Date:	Wednesday 29 October 2014
Time:	18:40
Type:	Shorts 360-200
Owner/operator:	SkyWay Enterprises
Registration:	N380MQ
MSN:	SH.3702
Year of manufacture:	1986
Total airframe hrs:	25061 hours
Cycles:	32824 flights
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-65AR
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	1,5 km W off Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport (SXM) -   Sint Maarten
Phase:	Initial climb
Nature:	Cargo
Departure airport:	Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport (SXM/TNCM)
Destination airport:	San Juan-Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU/TJSJ)
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A Shorts 360-200 cargo plane crashed into the water off Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport (SXM), shortly after takeoff from runway 27. Both pilots were killed.
The accident flight 7101 operated as a scheduled cargo flight returning from Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport to San Juan International Airport, Puerto Rico.
The flight was approved for engine start by the Juliana Tower at 18:17 local time. The flight commenced taxi to runway 28 at 18:28. The flight was cleared for take-off at 18:38 and instructed to maintain heading 230 until passing 4,000 feet.
At 18:39 the flight was given their departure time and instructed to maintain heading 230 until passing 3000 feet. The crew read back the clearance. At 18:40 Tower personnel observed a normal take-off and initial climb.
The aircraft passed the departure runway threshold on take-off and attained a maximum GPS altitude of 433 feet at 119 knots groundspeed at 18:39:30. It then entered a left hand descending turn at an increasing airspeed until it struck the water.

Causes/contributing factors:
The investigation believes the PF experienced a loss of control while initiating a turn to the required departure heading after take-off. Flap retraction and its associated acceleration combined to set in motion a somatogravic illusion for the PF. The PF's reaction to pitch down while initiating a turn led to an extreme unusual attitude and the subsequent crash. PM awareness to the imminent loss of control and any attempt to intervene could not be determined. Crew resource management (CRM) performance was insufficient to avoid the crash.
Contributing factors to the loss of control were environmental conditions including departure from an unfamiliar runway with loss of visual references (black hole), night and rain with gusting winds.

00:00 UTC / 18:00 local time:
TNCM 300000Z VRB03KT 3000 -TSRA FEW010CB BKN012TCU BKN035 26/25 Q1011 A2986 RERA/ TEMPO SHRA

01:00 UTC / 19:00 local time:
TNCM 300100Z 21008KT 160V250 9999 -RA FEW013 BKN035 27/25 Q1011 A2986 RETS/ TEMPO SHRA
Wind 210 degrees at 8 knots, varying in direction between 160 and 250 degrees; Visibility: 10+ km; light rain; few clouds at 1300 feet; broken clouds at 3500 feet; Temperature: 27°C; Dew point 25°C; Pressure: 1011 mb

SMM News
The Daily Herald
Sint Maarten Civil Aviation Authority Aircraft Accident Report

photo (c) Colin Ogilvie; Aguadilla-Borinquen Airport (BQN/TJBQ); 20 March 2013

photo (c) via Werner Fischdick; Kissimmee Municipal Airport, FL (ISM); January 2001

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