A Fokker F28 mk.4000 Fellowship was scheduled to operate a domestic flight between Dhaka-Zia International Aiport and Sylhet Civil Airport both in Bangladesh. The flight, with 79 passengers and a crew of five onboard was delayed for several hours due to the weather at Sylhet. Visibility was limited with heavy rain falling from clouds with a low ceiling in strong winds.
The aircraft in its final position (© Rashed Rafi)
Once the weather at Sylhet showed signs of improvement the engines for the Fellowship were started and the aircraft took off from Dhaka for the short flight to Sylhet (193 km - 121 miles). After an uneventful flight, the aircraft was approaching runway Sylhet. The aircraft however landed late on the runway that was still wet. this resulted in a situation where the Landing Distance Required was longer than the Landing Distance Available The aircraft overran the runway, crossed 150 feet (~45 meters) of soft terrain and came to a stop in a drainage ditch that was 15 feet (~4.5 meters) deep and 25 feet ((~7.5 meters) wide.
30 of the passengers sustained light injuries the other 49 passengers and the cabin crew were unhurt. Both pilots sustained serious injuries when the nose of the aircraft impacted the wall of the drainage ditch.
The aircraft being evacuated (Source; baaa-acro.com © Unknown)
The investigation into the accident revealed that the crew did not use the PAPI (Precision Approach Path Indicator) while the aircraft was not configured correctly. Several contributing factors were reported;
The ILS system was not properly calibrated, causing the aircraft to land about 900 feet past the runway threshold,
The aircraft was too high on approach,
The aircraft' speed at touchdown was 20 knots above the reference speed,
The braking action was considered as low because the runway surface was wet,
Aquaplaning,
The crew failed to initiate a go-around procedure.
Rescue of the cockpit crew underway (Source; baaa-acro.com © Unknown)
** Editorial note **
V2 Aviation - Training & Maintenance has not been able to obtain an investigation report on this accident. This blog is therefore based on several internet sources. Should there be an inconsistency in the blog don't hesitate to get in touch with us. There are two possibilities to do that, via the comments function at the bottom of this page or via the contact page of the website.