DHC6, Dabra Indonesia, 2011

DHC6, Dabra Indonesia, 2011

Summary

On 17 October 2011, the pilot of a Merpati DHC6 attempting to land at Dabra on a scheduled passenger flight lost control of the aircraft when several bounces were followed by the aircraft leaving the runway and hitting some banana trees before re entering the runway whereupon a ground loop was made near the end of the runway to prevent an overrun onto unfavourable terrain. The aircraft was damaged but none of the occupants were injured. The mis-managed landing was attributed to an unstabilised approach.

Description

On 17 October 2011, a De Havilland DHC6 Twin Otter being operated by Merpati Nusantra Airlines on a scheduled passenger flight from Sentani to Dabra left the runway after a bounced touchdown in normal day visibility before departing the runway, rebounding from impact with a tree, re-entering the runway and being put into a ground loop as the end of the runway was reached and coming to a stop 36 metres from the end of it. None of the 16 occupants were injured but the aircraft sustained significant damage.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the NTSC. The aircraft was not fitted (or required to be fitted) with a Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and when the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) which was fitted was downloaded, it was found that it had been allowed to continue running after the investigated event so that the relevant data had been overwritten.

It was noted that approaches to Dabra must be made in accordance with Visual Flight Rules (VFR). It was established that the First Officer was PF and that all his recorded flying hours were on the DHC6. The Captain was experienced in respect of total flying hours but their experience on the accident aircraft type was “not provided by the Operator”.

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