Widerøe Flight 839
1990 aviation accident / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Widerøe Flight 839, also known as the Værøy Accident (Norwegian: Værøy-ulykken), was a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter that crashed shortly after take-off from Værøy Airport in Norway. The incident occurred on 12 April 1990 at 14:44, killing all five people on board. The cause of the accident were strong winds that exceeded the structure's tolerance, causing the tail rudder and tailplane to crack so the plane became uncontrollable. Impact occurred 63 seconds after take-off and 8 seconds after the crack. The aircraft crashed into the water, and a search was conducted for several days to find the wreck.
Accident | |
---|---|
Date | 12 April 1990 |
Summary | Structural failure due to strong winds |
Site | Værøy Airport, Værøy, Norway 67°41′N 012°40′E |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter |
Operator | Widerøe |
Registration | LN-BNS |
Flight origin | Værøy Airport |
Destination | Bodø Airport |
Occupants | 5 |
Passengers | 3 |
Crew | 2 |
Fatalities | 5 |
Survivors | 0 |
Uneven and strong winds had given the airport low regularity, and prior to take-off, wind speeds of 57 knots (29 m/s; 106 km/h) had been recorded. The accident caused the airport to be permanently closed, and replaced by Værøy Heliport. The incident was investigated by the Accident Investigation Board Norway, which published its conclusions in 1991. Three years later, a new investigation was conducted, after an engineer had stated that the cause of the accident could instead have been fatigue. The second investigation came to the same conclusion as the first and all involved parties have since supported the causes made in the initial report.