1977 Vieques Air Link crash

1977 Vieques Air Link crash
	Vieques Air Link Britten-Norman BN-2A-9 Islander, similar to the crashed aircraft but with a later VAL livery
Accident
Date	December 19, 1977
Summary	Pilot error
Site	Vieques, Puerto Rico
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Britten-Norman Islander
Operator	Vieques Air Link
Registration	N862JA
Flight origin	St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
Destination	Vieques Airport, Vieques, Puerto Rico
Occupants	10
Passengers	9
Crew	1
Fatalities	5
Survivors	5, including the pilot

Last updated July 22, 2023

On December 19, 1977, the 1977 Vieques Air Link crash took place when a Vieques Air Link Britten Norman BN-2A Islander crashed into the waters off the Atlantic Ocean near Vieques, Puerto Rico during a flight from St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands to Vieques.

Flight

The airplane was on an international scheduled flight between St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands and Vieques, Puerto Rico.^[1]

Accident

The airplane started experiencing fuel starvation as it was near Vieques. The aircraft's engines flamed out due to the starvation, and the pilot decided to ditch off, or land the plane on the ocean, before the situation became more critical. The airplane crashed at 07:48AM, local standard time on that day.^{[ citation needed ]}

Passengers and crew

There were ten people on board the doomed aircraft, nine of which were passengers and one, its 50-years-old pilot, who was the sole crew member. Of those, five died, all of them passengers. The pilot and four other passengers survived.^[2]

Investigation

The investigation that followed blamed the pilot due to alleged inadequate pre-flight preparation or planning, which later resulted in his mismanagement of the aircraft's available fuel and then the double-engine flame out and subsequent crash.^[1]

Vieques Air Link Flight 901A

Approximately seven years later, another Vieques Air Link islander, flying as Vieques Air Link Flight 901A, crashed near the same place after suffering engine problems too, flying a similar route but in the second crash's case from Vieques to St. Croix instead.^[3]

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References

1 2 "Descripción del Accidente ASN 19 DEC 1977 Britten-Norman BN-2A-6 Islander N862JA - Vieques". aviation-safety.net.
↑ "Accident detail". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
↑ "Nine die in Caribbean air shuttle crash". UPI.

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[auto-1] 1 2 "Descripción del Accidente ASN 19 DEC 1977 Britten-Norman BN-2A-6 Islander N862JA - Vieques". aviation-safety.net.

[2] "Accident detail". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 12 April 2023.

[3] "Nine die in Caribbean air shuttle crash". UPI.

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
1970	Cornfield Bomber Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 Trans International Airlines Flight 863 Wichita State University football team plane crash Southern Airways Flight 932 Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26
1971	B-52C Lake Michigan crash Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash Hughes Airwest Flight 706 Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 Pan Am Flight 845 Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 (see D. B. Cooper)
1972	Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 American Airlines Flight 96 Prinair Flight 191 Lake Winnebago mid-air collision Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 Delta Air Lines Flight 841 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accident Southern Airways Flight 49 United Air Lines Flight 553 Chicago–O'Hare runway collision Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash
1973	DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 Delta Air Lines Flight 723 TWA Flight 742 World Airways Flight 802 Texas International Airlines Flight 655 Pan Am Flight 160 National Airlines Flight 27 Iberia Flight 933
1974	Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 Pan Am Flight 806 Delta Air Lines Flight 523 Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 TWA Flight 514 Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231
1975	Golden West Airlines Flight 261 Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 Overseas National Airways Flight 032
1976	Alaska Airlines Flight 60 American Airlines Flight 625 Air Manila Flight 702 TWA Flight 355
1977	Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 Southern Airways Flight 242 Delta Air Lines Flight 1080 Encino helicopter crash Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash Air Indiana Flight 216 United Airlines Flight 2860 Vieques Air Link crash
1978	Continental Airlines Flight 603 United Airlines Flight 696 National Airlines Flight 193 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 Air Caribbean Flight 309 TWA Flight 541 United Airlines Flight 173
1979	TWA Flight 841 American Airlines Flight 191 Downeast Airlines Flight 46 Air New England Flight 248 American Airlines Flight 293 American Airlines Flight 444
This list is incomplete. ALM Flight 980 ditched in waters near St. Croix. Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands