Small commuter aircraft has landing mishap on Aguni

A propeller-driven Twin Otter DHC6-400 commuter aircraft of Osaka-based First Flying Co., Ltd. had an accident on Aug. 28th when landing at Aguni Airport on its scheduled flight from Naha.

For some yet unknown reason the aircraft veered off the runway to the left sliding into a fence. The runway on Aguni is about 800 meters long and 25 meters wide. The aircraft had 12 people onboard including a crew of two, who all were taken to a hospital on the island. None of them was seriously injured although some of them complained about minor pain in their hand or neck.

According to First Flying Co. officials, the front landing gear of the aircraft was completely broken and the nose part of the fuselage was damaged as well due to the collision with the fence. Although the plane was leaking some fuel, it luckily did not catch fire.

An aircraft accident investigator flew in to Aguni Island from Tokyo, and finished the investigation on the island on Aug. 31st. The investigation concentrated on circumstances of the accident and the condition of the runway. The investigator also collected the flight recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the aircraft for an analysis in Tokyo.

14:58 29 Mar , 2024