MAS Twin Otter lands short?
 

A MASWings Twin Otter has landed short of the runway in Kudat. They call this an incident, but then talks of the crash site?
No fatalities as of now.

MASWings' Twin Otter aircraft crash lands in Kudat - Latest - New Straits Times

Landed short or overshot the runway?

Neither, judging by this photo:

http://www.thestar.com.my/~/media/Im...&h=413&crop=1&

The partially-demolished house appears to be the one at 6.9242 116.8353, which is about 180m abeam the runway, about a third of the way from the 04 end (the airfield is behind the house, on the far side of those trees).

The article accompanying the photo, at

Three injured as plane skids off runway in Sabah - Nation | The Star Online

talks about skidding off the runway, though the damage to the house would suggest that the Twotter was airborne when it hit.

Seeing the pic of the front half of the a/c, if that is a pilot they are helping to walk over the fence.................................???

The captain can still walk! Phew.

1 fatality, 5 wounded.

It appears the FO has died of his injuries as well. The METAR from Avherald indicates wind gusts of up to 31 knots.

Accident: MASWings DHC6 at Kudat on Oct 10th 2013, impacted house

From the METAR:

WBKT 100700Z 27017G31KT 210V300 9999 SCT014 BKN280 30/24 Q1008

Using runway 22 gives a crosswind component of 13 knots from the right, yet the aircraft ended far to the right of the runway. Just seems a bit odd.

The Twotter (or any STOL aircraft) is prone to being blown badly off course by strong crosswind gusts at low speed just before touchdown, there was a similar accident in Nepal a few months ago.

This is one of the known risks of short landings in STOL aircraft into short narrow strips in unstable weather conditions. There is a short window just before touchdown where there is insufficient time for a go-around and an incident is inevitable if a sudden gust bites you.

Agreed, but please check the numbers as per tw's post?

What are the chances of a failure in the starboard propeller pitch change mechanism causing it to reverse pitch?

Aviation Herald reporting two fatalities.

I'm not familiar with what the Twin Otter was certified to, but I spent a bit of time working on a high-speed turboprop about 20 years ago. We were told to assume a propeller reversing pitch uncommanded would be catastrophic - in other words we needed to design for a probability of less than 10-9/hr.

A strong gust from the right would whip the tail around leading to an excursion to the right. Geometry and surface areas.

It looks as if full flap is selected. On touch down with full flap, when you go into beta with a crosswind and you are not awake...:ooh:,
Some big teeth appear! Many worthy aviators have been chewed by the Twotter, one of the best lessons in directional control you can get...!:E

Reference: Current on type
 

Yes the Twotter can be a bit of a handful in gusty conditions, but not if handled properly by a decent crew and not in those relatively mild metars, it is certified to do 27kts across.

Unless there was some sort of significant failure we are as of yet unaware of, this poor FO has lost his life for no apparent reason.

Indeed, and when the going gets tough and the workload gets high it is easy to forget to check that the tiller is centred. Dont ask me how I know that.........

The Twotter is a fantastic aircraft but it has a few gotchas to catch the unwary.
The same, of course, applies to any STOL aircraft which operates routinely where most pilots would fear to tread.

This photo shows the right wing completely severed from the fuselage and extensive damage to the cockpit. May well have impacted the ground right wing low with a pitch down attitude.

http://1-ps.googleusercontent.com/x/...KGyrU1YWeZ.jpg

This article from the local press reports that the accident happened during take-off and not landing, which brings up the possibility of a right engine failure after take-off. If so, and with wind gusts up to 31 knots, it would have been a huge struggle to keep it straight and maintain V2.

METARS
 

I often see the METARS reported as if they were the actual weather conditions at the time of the accident/incident. The conditions at the time of the event can be quite different to that of the previous/next METAR which are only reported every 30 minutes. Many airfields have rapidly changing conditions between MEATRS. I have seen 5 SPECIAL reports between METARS for visibility changes alone but these reports are not available on the normal weather web sites. I am not saying this was the case in this accident but generally METAR reports do not tell the full weather story.

When you lose control in a cross-wind it's normal to depart on the upwind side of the runway.