A Swearingen SA227 Metro III was operating a domestic scheduled flight in Peru between the cities of Lima and Huánuco. With two pilots and seven passengers. After take-off at 18:35 UTC, an uneventful flight followed.
The aircraft shortly after the accident (© CIAA) During the short cruise phase of the flight, the crew obtained the weather information for Huánuco;
Wind - 070º at 21 knots
Clouds - Few at 3200
Temp. - 28º C
Dewpoint - 15º C
QNH - 1016 hPa
After contacting Huánuco ATC the crew was cleared to descend for an approach to runway 07, ATC reported the wind at the time to be 070º at 23 knots. The aircraft was configured for the landing as flaps and gears were lowered as the aircraft approached the runway.
The aircraft touched down on runway 07 at 19.23 UTC, bounced and touched down two more times, bouncing into the air each time.. After the third bounce the gear was selected up by the crew and the aircraft settled back on the runway on its belly 1200 meters after the first touchdown, skidding down the runway for approximately 600 meters before coming to a stop. The throttles had not been retarded during the landing, and only after the aircraft came to a stop did the crew retard the throttles and shut the engines down.
The aircraft before recovery (© CIAA)
With the engines shut down the crew initiated an evacuation of the aircraft. None of the aircraft's occupants sustained injuries. ATC alerted the Airport Fire and Rescue Service (AFRS) after seeing the aircraft settle on its belly. AFRS responded and in anticipation of a possible fire covered the aircraft in foam as fuel had started to leak from the aircraft. There was no post-accident fire.
The aircraft sustained major damage during the incident, the damage was bad enough for the aircraft to be written off as damaged beyond repair. Damage was sustained to;
the lower fuselage
both engines
both propellers
both wings
both flaps
Recovery in progress (© CIAA)
The Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación (CIAA) of Peru (Peruvian aviation accident investigation committee) was alleged and an investigation into the accident was launched. In February 2012 the accident investigation report was published. In their report the CIAA conclude that the probable cause of the accident was;
"Erroneous retraction of the landing gear following three bounces on the runway due to an unstabilized final approach and poor crew resource management."
The following contributing factors were listed in the accident investigation report;
Although the descent and landing checklists were followed, the crew did not review stabilized approach criteria or procedures for a possible controlled flight into the terrain and did not take into consideration the possibility of any go-around procedure.
Several call-outs were non-standard while others were missing.
The descent was continued under visual flight rules, the approach was unstabilized and not detected by the crew.
Speed was too high on touch-down while the power levers were not in the idle position
Lack of corrective action on part of the crew when the aircraft was bouncing
Loss of situational awareness led to the retraction of the landing gear.
The aircraft during part out © Michael Fritz
The CIAA report (in Spanish) which served as source for this report can be accessed by clicking on the file below;