Britten-Norman Islander Ditching off Bonaire
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Britten-Norman Islander Ditching off Bonaire
Small plane ditches off Bonaire, pilot missing
BONAIRE--A Britten-Norman Islander plane of Divi Divi Air coming from Curaçao made an emergency landing at sea off Bonaire on Thursday. All nine passengers were rescued, but the Canadian pilot Robert Mansel (32), who used to work for Winair in St. Maarten, is missing and presumed dead.
The aircraft registered as PJ-SUN apparently had lost one of its two propeller engines after taking off from Curaçao, but the pilot decided to fly on to Bonaire. However, he was forced to ditch the plane in the sea just short of the runway of the intended destination, around 10:30am.
The plane continued to float on the water for a while, enabling all nine passengers to escape. They were rescued by the Plaza Beach Resort dive boat and taken to medical emergency personnel who had quickly assembled on shore.
The pilot is believed to have hit his head against the cockpit window during the “landing” and to have lost consciousness. Passengers tried to get him out before the plane sank, but the safety belt mechanism reportedly had stuck.
All the passengers were said to be in good condition.
Copyright ©2008 The Daily Herald St. Maarten
BONAIRE--A Britten-Norman Islander plane of Divi Divi Air coming from Curaçao made an emergency landing at sea off Bonaire on Thursday. All nine passengers were rescued, but the Canadian pilot Robert Mansel (32), who used to work for Winair in St. Maarten, is missing and presumed dead.
The aircraft registered as PJ-SUN apparently had lost one of its two propeller engines after taking off from Curaçao, but the pilot decided to fly on to Bonaire. However, he was forced to ditch the plane in the sea just short of the runway of the intended destination, around 10:30am.
The plane continued to float on the water for a while, enabling all nine passengers to escape. They were rescued by the Plaza Beach Resort dive boat and taken to medical emergency personnel who had quickly assembled on shore.
The pilot is believed to have hit his head against the cockpit window during the “landing” and to have lost consciousness. Passengers tried to get him out before the plane sank, but the safety belt mechanism reportedly had stuck.
All the passengers were said to be in good condition.
Copyright ©2008 The Daily Herald St. Maarten
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Just to correct that article, Rob is actually English and not Canadian.
More articles:
Accident: Divi Divi BN2P near Bonaire on Oct 22nd 2009, engine failure, ditched in the Caribbean
Light commercial aircraft crashes off Bonaire, pilot sinks with aircraft
I worked with Rob when he was with Solomon Airlines. We were also housemates.
A wonderful guy and a true friend.
Unfortunately we will never see each other again.
I will miss you mate, miss you lots. May you rest in peace.
In happier times. Cheers mate.
RIP
More articles:
Accident: Divi Divi BN2P near Bonaire on Oct 22nd 2009, engine failure, ditched in the Caribbean
Light commercial aircraft crashes off Bonaire, pilot sinks with aircraft
I worked with Rob when he was with Solomon Airlines. We were also housemates.
A wonderful guy and a true friend.
Unfortunately we will never see each other again.
I will miss you mate, miss you lots. May you rest in peace.
In happier times. Cheers mate.
RIP
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BBC News reporting on the story:
'Hero' pilot killed in Caribbean
A British pilot killed as he saved his nine passengers by ditching his plane into the Caribbean sea has been hailed as a hero.
Robert Mansell, 32, originally from Knowle, West Midlands, had used his skills as a "good pilot" to save lives, said his employers Divi Divi Air.
He was flying between the south Caribbean islands of Curacao and Bonaire on Wednesday when he crashed.
All nine passengers escaped the sinking plane, but the pilot's body is missing.
Captain Mansell was five minutes short of the destination when he was forced to ditch the twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander.
The passengers escaped the sinking aircraft, but he was still strapped into his seat as it disappeared into waters reported to be 150 metres deep.
Colleagues at Divi Divi Air are said to be devastated by his death, describing him as a highly respected and qualified flyer.
Simon Janzen, from the company, said: "He's a hero. All the passengers survived and he is the only one missing. If he wasn't a good pilot, he couldn't have ditched it so everyone could be saved.
"Other pilots wouldn't have known what to do but he landed the aircraft so that everyone could get out safely."
The crash happened after the right engine of the plane failed, and Capt Mansell made a mayday call before ditching, he added.
Tributes on a local news website, the St Maarten Island Time, have described Mr Mansell as a "true hero" for saving the passengers.
Capt Mansell worked for Winair before moving to work for Avion di Divi Divi.
Divi Divi Air, established in 2001 on the island of Curacao, operates up to nine flights a day between Caribbean islands.
Bonaire, which along with Curacao is part of the Netherlands Antilles, lies about 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela.
Robert Mansell, 32, originally from Knowle, West Midlands, had used his skills as a "good pilot" to save lives, said his employers Divi Divi Air.
He was flying between the south Caribbean islands of Curacao and Bonaire on Wednesday when he crashed.
All nine passengers escaped the sinking plane, but the pilot's body is missing.
Captain Mansell was five minutes short of the destination when he was forced to ditch the twin-engine Britten-Norman Islander.
The passengers escaped the sinking aircraft, but he was still strapped into his seat as it disappeared into waters reported to be 150 metres deep.
Colleagues at Divi Divi Air are said to be devastated by his death, describing him as a highly respected and qualified flyer.
Simon Janzen, from the company, said: "He's a hero. All the passengers survived and he is the only one missing. If he wasn't a good pilot, he couldn't have ditched it so everyone could be saved.
"Other pilots wouldn't have known what to do but he landed the aircraft so that everyone could get out safely."
The crash happened after the right engine of the plane failed, and Capt Mansell made a mayday call before ditching, he added.
Tributes on a local news website, the St Maarten Island Time, have described Mr Mansell as a "true hero" for saving the passengers.
Capt Mansell worked for Winair before moving to work for Avion di Divi Divi.
Divi Divi Air, established in 2001 on the island of Curacao, operates up to nine flights a day between Caribbean islands.
Bonaire, which along with Curacao is part of the Netherlands Antilles, lies about 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela.
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If he wasn't a good pilot, he couldn't have ditched it so everyone could be saved.
"Other pilots wouldn't have known what to do but he landed the aircraft so that everyone could get out safely."
The crash happened after the right engine of the plane failed, and Capt Mansell made a mayday call before ditching, he added.
"Other pilots wouldn't have known what to do but he landed the aircraft so that everyone could get out safely."
The crash happened after the right engine of the plane failed, and Capt Mansell made a mayday call before ditching, he added.
Only a good pilot would know what to do when an engine fails in a twin?
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"...The aircraft registered as PJ-SUN apparently had lost one of its two propeller engines after taking off from Curaçao, but the pilot decided to fly on to Bonaire...."
What???????
Something more to the story.....
What???????
Something more to the story.....
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Since when does this twin not fly on one engine?
Pointless speculating. This chap got the aircraft down and the passengers were saved. Best wait for the report.
I'm not a pilot so please excuse any ignorant thoughts/remarks here. Firstly I understand ditching an aircraft is very difficult, All passengers survived so a job well done. My Question to pilots (especially any 'Islander' experienced pilots).
1/ I understand most twins will fly on 1 engine so why the need to ditch?
Could it be weight/range related?
2/ Is the Islander particularly difficult to ditch? I,m thinking about the fixed
undercarriage!
I know we don't have all the facts of this accident but your thoughts are always interesting.
1/ I understand most twins will fly on 1 engine so why the need to ditch?
Could it be weight/range related?
2/ Is the Islander particularly difficult to ditch? I,m thinking about the fixed
undercarriage!
I know we don't have all the facts of this accident but your thoughts are always interesting.
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As a comment, with probably no relevance to the loss described in this threead, in the very early 1970s a military evaluation of the BN2A in a very hot part of the world concluded that "the aircraft must be regarded as a single engine-aircraft as there are few circumstances in which with a normal load it can sustain level flight on one engine. The best that can be hoped for is a controlled descent and landing." (That's only slightly paraphrased for brevity.)
It was none-the-less brought into service in that hot place both as a civil aircraft operating under the CAA rules of the time for transport operations, and in the military (who operated exactly as above). It was widely accepted among the civil pilots that if an engine quit, the other would overheat at within 5 minutes at or near Max Cruise to maintain level flight thus forcing a descent and, as I recall, this was demonstrated several times, although not in a real emergency.
It was a long time ago, and I stand to be corrected by people who were there also, but that's how I remember it. I still have the military evaluation, but that's in the attic.
It was none-the-less brought into service in that hot place both as a civil aircraft operating under the CAA rules of the time for transport operations, and in the military (who operated exactly as above). It was widely accepted among the civil pilots that if an engine quit, the other would overheat at within 5 minutes at or near Max Cruise to maintain level flight thus forcing a descent and, as I recall, this was demonstrated several times, although not in a real emergency.
It was a long time ago, and I stand to be corrected by people who were there also, but that's how I remember it. I still have the military evaluation, but that's in the attic.
Sounds like he did an excellent job when presented with a difficult situation. As most pilots will know, twin props do not exactly climb well when reduced to a single engine, who knows what other factors may have been involved impacting on the aircrafts ability to climb or even maintain altitude, little point in speculating....RIP
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There is an inherent risk that one takes when flying a fully loaded Cessna 404 or 402, Piper Chieftan, Islander and alike. If you lose a motor, on one of these underpowered planes then the remaining engine will take you to the scene of the accident.
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I have indeed lost an engine on a PA31 Navajo while in the cruise at FL120. We were empty and happily cruised at VYSE or above but my inclination is that had we been heavy we would have been in a controlled descent at best. That said, the PA31 is turbo charged and is a slightly different beast from the BN2.
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I can recall, on a day cooler than in the case of this accident, being only able to maintain a very low altitude at a weight of approximately 100kgs below max during an assymetric training flight. I love the Islander but it is a heavy aircraft to say the least on one engine. While I have no idea about the composition of the pax if they were all adult (the press usually highlight when children are involved) then this aircraft was always going to be heavy with 9 pax and the pilot. Given that the critical engine is the left on the Islander then it is quite probable that something else was a factor as already suggested (prop not feathering or left engine not providing full power). We will wait for the report on that. None the less the guy clearly did a good job getting it down as I never fancied having to ditch it. It went through my mind more than once that as the pilot you are the worst placed occupant in a ditching due to the pitch moment that it would have on contacting the surface and the high instrument panel. RIP
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Yes a sad day indeed.... Had a lot of fun flying the Islander and Trislander not that long ago. Must say that was the most fun I've ever had and despite flying a number of JAR25 types since don't think it will ever match those beautiful heady days of flying the I & Tri for a tightly knit small outfit off a rock. So I can certainly empathize with the folks at Divi Divi....
A number of us did wonder how useful she would be on one engine with 9 pax and a hold full of bags.... and that's in the mid latitudes. I have spoken to a colleague who did survive a ditching in an Islander in the tropics and it wasn't a pretty story!
Actually it wasn't that long ago another Islander ditched around that part of the world.... Scant information available at the very bottom of the Incident Watch page on flightglobal.com
Aviation News and Aviation Jobs from Flightglobal
A number of us did wonder how useful she would be on one engine with 9 pax and a hold full of bags.... and that's in the mid latitudes. I have spoken to a colleague who did survive a ditching in an Islander in the tropics and it wasn't a pretty story!
Actually it wasn't that long ago another Islander ditched around that part of the world.... Scant information available at the very bottom of the Incident Watch page on flightglobal.com
Aviation News and Aviation Jobs from Flightglobal
Last edited by Jetgate; 24th Oct 2009 at 20:55.
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Is there something unusual about the seatbelt release on this aircraft?
A passenger reported that they were unable to undo the belt.
A passenger reported that they were unable to undo the belt.
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G-CPTN,
The seatbelt is generally like most seatbelts- ie lift the buckle and unclick it goes.
There may be a fixed (to the lap belt part) or removeable shoulder harness which the passengers don't have and they may have struggled with that.
Or they could have for some reason not been able to access the buckle.
But I've never been in that particular aircraft (PJ-SUN) so cannot comment what it had.
There is really no point speculating, we just have to wait for the report.
The Islander and a lot of GA twin pistons, at heavy weights (even below MTOW), will often have trouble maintaining height on one, especially when it is hot outside. Add to that old airframes and engines/props etc and it won't be performing at it's peak.
Ditching the Islander.... not many people would be keen on that. Plenty of other planes out there that would fair a lot better.
"Sittin on the dock of the bay, wastin time.............."
The seatbelt is generally like most seatbelts- ie lift the buckle and unclick it goes.
There may be a fixed (to the lap belt part) or removeable shoulder harness which the passengers don't have and they may have struggled with that.
Or they could have for some reason not been able to access the buckle.
But I've never been in that particular aircraft (PJ-SUN) so cannot comment what it had.
There is really no point speculating, we just have to wait for the report.
The Islander and a lot of GA twin pistons, at heavy weights (even below MTOW), will often have trouble maintaining height on one, especially when it is hot outside. Add to that old airframes and engines/props etc and it won't be performing at it's peak.
Ditching the Islander.... not many people would be keen on that. Plenty of other planes out there that would fair a lot better.
"Sittin on the dock of the bay, wastin time.............."
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Sorry you lost a true friend.
For all we know, the other engine might not have been producing full power after the failure. We may never know.
He died a long way from the West Midlands, doing what he loved to do.
RIP Robert.
For all we know, the other engine might not have been producing full power after the failure. We may never know.
He died a long way from the West Midlands, doing what he loved to do.
RIP Robert.