Binter Mediterráneo

Binter Mediterraneo

Binter Mediterraneo was a Spanish airline with its head office in the Domestic Departures area of Malaga Airport in Malaga, Spain. , the airline was created in 1988 in the likeness of Binter Canarias, another a subsidiary of Iberia LAE...

 Flight 8261 (Registration EC-FBC), on 29 August 2001, crash-landed next to N-340, some 200 meters short of the runway 32 at Ruiz Picasso International Airport at Málaga, Spain. The pilot reported to Málaga Air Traffic Control, while on final approach, the aircraft's port engine had failed, and that he would have to perform an emergency landing. The plane descended hitting the first edge lights and stopping right on the N-340. Subsequent investigation into the accident revealed that, shortly after the initial engine failure, the First Officer inadvertently shut down both of the aircraft's engines, leading to a total loss of power. Four out of the 44 people on board were killed, including the pilot. The aircraft was scrapped.

The CN-235 as a commercial airliner

Although the CN-235 was designed for military purposes in the 1980s, it began to be used as a commercial plane, although it wasn't a very big success for airlines. Possibly its lack of success was due to its 50 passenger capacity. Iberia LAE, Spain's flag carrier

Flag carrier

A flag carrier is a transportation company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given country, enjoys preferential rights or privileges, accorded by the government, for international operations. It may be a state-run, state-owned or private but...

, bought four CN-235s from CASA aircraft for regional routes but in 1992 Aerolíneas Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas , formally Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A., is Argentina's largest airline and serves as the country's flag carrier. Owned in its majority by the Argentine Government, the airline is headquartered in the Torre Bouchard, located in San Nicolás, Buenos Aires...

 (then a subsidiary of Iberia)ordered two of these aircraft for regional routes - to be operated by its subsidiary, Austral

Austral Líneas Aéreas

Austral Líneas Aéreas , more commonly known by its shortened name Austral, is a domestic airline of Argentina, the sister company of Aerolíneas Argentinas. It is the second largest domestic scheduled airline in the country, after Aerolíneas Argentinas itself...

.

Aircraft reviews

As reported by Binter Mediterráneo after the accident, this aircraft was subjected, in addition to the established numerous security patches:

• Weekly
• Daily
• Preflight

Takeoff and flight

The CN-235 of Binter Mediterranean off the Melilla airport at 9:37 hours of the day August 29 of 2001 , with 47 persons aboard (44 passengers and 3 crew). The flight went without incident and the weather was fine and there was no delay.

Attempted Landing

Just after starting the landing maneuver, the port engine shut down. The pilot informed air traffic controllers at Malaga Airport that the plane would still make a landing, however, the plane lost altitude, and fell a few yards from the point of the emergency landing. The plane hit road N-340, which fortunately did not have any traffic in the impact area. According to the testimony of some of the passengers, the pilot did not report anything to the PA.

Casualties

Three passengers were killed on impact (Emilio Martínez Plaza, 67 ; Mohamed Mohamed Uassani, 46; both from Melilla, and Herve Troadec, 41 from France). Several hours later, the pilot, Mariano Hernández Ruano, 55; died at the Carlos Haya Hospital.

Causes

Initially, it was said that the copilot was confused by pressing a wrong button, which caused the engine to stop. Later, at trial, it was demonstrated that the copilot had successfully forfeited the maneuvers to be performed in such cases as the training they had received from the company. It also exonerated to both pilots and declared the company negligence in training its pilots. Binter Mediterráneo was also found culpable for the poor maintenance of its aircraft.

Remains of plane

The remains of the plane, were taken to the CASA Sevilla factory. Following completion of the investigation, was destroyed, except the tail, which is exposed in the Museo del Trasnporte Aéreo de Málaga.

External links

• Reconstrucción del accidente El País. - Posted at UNAV
• Esparza, Cristina S. "4 muertos al estrellarse un avión que iba a ser retirado del servicio." El Mundo
  El Mundo (Spain)
  El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...
  
  . Thursday 30 August 2001.