Engine failure said to be the reason a Piper Aztec went down earlier this year near the Great Harbour Cay Airport in The Berry Islands.
Luckily, the pilot and four passengers survived.
Based on the report into the incident, the group took off from the Chub Cay Airport on January 12th at 11:30am.
Not long after, the pilot reported by telephone that the plane’s right engine failed, resulting in a significant loss of altitude.
As the aircraft was unable to maintain altitude on the left engine alone, the pilot opted to divert and attempt a landing at the nearby Great Harbour Cay Airport.
However, considering the continued loss in altitude, he instead executed a controlled landing in an area of mangroves approximately two miles south east of the Great Harbour Cay Airport to avoid crashing into trees.
In this case, the pilot was the only one to be injured.
The aircraft was damaged; however, the extent is unknown.
All the passengers then were able to walk to the mainland where they were assisted by locals.
A post-crash report notes that the pilot was on a regularly scheduled flight on the route between San Andros, Great Harbour Cay and Freeport.
However, authorities were unable to confirm whether this was a for-hire flight.
Due to the inaccessibility of the crash site, the AAID was unable to conduct the on-site phase of the investigation.
A limited scope investigation was therefore conducted.
The weather at the time in Great Harbour Cay was considered visual meteorological conditions.
The report revealed, despite repeated requests of the pilot, the maintenance records for the aircraft were never made available to the air accident investigation department for review.
