10 accidents of British Aerospace aircraft since 2000

The Avro RJ-85 operated by LaMia Bolivia took off from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, for a passenger flight to Medellin, Colombia. 68 passengers and 9 crewmembers were onboard. The plane was descending towards Medellin about 20 NM (35 km) southeast of Medellin when it disappeared from radar screen. The wreckage has been located rapidly. 71 occupants were killed, and 6 survived with injuries. The chartered aircraft was coming from southern Brazil. It made a stop in Bolivia before continuing its journey heading to Medellin, Colombia. The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane was enroute at FL300 and started the descent towards Medellin about 80 NM (150 km) south of this city. At this time there were three other aircraft holding, waiting to be instructed start the approach. There was also an aircraft diverting to Medellin airport with a reported fuel leak, about to commence its final approach. The Avro RJ-85 entered a holding pattern to let time to a traffic ahead to land. Then the crew declared a fuel emergency while the plane was in holding pattern, and requested priority landing. Two minutes later, the controller cancelled the approach of the traffic ahead, and requested the Avro RJ-85 to turn right to avoid traffic ahead, and to start the descent. The crew answered negatively for the right turn, stating they have the traffic ahead in sight, and started to descent. 6 minutes after having declared a fuel emergency, all the four engines stopped running. The aircraft was 15.5 NM (28.7 km) south of the threshold the runway, and 5.4 NM (10 km) south of the accident site. Two minutes later, the crew radioed: “Miss, Lima Mike India 2933 is in total failure, total electrical failure and without fuel.”. Moments later, the plane crashed in a wooded area, close to the city of La Ceja at the slopes of Cerro Gordo. The impact point is at altitude of 8,500 ft. The plane came down in one piece. The aircraft has been destroyed by the impact, but some big fuselage parts are visible at the crash site. The plane did not catch fire. Investigators calculated that the plane did not have enough range to perform the flight with holding pattern. Although the crew discussed the possibility to make a stop to refuel at an intermediate point, decision was taken not to do it. The evidence available to the investigation has not identified a technical failure that may have caused or contributed to the accident. The available evidence is however consistent with the aircraft having suffered fuel exhaustion. Players, coaches and invited guests from Brazil's Chapecoense soccer team were onboard the charter flight. So were more than 20 journalists on the way to cover the soccer match in Medellin.

The British Aerospace BAe-125 departed Moskva-Vnukovo Airport, Russia bound for Minsk, Belarus. 2 passengers and 3 crewmembers were onboard the executive jet. The plane crashed while on approach to Minsk, killing all onboard. The plane crashed in a forest at about three kilometres away from the runway it was approaching. The aircraft broke up upon impact and caught fire. Weather conditions were bad, with low visibility (3500 meters) in light drizzle, and overcast clouds with a ceiling of 200 ft (around 60 meters). The ILS (Instrument Landing System) glide and localizer of the runway the aircraft was approaching were unserviceable. ILS localizer is used to guide the aircraft on the horizontal plan to approach the runway. The ILS glide is used to guide the plane on the vertical plan.

The British Aerospace Jetstream 41 was on a positioning flight from Durban International Airport, South Africa, to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Three crewmembers were onboard. The planes crashed moments after taking off into an empty school grounds. The three crewmembers were seriously injured, and the captain died few days after the accident. The plane has struck a municipal worker on the ground who was cleaning the street. The ground worker was injured. The aircraft suffered an engine failure seconds after taking off and the crew declared an emergency. The aircraft then crashed onto a vacant lot, narrowly missing houses, and slid into primary school grounds approximately 400 meters from the runway and broke up.

The British Aerospace BAe-146-300 belonging to Aviastar Mandiri departed Jayapura, Indonesia, for a cargo flight to Wamena, Indonesia. 6 crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed into Gunung Pike Mountain while on approach to Wamena, killing all the people onboard. The BAe-146 was carrying food and building supplies from the provincial capital, Jayapura, to the nearby district of Wamena, in the mountainous central region. It is not clear what caused the accident, but the plane would have attempted a first approach, that ended by a go-around. Then, the airplane entered clouds, struck the side of Gunung Pike Mountain and burst into flames.

The Atlantic Airways Flight RC670 was chartered by the Norwegian industrial concern Aker Kværner to fly personnel from Stavanger to Molde via Stord (Norway). The flight was performed by a British Aerospace 146-200 jet and was carrying 12 passengers and 4 crewmembers. While landing at Stord Airport, the plane overran the 1200 m long runway, continued down a slope close to the sea and burst into flames. 4 people were killed in the accident. 12 people, including the pilot, survived the crash and escaped without major injuries. Weather conditions at the time of the accident were fine at the time of the accident. Witnesses reported hearing a large bang and seeing huge flames and smoke rise from the vicinity of the plane. The crash was caused by the wing spoilers, crucial for braking, that failed to deploy after landing. Without spoilers, lift from the wings combined with a damp runway caused steamy water under the main wheels, and the braking power needed was gone. The spoilers (or air brakes) are small panels located on the wings that help braking by increasing the drag of the wings and giving the aircraft's wheels better traction. The BAe 146-200 is a little different that other airplanes because it does not reverse its engines for braking, but is completely dependent on wheel brakes and air braking, or spoilers. The runway 33 (airport's western runway), where the plane landed, is built along and out into the waters of a fjord: overrunning the runway results in a catastrophic event.

The aircraft was on a passenger flight. During landing at Caracas' Simon Bolivar Airport, it skidded off the right side of the runway and impacted the airport fire house. Weather at the time of the accident was poor, with low ceiling and torrential rain reported.

The aircraft was on a scheduled passenger flight from Istanbul to Diyarbakir. Due to the bad weather conditions at the destination airport, it had to perform a non-precision approach. But it crashed short of the runway and broke apart. Weather around the time of the accident was poor, with fog and mist reported. Only 5 out of the 80 passengers and crew members survived.

On the night of November 24th 2001, at 20:01 UTC, the Crossair Avro 146-RJ 100 registered HB-IXM, operating scheduled flight CRX 3597 from Berlin to Zurich, took off from runway 26L at Berlin-Tegel Airport. At 20:58:50 UTC, after an uneventful flight, the aircraft was cleared to perform the standard VOR/DME approach to runway 28 at Zurich Airport. The crew of the Embraer EMB 145 operating flight CRX 3891, which was ahead of it in the approach sequence, informed the control tower that the minimum visibility required for the VOR/DME 28 approach had almost been reached. At 21:05:21 UTC, flight CRX 3597 reported on the tower frequency. At 21:06:10 UTC, as the aircraft reached the minimum descent altitude of 2390 ft QNH, the captain told the first officer that he had more or less established visual contact with the ground and continued the descent. At 21:06:36 UTC, the aircraft struck the tops of trees and then crashed into the ground. The aircraft caught fire on impact. Twenty-one passengers and three crew members were fatally injured at the accident site. Seven passengers and two crew members survived the accident. The investigation established the following causal factors of the accident: The captain deliberately descended below the published minimum descent altitude for the standard VOR/DME 28 approach procedure. The first officer did not attempt to prevent the continuation of the flight below the minimum descent altitude. The crew had not established visual contact with the approach lighting system or the runway. The following factors contributed to the accident or made it possible: The approach sector for runway 28 at Zurich Airport was not equipped with a minimum safe altitude warning system (MSAW). Over a long period, the responsible persons concerned within the company did not adequately assess the captain’s flying performance. Appropriate measures were not taken to address the shortcomings identified. The captain’s ability to concentrate, make decisions and analyse complex processes was reduced by fatigue. The allocation of duties in the cockpit during the approach was inadequate and did not comply with the procedures prescribed by the company. The terrain struck by the aircraft was not shown on the approach chart used by the crew. The meteorological visibility measured at the airport was not representative of the approach to runway 28 because it did not correspond to the actual flight visibility in the approach sector. The visibility minima in force at the time of the accident were inappropriate for operation of the standard VOR/DME 28 approach procedure.

The British Aerospace Jetstream 32 operated by Aerocaribe was performing a domestic flight in Mexico. While the aircraft was flying in an area affected by poor weather, the crew advised air traffic control that they would deviate from the planned route to avoid weather ahead.

The British Aerospace Jetstream 31 operated by Executive Airlines was performing a charter flight to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania. A first ILS approach was discontinued because of the weather. While holding before another attempt, the crew reported difficulties affecting both engines.