All Turks and Caicos Islands

The pilot reported that he began the accident flight with 160 gallons of fuel on board. The airplane was equipped with two main wingtip fuel tanks, two in-wing auxiliary fuel tanks, and one engine nacelle locker fuel tank. His normal procedure was to operate for 50 minutes out of the main tanks, then use most of the fuel in the auxiliary tanks, then transfer fuel out of the locker tank and use all of that fuel. While approaching the destination airport, he attempted to transfer fuel from the locker tank; however, he later noticed that fuel was not transferring from that tank. Later, the right engine lost all power, followed by the left. He subsequently ditched the airplane in the ocean about 17 miles from of the destination airport. The airplane landed on the water, and the pilot and his passengers donned life vests and egressed before the airplane sank. The occupants were rescued about 4 hours later. The airplane was not recovered from the ocean and was presumed substantially damaged. A postaccident examination of the fuel system could not be performed and the reason for the pilot’s inability to transfer fuel from the engine nacelle locker tank could not be determined.

While flying around Salt Cay, the pilot was forced to attempt an emergency landing and ditched the airplane offshore. He was rescued while the aircraft came to rest in shallow water and was damaged beyond repair.

The aircraft was making a charter flight from Santiago de los Caballeros to New York with an intermediate stop at Mayaguana, Bahamas. The flight departed Santiago-Cibao Airport, Dominican Republic, at 1605LT. Thirty-five minutes later, while cruising off the Turks & Caicos Islands, the pilot sent a brief mayday message and the aircraft crashed 25 km off Providenciales. SAR teams and US Coast Guards did not find any trace of the aircraft nor the 12 occupants. A spokesman from the Dominican Pilots Association later reported that the pilot's licence had been suspended in October 2006.

The aircraft was parked on the small apron at North Caicos Airport while the pilot went home to collect some personal items. One of the intended passengers saw the aircraft arrive. He remained in the vicinity until the pilot returned, and reported that the aircraft was unattended in the intervening time. When the pilot returned, four of the five passengers were gathered near the aircraft, and the last passenger arrived soon afterwards. The pilot, a local man well-known to the passengers, appeared to be his normal self and in good spirits. As most inter-island travel in the TCI is by air, the passengers were also familiar with the operator’s aircraft and used to travelling by air. Some had flown frequently on VQ-TIU. The pilot supervised embarkation and gave an emergency briefing. One passenger reported that the pilot made a mobile telephone call, which he presumed to be to Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Providenciales to notify them of the proposed flight. Prior to seating himself at the controls, the pilot told the passengers that they may expect some turbulence. The aircraft taxied onto the runway at its eastern end and along its length for a departure from Runway 08. It was about one hour after sunset and outside the airport’s normal operating hours, so there were no ATC personnel on duty. The runway lights were operated by the operator’s station manager. The aircraft took off at 1840 hrs. Soon after takeoff the aircraft was seen to start a turn to the right, which was consistent with its routing to Grand Turk, some 54 nm to the south-east. However, the aircraft reached a relatively large angle of bank and started to descend. The descent continued until it crashed with significant forward speed into an area of very shallow water. The aircraft broke up on impact, with the fuselage section coming to rest nearly inverted but comparatively intact. All those on board survived the impact sequence with varying degrees of injury. However, the pilot died before he could receive specialist medical treatment.

On July 10, 1993, about 1015 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-31, N36L, registered to and operated by the Schaked Corporation, experienced total loss of power from both engines due to fuel exhaustion and was ditched about 18 nautical miles south of the Providenciales Airport, Turks and Caicos Islands, while on a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and a VFR flight plan was filed. The airplane has not been recovered and is presumed to be destroyed. The airline transport-rated pilot and commercial pilot-rated passenger sustained minor injuries. The flight originated about 0900 from Cap Haitien, Haiti. The day before the accident flight, the fuel tanks were filled and the airplane was then flown for about 2 hours. After landing, the pilot requested an auxiliary power unit (APU) for the following morning to jump start the engines due to electrical system problems. The pilot further stated that during the airplane preflight, he visually determined that the fuel tanks were 1/2 full. The APU was used to start the engines and about 20 minutes after departure, the electrical system failed. The flight continued and about 44 minutes later, Grand Turk Approach Control was contacted using a hand held radio. A clearance to land was requested and the controller was advised that the airplane was low on fuel. The controller advised the crew that the flight was about 60 miles east of the airport and the Providenciales Airport was about 31 miles north of their position. The flight proceeded directly to that airport and shortly thereafter, the pilot stated that the left engine failed due to fuel exhaustion. About 5 minutes later, the right engine failed due to the same reason. The airplane was ditched and the occupants were rescued about 7 hours after the ditching. According to the pilot-rated passenger, the pilot reset the alternators and voltage regulators after contact was established with the approach control facility.

After landing in the west part of the Turks & Caicos Islands, the seaplane collided with reef and sank in deep water. All four occupants were rescued.

Crashed in unknown circumstances after takeoff from Cockburn Town Airport. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

On final approach to Cockburn Harbour Airport runway 29, the four engine struck the ground and crashed, bursting into flames. There were no casualties.

Shortly after takeoff from Cockburn Town Airport runway 11, while in initial climb, one of the engine failed. The crew attempted an emergency landing and ditched the aircraft in a lagoon, about 1,6 km from the runway end. The airplane came to rest in shallow water and was damaged beyond repair. All three occupants escaped uninjured.

En route from Cockburn Harbour to Cockburn Town, the copilot declared an emergency after an engine failed in flight. The airplane lost height and crashed into the sea off Turks and Caicos Islands. All 10 occupants were killed.