Incident Overview

Date: Thursday 3 February 2000
Aircraft Type: Cessna 208 Caravan I
Owner/operator: Hummingbird Island Airways
Registration Number: 8Q-HIF
Location: Filitheyo Seaplane Base – ÿ Maldives
Phase of Flight: Landing
Status: Substantial, repaired
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 9
Component Affected: Landing gearLanding gear
Category: Accident
A Caravan floatplane took off from Male (MLE) runway 36 at 14:06. After takeoff, the captain failed to retract the floats, leading to a GPS position error of the resort island (Filitheyo) instead of the landing site near Dhiguvaru Falhu, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) north. Upon landing, the aircraft flipped over, with the landing gear down, due to pilot error, stemming from a failure to use the checklist, inaccurate instrument monitoring, and lack of attention to aural warning devices.A Caravan floatplane took off from Male (MLE) runway 36 at 14:06. After takeoff, the captain failed to retract the floats, leading to a GPS position error of the resort island (Filitheyo) instead of the landing site near Dhiguvaru Falhu, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) north. Upon landing, the aircraft flipped over, with the landing gear down, due to pilot error, stemming from a failure to use the checklist, inaccurate instrument monitoring, and lack of attention to aural warning devices.

Description

The Caravan floatplane took-off from Male (MLE) runway 36 at 14:06. After takeoff the captain forgot to retract the gear (the floats-equipped Caravan has wheels installed on the floats) The flight to Filitheyo was conducted at FL45. On approaching Filitheyo Seaplane Base, the captain realized that the GPS position fed to the system was that of the resort island (Filitheyo), not the GPS position of the landing site near Filitheyo resort (Dhiguvaru Falhu) which is about 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Filitheyo. The captain, until he was about to land was busy in correcting the GPS co-ordinates for the landing site. On landing on water the aircraft sprung back and the captain realized that the landing gear was down. The aircraft bounced back and flipped onto its back pivoting the nose and left wing. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The investigation concludes that the primary cause of the accident was pilot error. The investigation concludes that contributing factors were: 1) Failure to use the approved checklist; 2) Failure to monitor flight instruments accurately during flight; 3) Failure to give due attention to the aural warning device.”

Primary Cause

Pilot errorPilot error

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