V. C. Bird International Airport - Incidents

Incidents

• On 17 September 1965, Pan Am Flight 292, a Boeing 707-121B en route from Fort de France, Martinique, to St. John's struck Chances Peak on Montserrat, an island to the southwest of Antigua, killing all 30 aboard. The pilot mistakenly believed he was descending into Antigua. As a result, a VHF omnirange (VOR) transmitter was installed at the St. John's airport.

• On 10 May 2004, a LIAT de Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 flight made an emergency landing after one of its wheels fell off shortly after takeoff. The flight operated by the Antigua-based airline had departed from St. Maarten en route to St. Kitts when one of its wheels reportedly fell off. The Dash 8-311 turboprop was diverted to Antigua and was able to land safely on its three remaining wheels, without causing damage to the aircraft. None of the 24 passengers and three crew members were injured. The airline has launched an investigation into the incident.

• On 12 November 2008, a LIAT de Havilland Canada DHC-8-311 circled around V. C. Bird International Airport in Antigua following reports of landing gear malfunction. The de Haviland Dash 8 -311 aircraft should have landed at the Robert Bradshaw International Airport in St Kitts, but was diverted to Antigua because of the problem. It turned out that the landing gear was in order, but the indicators in the cockpit gave a reading that there was a fault. Firefighters, medical personnel and police were on alert but, after clearance, the aircraft landed safely with its 42 passengers and three crew members.

• On 18 June 2009, a Rhoades cargo plane #2 engine caught fire while taxiing to the runway. The incident forced the temporary closure of the airport and delay of several aircraft. LIAT planes had to hold before they could land or take off, but there were no flight cancellations. There were two persons on board the Rhoades plane, the captain and first officer, both of whom were unhurt. The aircraft taxied on its own engines back to runway 10 where it underwent inspections and necessary repairs.

• On 11 June 2012 a fire raged through the night at the LIAT hangar at V. C. Bird International airport. Latest eyewitness reports are that the LIAT hangar has been completely destroyed. Employees of LIAT have confirmed that one DHC-8-311 aircraft was in the hangar undergoing maintenance, and has been lost. The destroyed buildings housed the engineering, accounts, aircraft maintenance records, planning and materials control departments among others. The first of several explosions occurred at approximately 10.20 pm. Subsequently there were several further blasts, as fuel tanks in the area succumbed to the heat and blaze. A LIAT source advises that fuel and oil would have been stored in the hangar, and would have contributed to the rapid spread of the fire. Five fire engines drawn from Coolidge Fire Station and various other locations around the island attended the conflagration, dousing the flames with foam and water as appropriate.

• On 7 October 2012 a FlyMontserrat Britten-Norman Islander took off and later crashed a few feet off the runway due to bad weather conditions The pilot was Captain Jason Forbes.