Wednesday, June 06, 2018

Cessna 421B Golden Eagle, N421MM: Fatal accident occurred June 05, 2018 near Rock Sound International Airport (MYER), South Eleuthera, Bahamas

Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; South Florida

Hat Investments LLC


http://registry.faa.gov/N421MM

NTSB Identification: ERA18WA159 
14 CFR Unknown
Accident occurred Tuesday, June 05, 2018 in Rock Sound, Bahamas
Aircraft: CESSNA 421B, registration: N421MM
Injuries: 3 Fatal.

The foreign authority was the source of this information.

The government of Bahamas has notified the NTSB of an accident involving a CESSNA 421B airplane that occurred on June 05, 2018. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the government of Bahamas investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13.

All investigative information will be released by the government of Bahamas.

Aircraft caught fire after departure and crashed while attempting to return.
Date: 05-JUN-18
Time: 22:07:00Z
Regis#: N421MM
Aircraft Make: CESSNA
Aircraft Model: 421B
Event Type: ACCIDENT
Highest Injury: FATAL
Aircraft Missing: No
Damage: UNKNOWN
Activity: UNKNOWN
Flight Phase: LANDING (LDG)
Operation: 91
City: ROCK SOUND
State: BAHAMAS

Those who may have information that might be relevant to the National Transportation Safety Board investigation may contact them by email eyewitnessreport@ntsb.gov, and any friends and family who want to contact investigators about the accident should email assistance@ntsb.gov. 



Three Spartanburg County men were killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas on Tuesday. Daniel Bryant McKnight, of Chesnee, Todd Andrew Crawford, of Spartanburg, and R. Scott Dawson, of Chesnee, lost their lives in the crash.

Authorities in the Bahamas and in the United States have still not identified the victims of the crash, but the families have posted obituaries in the Herald-Journal.

Crawford was the owner of Palmetto Grading and Drainage Inc. in Spartanburg. Dawson owned CARS, Inc., an automobile detail and supply company.

Delvin Major, chief air accident investigator for the Civil Aviation Authority of the Bahamas, told the Herald-Journal Wednesday the plane crashed at about 4 p.m. Tuesday shortly after leaving Rock Sound International Airport, an airport in the South Eleuthera district of the Bahamas.

According to a preliminary incident report from the Federal Aviation Administration, the plane caught fire in the air after departure and crashed while attempting to return to Rock Sound International Airport.

The small, twin-engine plane, a Cessna 421B, was headed to an airport in Fort Pierce, Florida, when it crashed, Major said.

The plane was about a mile north of the Rock Sound airfield when it went down.

“The aircraft was destroyed, and the occupants were fatally injured,” Major said. ”... We will continue our investigation to try and determine what caused the crash.”

Representatives from the manufacturer of the plane and the engine will arrive Thursday at the scene as representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board to assist the CAAB with an investigation of the crash, Major said.

Original article can be found here ➤  http://www.goupstate.com



Three American men were killed when a plane heading from Eleuthera to the United States crashed Tuesday.

The men have a house on the island and had travelled to Eleuthera on Monday to fish, according to Chris Johnson, a porter who serviced them minutes before the crash.

Air Accident Investigation Department Chief Investigator Delvin Major said the men were leaving the Rock Sound International Airport in a private plane when they crashed in a bushy area about a mile north of the runway.

A team from his department will head to Eleuthera Wednesday to investigate the incident.

Authorities would not reveal the identities of the three men yesterday but Mr. Major said the pilot had requisite licenses. The crashed aircraft was a Cessna 421B Golden Eagle.

According to Mr. Johnson, he and other porters took two coolers and three bags to the plane ten minutes before the incident.

“They were cool guys,” he said. “It was a father, his brother and his son. The older men looked to be in their forties or fifties while the younger one looked like he was in his twenties.

“They have a house down here. It’s a different group of them that come over from time to time.

“It’s hard for us. It happened so quickly,” the porter said.

Original article can be found here ➤ http://www.tribune242.com


A private plane which took off from the Rock Sound Airport shortly before 4pm on Tuesday, June 5th, 2018, en-route to Ft. Pearce Florida, crash landed moments after takeoff.  

The plane was said to have had three people on board from the United States who lost their lives. 

The victims were confirmed to be three adult males. Their bodies were recovered  by authorities at the scene.

Member of Parliament for Central and South Eleuthera, Mr. Hank Johnson, who was in communication with authorities involved in the search for the crash site, confirmed that local Administration and Police, along with a group of about 30 local residents were actively involved in the search. 

The site of the crash was located around 5:30pm, and was said to be approximately two to three miles inland from the Rock Sound Airport.

The aircraft was described as being burnt beyond recognition, with the registration number of the plane just able to be read.

Original article can be found here ➤ http://eleutheranews.com


Reports confirm three people were killed in a plane crash on Rock Sound Eleuthera this afternoon. 

Officials say the plane went down around 4:00 p.m. shortly after taking off from the Rock Sound Airport with three males on board. They were reportedly headed to the United States. 

One eyewitness tells us the plane descended quickly into a wooded area and that smoke was seen coming from the aircraft shortly before it went down.

Story and video ➤ https://znsbahamas.com



Three American men were killed after their twin-engine Cessna aircraft crashed and exploded into flames near the airport in Rock Sound Eleuthera Tuesday afternoon, according to investigators.

Eyewitness News was on the ground shortly after word spread of the crash, as first responders and island officials conducted their initial investigations.

The charred remains of the three men laid among the mangled wreck of steel. Eyewitnesses recalled spotting the plane having difficulty shortly after take off from the airport.

“The engine from the small plane appeared to be backfiring and it looked as if they were having some difficulty … Shortly after that, the plane went down and we heard an explosion,” one eyewitness said.

The crash site was estimated some two miles inland, in a bushy area that was difficult to access.

Island Administrator for Central Eleuthera Greg Knowles described the scene as something out of a movie.

“I have never seen anything like that in all my life,” Knowles said.

“To see those bodies burnt beyond recognition, you have to question what is man.”

Knowles said investigators are expected on site at daybreak to continue investigations.

The three victims were reportedly on the island for a fishing trip and arrived at the island on Sunday afternoon. They were on their way back to Florida but never made it.

Chief Air Accident Investigator Delvin Major told Eyewitness News that he and a team are expected on the ground Wednesday morning to begin investigating what led to the downing of that aircraft.

5 comments:


  1. This model is commonly mistaken for a turboprop and misfueled with Jet A. I know, the nozzles are not suppose to fit but not everyone got the memo and after all, this is a remote island.

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  2. You're right, it does happen. That's why I'm always present during the refueling and make sure the truck says 100LL. If for some reason I'm not present I always look at the receipt for fuel type. Sad.

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  3. Odyssey Aviation claims to be the FBO at Rock Sound and says there's no fuel at the airport, per their website. That probably rules out misfueling, if it's true.

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  4. This aircraft had geared turbocharged supercharged injected opposed 520 engines. I wonder if it has V-band couplings on the turbos that may have failed allowing hot exhaust gasses to cause a fire at the worst possible time (takeoff). Most likely stalled & spun in during the turn back to the airport. Maybe if they could have kept it level and ditched in the ocean they might have had at least a chance. Sad stuff. R.I.P.

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  5. Anonymous: about your comment: "likely stalled & spun in during the turn back to the airport"
    That's why turning back to the runway is a bad idea at low altitude. As I taught students, if an engine quits on climb out, first look (sweep) for a landing spot within 30-40 degrees on either side of your nose.

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