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| Date: | Monday 27 December 2021 |
| Time: | 13:52 |
| Type: |  Cessna 172L |
| Owner/operator: | Sakurai Aviation |
| Registration: | 4R-GAF |
| MSN: | 17259798 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 4 |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Kimbulapitiya, Gampaha -
 Sri Lanka
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi |
| Departure airport: | Sigiriya Airport (GIU/VCCS) |
| Koggala Airport (KCT/VCCK) | |
| Investigating agency: | CAASL |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
Cessna 172L 4R-GAF (ex 4R-HDC) of Sakurai Aviation crash landed in a paddy field in Paththayam Watta, Kimbulapitiya, Negombo in the Gampaha district close to Bandaranaike International Airport (VCBI) after the aircraft suffered an engine RPM fluctuation and subsequent engine failure. Three of the four occupants were injured. The charter flight was on its way to Koggala Airport (VCCK) from Sigiriya Airport (VCCS) when the problems started to occur. It had initially taken off from Ratmalana Airport (VCCC) and was suppose to land there after departing Koggala Airport (VCCK). The flight was going to make an emergency landing at Bandaranaike International Airport (VCBI) but while the aircraft was descending the pilot in command informed the controller that he had no control over the engine power. During the final approach to runway 22 the pilot in command then declared a "MAYDAY" call and the aircraft crash landed soon after.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka suspended all flight operations of Sakurai Aviation after two emergency landings within a week due to engine failures. A similar incident occurred 5 days earlier (Dec 22nd) involving a Piper PA-38-112 Tomahawk registered 4R-ASJ.
The investigation which was conducted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka found out that carburetor icing was the probable cause for this accident and the inability to identify it at the initial stage and failure to prevent a serious icing condition during cruise phase as per the owner’s manual had contributed to this accident.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.dailymirror.lk/latest_news/Another-emergency-landing/342-227772
http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/12/27/local/268573/aircraft-makes-emergency-landing-kimbulapitiya
https://www.nation.lk/online/light-aircraft-makes-emergency-landing-in-kimbulapitiya-157862.html
https://flightaware.com/live/flight/4RGAF
https://www.hirunews.lk/english/292292/aircraft-operations-of-sakurai-aviation-suspended-with-immediate-effect
CAASL
Location
Media:
Two foreign passengers & a pilot injured & hospitalised after a private Cessna 172 aircraft belonging to Sakurai Airlines made an emergency landing in the Kimbulapitiya area in Katunayake pic.twitter.com/alVFCGVHoO
— Shehan Madawa ?? (@shehanmlive) December 27, 2021
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Dec-2021 10:18 | gerard57 | Added |
| 27-Dec-2021 10:19 | gerard57 | Updated [Country, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 11:52 | RobertMB | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:21 | harro | Updated [Source, Embed code, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:23 | harro | Updated [Registration, Embed code, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:27 | RobertMB | Updated [Location, Source, Embed code, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:27 | RobertMB | Updated |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:27 | harro | Updated [Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative, Category, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 12:54 | johnwg | Updated [Time, Phase, Source, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 13:08 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 14:52 | johnwg | Updated [Time, Phase, Nature, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, ] |
| 27-Dec-2021 20:03 | Captain Adam | Updated [Source, Narrative, ] |
| 08-Jan-2022 15:53 | MiG | Updated [Nature, ] |
| 15-Feb-2022 07:09 | Prometheus | Updated [Aircraft type, Location, Narrative, ] |
| 04-Oct-2023 11:58 | Prometheus | Updated |
| 04-Oct-2023 11:59 | harro | Updated |
| 05-Oct-2023 05:50 | Prometheus | Updated |
| 07-Oct-2023 07:18 | Prometheus | Updated |
| 07-Oct-2023 07:19 | harro | Updated |
| 01-Nov-2023 19:28 | Prometheus | Updated |
| 28-Jan-2024 08:33 | Prometheus | Updated [Source, ] |
| 28-Jan-2024 08:35 | harro | Updated [Other fatalities, Accident report, ] |
| 11-May-2024 06:26 | Prometheus | Updated [Damage, ] |
| 21-Nov-2024 08:59 | Prometheus | Updated [Location, ] |
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