SVG Air aircraft with six on board crashes into fence at Union Island

Six passengers and a pilot escaped injury last Monday, but an SVG Air aircraft suffered extensive damage when it overran the runway and crashed into the Union Island Airport fence. {{more}}

The Cessna C402, registered J 8 VBL, piloted by Johannes Braakensiek, was attempting to land at the Union Island airport at around 5:22 p.m. when the incident occurred.

The Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) has launched an investigation into the incident.

SEARCHLIGHT is reliably informed that two investigators from the ECCAA visited St Vincent and the Grenadines earlier this week to begin investigations into the matter.

“I am the luckiest man in Union Island today. I never thought that I would have said this in its truest sense, but I am a survivor,” said Roseman Adams of Union Island, one of the passengers that was aboard the plane.

“It happened so fast that we did not have time to be frightened,” Adams further stated.

According to the Mandatory Occurrence Report Form filed by the pilot, just before touchdown, the sun was in his eyes and “I flared and waited for touch down.”

“I estimate touch down to be 100m-150m from threshold at approximately 100kts. I then applied maximum brakes till running off the far end of the runway, impacting with the fence and concreted drain at approximately 15kts,” the report states.

He said that he evacuated the plane immediately.

Last November, another SVG Air aircraft disappeared off the coast of St Vincent, and two men are presumed dead.

Earlier this month, the three air traffic controllers who were on duty at the time of that plane’s disappearance were charged for misconduct.