Description

On 11 August 2009, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 being operated by Airlines PNG on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Port Moresby to Kokoda impacted terrain in day IMC while transitng the Kokoda Gap, approximately 6nm south east of the intended destination. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and all 13 occupants were killed

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Papua New Guinea Accident Investigation Commission with assistance requested and provided by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). The wreckage was found in a forested area at an altitude of 5780ft amsl.

It was noted that the aircraft was not equipped with an Flight Data Recorder (FDR) or a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and neither of these were required by NAA Regulations. However, the aircraft was fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS) - based tracking system which was independent of aircraft GPS navigation equipment and which was used by Company operations for flight following purposes. The non volatile memory chip from this equipment was recovered from the accident site, successfully downloaded and used to obtain position information which would not otherwise have been available.

The Investigation found no evidence of any airworthiness deficiency which might have caused or contributed to the accident. It was established that, prior to impact, the aircraft had been manoeuvring within the Kokoda Gap and it was considered that this had probably been in an attempt to maintain visual flight in reported cloudy conditions.