An Aerocaribe British Aerospace Jetstream 32EP has crashed among mountains about 55km (35 miles) south-east of Villahermosa, Mexico, killing all 17 passengers and two crew. The accident happened on 8 July when the 10-year-old aircraft (N912FJ) changed course to avoid bad weather on a scheduled flight from Ocozocoatla to Villahermosa.
On 9 July, a Curtiss C-46A-60CS crashed just after take-off from Villavicencio, Colombia, killing 16 of the 20 people on board. The 55-year-old twin-piston aircraft (HK-851P), operated by freight carrier Coral Colombia, appears to have suffered a No 2 engine fire and turned back to attempt a landing. It hit the ground hard and burned out.
Meanwhile, Australian accident investigators have ruled out fuel exhaustion, fuel starvation and fuel contamination as possible causes of a double engine failure leading to the fatal crash of a feeder airliner near Whyalla, South Australia, on 31 May (Flight International, 6-12 June).
Evidence of mechanical failure has been found in both engines of the Piper Chieftain in which the pilot and seven passengers died on a flight from Adelaide to Whyalla. Damage to the left engine included a broken connecting rod and a broken crankshaft, while a piston in the right engine had incurred significant damage.
The Australian Transport Safety Board (formerly the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation) will undertake a metallurgical investigation of both engines to establish the sequence of events leading to the failures.
Source: Flight International
