CASA C-212 Aviocar - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

As of September 2011, CASA C-212s have been involved in 71 hull-loss incidents with a total of 558 fatalities.

• 4 March 1987: Northwest Airlink Flight 2268 crashed while landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan. Nine of the 19 passengers and crew on board were killed.

• 8 May 1987: American Eagle Flight 5452 crashed while landing in Puerto Rico, killing two.

• 1 February 1988: A Panamanian Air Force C-212 crashed into a mountain near the Panamese-Colombian border, killing all 16 people on board.

• 1 December 1989: A United States Army C-212-200 crashed into the Patuxent River while trying to land at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland, killing all five people on board.

• 24 January 1990: A Venezuelan Navy C-212 crashed into a mountain due to poor weather, killing all 24 people on board.

• 27 March 1990: An Angolan government C-212 was shot down by UNITA rebels near Kuito, killing all 25 people on board.

• 7 June 1992: American Eagle Flight 5456, a CASA C-212 flying from Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico crashed short of the runway in Mayagüez, killing both crew members and all three passengers. The investigation led to the discontinuation of use of the C-212 by American Eagle.

• 8 March 1994: A Spanish Air Force CASA C-212 was hit in the tail by a Serbian SA-7 missile over Gvozd (then Vrginmost) when ferrying UNPROFOR personnel from Sarajevo. The aircraft was part of the Ala 37 deployed in Vicenza, Italy. A Croatian MiG-21 had been shot down over the same area on 14 September 1993. The tail control surfaces were damaged, the left engine failed and several passengers were injured. The crew managed to land the aircraft at Rijeka, Croatia. Spanish technicians were able to repair the damage and have the aircraft back in service in 48 hours.

• 27 November 2004: "Blackwater 61" Presidential Airways CASA C-212-200 (registration: N960BW / serial nr: 231) was contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense to supply American forces deployed in remote areas of Afghanistan. The aircraft entered a box canyon and struck the 14,650-foot (4,470 m) level of Baba Mountain, which has a peak elevation of 16,739 feet (5,102 m). The flight was about 25 nm north of the typical route between Bagram and Farah.

• 22 February 2005: An Indonesian National Police C-212 received engine trouble during landing, causing it to crash into the sea. Of the 18 police officers on board, 15 were killed.

• 26 October 2006: Swedish Coast Guard CASA C-212-200 (registration: SE-IVF/serial nr: KBV 585) crashed in the Falsterbo Canal during a surveillance mission, killing all four on board. Eye-witness accounts suggest that the accident was caused by one of the wings of the aircraft somehow detaching. The preliminary report from the Swedish Accident Investigation Board suggests that the right wing detached due to a fatigue crack which had developed in the load-bearing structure in the wing.

• 15 November 2006: Mexican Navy CASA 212-200 Maritime Patrol (serial AMP-114) crashed in the sea in Campeche coast over the Mexican Gulf during a surveillance mission, all crew managed to survive, due to a smooth maneuver, reasons of the accident still unknown.

• 26 June 2008: Indonesian Military CASA C-212 was flying from the capital to Bogor, carrying 12 military personnel and six civilians, and was due to test a digital mapping camera, but it disappeared in the Salak Mountain region, about 90 km (60 miles south) of Jakarta. An air force spokesman said it was assumed it had crashed.

• 9 October 2009: Uruguayan Air Force CASA C-212 FAU-531, being operated as part of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti crashed west of Fonds-Verettes killing all 11 on board.

• 19 June 2010: a Cameroon Aero Service CASA C212 chartered by Sundance Resources crashed in dense jungle after departing Cameroon for Congo, killing all 11 people aboard, including Australian mining magnate Ken Talbot and Sundance personnel, Chairman Geoff Wedlock, Chief Executive Officer Don Lewis, company secretary John Carr-Gregg and non-executive directors John Jones and Craig Oliver. At the time of the accident Talbot was a director of Sundance and its largest shareholder.

• 12 February 2011: Sabang Merauke Raya Air Charter CASA C-212, PK-ZAI, carrying five crew, crashed after takeoff from Batam, Indonesia, during a test flight after engine maintenance was performed. All five crew were killed.

• 1 April 2011: FUGRO Aviation Canada Limited CASA C-212, C-FDKM, carrying three crew, crashed attempting landing at Saskatoon Airport, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, after declaring an emergency with an engine failure. Aircraft crashed on a Saskatoon street and hit a concrete barrier; one killed, two injured.

• 2 September 2011: A Chilean Air Force CASA C-212, carrying 21 people, crashed 500 miles from Chile's Pacific coastline in the Juan Fernández Islands, without survivors. Felipe Camiroaga, one of the most popular Chilean TV presenters was one of those on board the aircraft. Also on board was businessman Felipe Cubillos, who had been working on post-earthquake reconstruction efforts.

• 29 September 2011: An Indonesian Aerospace CASA C-212, registration PK-TLF, built in 1989, carrying 18 people (14 passengers, three crew and the pilot) on a flight between Medan, North Sumatra and Kutacane, Aceh operated by Nusantara Buana Air crashed into Gunung Kapur, a mountain of 1600 metres height in the Bukit Barisan mountain range, 10 km walk from the village of Bukit Lawang in Bohorok district Gunung Leuser National Park. The accident occurred between 07.28 and 08.05 local time about 36 miles northwest of Medan, North Sumatra.