-MZO
Flight origin	Turelelo Soa Airport, Bajawa, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
Destination	El Tari Airport, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Air Crash Investigation

Nepal Airlines Flight 555

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Nepal Airlines Flight 555 was a short domestic scheduled flight from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport in Nepal of about 20 minutes' flying time, operated by Nepal Airlines. On 16 May 2013 the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft operating the flight crashed while landing at Jomsom Airport. Seven of the twenty-one on board were seriously injured. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair.

According to police, just after the aircraft touched down on the runway it veered towards the right and fell 20 metres (66 ft) down the bank of the Gandaki River. The forward fuselage was destroyed, but the rear of the aircraft remained intact. The left wing was found submerged in the river.

The accident left Nepal Airlines with only two operational aircraft for its domestic flights. The airline said that it planned an engine exchange that would put three more Twin Otters, currently grounded, back in the air, but that process would take at least five months. In the meantime, the airline was expect to suffer a significant loss of market share.

Investigation

An investigation will be carried out to determine what caused the accident. According to an official at Tribhuwan International Airport, preliminary reports have shown that windy conditions could have played a part in the crash.

Incident summary
Date	16 May 2013
Summary	Overran the runway on landing, went down a hill and impacted a stone terrace on the bank of Gandaki River nose-first
Site	Jomsom, Manang, Nepal
Passengers	18
Crew	3
Fatalities	0
Injuries (non-fatal)	7
Survivors	21
Aircraft type	de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
Operator	Nepal Airlines
Registration	9N-ABO
Flight origin	Pokhara Airport
Destination	Jomsom Airport

Air Crash Investigation