2016 Malta Fairchild Merlin crash

Malta Fairchild Merlin crash

N577MX, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 2011
Accident summary
Date 24 October 2016 (2016-10-24)
Summary Crashed shortly after take-off, under investigation
Site near Kirkop, Malta
35°50′38.5″N 14°29′29.3″E / 35.844028°N 14.491472°E / 35.844028; 14.491472Coordinates: 35°50′38.5″N 14°29′29.3″E / 35.844028°N 14.491472°E / 35.844028; 14.491472
Passengers 3
Crew 2
Fatalities 5 (all)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Fairchild SA227-AT Merlin IVC
Operator CAE Aviation
Registration N577MX[1]
Flight origin Malta International Airport
Destination Malta International Airport

On 24 October 2016, a twin turboprop Fairchild SA227-AT Merlin IVC operated by CAE Aviation crashed near Kirkop, Malta, shortly after take-off from Malta International Airport. The aircraft was to operate in the vicinity of Misurata in Libya on a surveillance mission by the French Ministry of Defence. All five people on board the aircraft died in the crash, making it the deadliest aviation accident in Malta since 1975.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Fairchild SA227-AT Merlin IVC, registered in the United States as N577MX.[2] The aircraft, which had been built in 1983,[3] did not have a history of technical issues,[4] and had last undergone an airworthiness inspection in 2011.[5]

The aircraft belonged to Worldwide Aircraft Services[3] and at the time of the crash was leased to Luxembourg-based CAE Aviation, operating on behalf of the French Ministry of Defence.[4]

Accident

The aircraft took off from Malta International Airport at around 07:20, and it was heading to Misrata in Libya on a surveillance flight and was due to return to Malta without landing anywhere. Just after take off, the aircraft rolled right and crashed into the ground, then burst into flames upon impact.[6] The wreckage landed on the airport perimeter road in the limits of Kirkop,[7] with some debris falling into a nearby Armed Forces of Malta barracks. All five people on board, three passengers and two crew members, died in the crash. All were French nationals, and the passengers were employees of the defence ministry, while the crew worked for CAE Aviation.[4][8]

Aftermath

Immediately after the crash, the staff at Mater Dei Hospital were placed in major incident mode. The Malta International Airport was shut down for four hours after the crash before reopening at 11:30. Many flights that were bound to Malta had to be diverted to Sicily.[4][9]

Initial reports indicated that the aircraft was leased to the EU border agency Frontex, but this was subsequently denied by both Frontex and EU Foreign Affairs High Representative Federica Mogherini. The Maltese government then issued a statement that the flight was part of a French customs surveillance operation to combat drug- and human trafficking that had been ongoing for five months.[10] However, the French customs department tweeted that none of its officials were on board, and French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian later said that three of the dead were defence ministry employees within the Directorate-General for External Security.[4] However, Maltese Minister for Home Affairs and National Security Carmelo Abela stuck to the government's original statement that the aircraft was involved in a customs operation, and the flight's exact purpose is unclear.[2][11]

Aviation experts as well as Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat stated that the crash was likely a result of a mechanical failure or pilot error.[4][12] Malta's Bureau of Air Accident Investigation is conducting an investigation of the accident.[5]

This was the worst aviation accident on Maltese soil since the crash of an Avro Vulcan bomber in 1975 that killed six people and injured another twenty.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "FAA Registry". Federal Aviation Administration.
  2. 1 2 Vella, Matthew; Agius, Matthew (24 October 2016). "N577MX aircraft crash in Malta: 'The name of the game is silence'". Malta Today. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  3. 1 2 "FAA Registry N-Number Inquiry Results". Federal Aviation Administration. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Watch: Five dead as plane crashes in Luqa". Times of Malta. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  5. 1 2 Dearden, Lizzie (24 October 2016). "Malta plane crash latest: French customs officials killed during take-off for people smuggling mission in Libya". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "Five people dead after small plane crashes in Malta". ITV. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  7. ↑ Borg, Bertrand (25 October 2016). "Watch: Burnt husk of a plane that came crashing down". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  8. ↑ "French citizens killed in surveillance plane crash on Malta". BBC News. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Air travellers stranded for hours after crash". Times of Malta. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  10. ↑ McKirdy, Euan; Cullen, Simon; Shoichet, Catherine E. (24 October 2016). "Plane crash in Malta kills 5 in surveillance operation". CNN. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Borg, Bertrand (24 October 2016). "What was the plane that crashed in Malta really doing?". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Plane crash appears to have been the result of fault, human error – Muscat". Times of Malta. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
  13. ↑ "A timeline of aviation accidents in Malta". Times of Malta. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016.
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