Friday, March 09, 2012

Linksair British Aerospace Jetstream 3102 on behalf of Manx2, G-CCPW, Flight NM-309: Accident occurred March 08, 2012 in Isle of Man



An airplane operated on behalf of the same company involved in the fatal crash at Cork Airport last year, crash landed on the Isle of Man on Thursday.

Links Air flight NM-309 was arriving at Ronaldsway Airport on the Isle of Man from Leeds when it veered off the runway into the grass after the right main landing gear apparently collapsed.

There were 12 passengers and 2 crew on board the British Aerospace Jetstream 3102 turboprop aircraft, however no-one was injured. The aircraft sustained substantial damage.

It is also understood that it took fire crews almost five minutes to respond the incident, which was not immediately spotted by air traffic controllers.

It has been reported that it was the crew of another aircraft which reported the incident to the tower.

The incident is currently under investigation by British authorities.

Manx2, a virtual commuter airline, sells flights from the Isle of Man to a number of British airports.

Three airlines, VanAir Europe, FLM Aviation and Links Air, currently operate flights on behalf of Manx2.

In a statement, Manx2 said: "A Jetstream 31 aircraft operated by Links Air, on behalf of Manx2.com, suffered a problem with the right-hand undercarriage after landing."

The company confirmed that engineers from Links Air are also investigating the incident.

One passenger said on Twitter: "My Manx2 plane just crashed landing in Isle of Man. We all walked off OK." The tweeter, named Richard Wild, also posted photos of the evacuation.

On Feb 10 last year, Manx2 flight NM-7100 from Belfast to Cork, operated by Barcelona-based Flightline, crashed in low visibility at Cork Airport killing six people, including both pilots.

The plane had made three attempts to land in dense fog when it flipped over on its back and burst into flames on the third attempt.

Two weeks after the tragedy, Manx2 announced that it was ceasing operations on the Belfast to Cork route.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit of the Department of Transport is continuing its probe of the Cork crash, but confirmed in an interim report last month that an anomaly was found with an engine sensor. 

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