Manx2 Swearingen 227 plane crash
Cork, Ireland
Updated on
The Swearingen SA-227BC Metro III passenger plane, operated by Manx2, took off from Belfast, United Kingdom, for a passenger flight to Cork, Ireland. 10 passengers and two crewmembers were onboard. The plane crashed during landing at Cork. 6 occupants were killed, and 4 survived.
On its first approach to Cork airport runway 17 the pilot aborted landing due to heavy fog. Then, he made a second attempt on Runway 35 in the opposite direction. Blinded by heavy fog he took the plane back into a holding pattern above the airport for 20 minutes. Then, the crew came back for a third approach, this time on runway 17. But the plane smashed nose first into the runway, overturned, careered at speed over the tarmac and ploughed through 70 ft of adjacent grass and mud.
The right wing appears to have been crushed upwards in the impact, causing the engine on that side to burst into flames. With the plane imbalanced, its forward momentum forced it to flip over in a left-to-right motion, onto its roof.
The front of the plane burst into flames but in less than two minutes two fire engines were at the side and had quickly extinguished the blaze.
Both crewmembers and four passengers were killed. The four other passengers survived.
