Polish air navigation service PANSA appears to have undertaken checks of the navigation and guidance systems at Vilnius airport, following a fatal Boeing 737-400 accident during final approach.
PANSA has a flight-inspection arm, the fleet of which includes a Beechcraft King Air 350 which has been conducting multiple flights over the airport, concentrating particularly on the approach to runway 19.
The Swiftair 737 had been descending, in darkness, towards runway 19 when the accident occurred early on 25 November.
NOTAM information from the airport instructed aircraft not to use the ILS localiser, glideslope and DME navigation aids during the tests.
There is also a NOTAM stating that the digital airport terminal information service – which provides operational information such as weather and runway data – is similarly being tested.
Lithuania’s transport accident and incident investigation unit, part of the justice ministry, has opened and inquiry into the crash.
It says two pilots and two passengers were on board the aircraft, which was operating from Leipzig under a European Air Transport flight designator, BCS18D, indicating a service on behalf of DHL.
Three of the four occupants survived the accident.
“A safety investigation is independent of, unrelated to, and not affected by any judicial or administrative process,” the justice ministry states.
It has contacted several aeronautical authorities regarding the accident, among them Spain’s investigation agency CIAIAC, the US National Transportation Safety Board, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, and Germany’s BFU.
