Narrative:A Beechcraft B200 Super King Air sustained substantial damage in a landing accident at Lord Howe Island Airport, Australia.
During descent, the aircraft was struck by lightning and the flight director and autopilot failed. During late final approach, the aircraft encountered a strong downdraft, resulting in a hard landing with substantial damage to the right wing and propeller.
The Lord Howe Island Airport has a single 2907 ft runway, direction 10/28. Weather at the morning of the accident included strong, gusting winds. At 07:28 winds were measured from 030° at 27 knots, gusting to 39 knots.
Classification:
Windshear/downdraft
Heavy landing
Runway mishap
Sources:
»
Weather report restriction linked to Lord Howe air crash (theaustralian.com.au, 3 Nov 2017)» ATSB ref. 201704957
METAR Weather report:
19:20 UTC / 06:20 local time:
YLHI 261920Z AUTO 01008G20KT 5000 // SCT018 SCT040 OVC058 20/18 Q100820:28 UTC / 07:28 local time:
YLHI 262028Z AUTO 03027G39KT 6000 // SCT014 BKN044 OVC081 20/18 Q100521:26 UTC / 08:26 local time:
YLHI 262126Z AUTO 31011KT 6000 // SCT012 BKN020 OVC069 17/16 Q1002
Photos
Map
This map shows the airport of departure and the intended destination of the flight. The line between the airports does
not display the exact flight path.
Distance from Port Macquarie Airport, NSW to Lord Howe Island Airport, NSW as the crow flies is 587 km (367 miles).
Accident location: Approximate; accuracy within a few kilometers.
This information is not presented as the Flight Safety Foundation or the Aviation Safety Network’s opinion as to the cause of the accident. It is preliminary and is based on the facts as they are known at this time.