Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Treasure Cay Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Treasure Cay Burkina Faso
Sunday, July 13, 2003 15:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-04/03.
On July 13, 2003, about 1530 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 402C, N314AB, registered to Tropical International Airlines Inc., and operated by Air Sunshine Inc., as Air Sunshine flight 527, was ditched in the Atlantic Ocean about 7.35 nautical miles west-northwest of Treasure Cay Airport (MYAT), Treasure Cay, Great Abaco Island, Bahamas, after the in-flight failure of the right engine. Two of the nine passengers sustained no injuries, five passengers and the pilot sustained minor injuries, and one adult and one child passenger died after they evacuated the airplane. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The airplane was being operated under the provisions 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 as a scheduled international passenger commuter flight from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to MYAT. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which operated on a visual flight rules flight plan.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the in-flight failure of the right engine and the pilot’s failure to adequately manage the airplane’s performance after the engine failed. The right engine failure resulted from inadequate maintenance that was performed by Air Sunshine’s maintenance personnel during undocumented maintenance. Contributing to the passenger fatalities was the pilot’s failure to provide an emergency briefing after the right engine failed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/13/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Treasure Cay |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | BURKINA FASO |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00000 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 264554N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0773106W |
| Event Location Airport | Treasure Cay Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MYAT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 8.45 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 267 |
| Airport Elevation | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1600 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 267 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYAT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 11 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 64 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 11.51 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | 6 |
| Injury Total None | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 8 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20081 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SE Reg Com Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 13 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 18 2006 3:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | AAI-100 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N314AB |
| NTSB Number | MIA03FA141 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 402C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 402C0413 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7210 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/Foreign Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 10 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 8 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 24.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 17589 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Tropical International Airlines, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 22626 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Lauderdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33335 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Air Sunshine, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | Luis Munox Marin Int'l Airport, Rm. 149G, 2 Floor |
| Operator City | San Juan |
| Operator State | PR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 00937 |
| Operator Code | RSHA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KFLL |
| Departure City | FORT LAUDERDALE |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1427 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MYAT |
| Destination City | Treasure Cay |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | BF |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 5 2004 3:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |