Manx2 Flight 7100

Manx2 Flight 7100 was a scheduled commercial flight from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Cork, Republic of Ireland. On 10 February 2011, the Fairchild Metro III aircraft flying the route with ten passengers and two crew on board crashed on its third attempt to land at Cork Airport in foggy conditions. Six people, including both pilots, died. Six passengers survived but were injured, four of them seriously.

The Air Accident Investigation Unit published its final report in January 2014. It stated that the probable cause of the accident was loss of control during an attempted go-around below decision height in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The report mentioned as contributory factors the inappropriate pairing of flight crews, inadequate command training and checking, and inadequate oversight of the charter operation by the operator and the operator's state.

History of the flight

Flight 7100 was scheduled to depart Belfast City Airport at 07:50 GMT arriving at Cork Airport for 09:00 GMT. On board were a crew of two and ten passengers.

The aircraft arrived at Belfast City Airport at 07:15 after a short positioning flight from Belfast International Airport, and was refuelled for the planned route-trip to Cork and back. The flight specified Waterford Airport as the alternate airport for the sector to Cork. No second alternate was made. Boarding of the flight was delayed due to both crew members working on the passenger seats in the cabin; boarding commenced once that task was completed. Passengers chose their seats at random and the safety demonstration was carried out by the co-pilot.

08:10 – Flight 7100 departed and was estimated to arrive in Cork at 09:10, where the weather was foggy.

08:34 – The flight crew established communication with Shannon Air Traffic Control.

08:48 – The aircraft was handed over to a Cork Approach controller.

08:58 – The crew reported established on the ILS for Runway 17 and was handed over to Cork Tower.

09:00 – Cork Tower passed on to the crew the instrumented runway visual range (IRVR), which was still below the minimum required.

09:03 – The crew descended below the decision height (DH) of 200 ft and a missed approach (go-around) was carried out. The lowest recorded height on this approach was 101 ft.

Radar vectors were given by Cork Approach to the reciprocal runway 35, which the crew believed with the sun behind the aircraft, might make visual acquisition of the runway easier.

09:10 – The aircraft was 8 miles from touchdown and was handed back to Cork Tower. Again the RVR passed on by Tower were below minimums. The approach continued beyond the Outer Marker (OM).

09:14 – The aircraft again descended below the DH and a second missed approach was carried out. The lowest recorded height on this approach was 91 ft.

09:15 – The flight crew entered a holding pattern named ROVAL and maintained an altitude of 3,000 ft.

In the hold, the flight crew requested weather conditions for Waterford, which were below minimums. The flight crew nominated Shannon Airport as their alternate and requested the latest weather; again the weather there was below minimums. Weather for Dublin was passed on to the flight crew and was also below minimums. Cork Approach informed the flight crew about weather conditions at Kerry Airport, which were "good" with 10 km visibility.

09:33 – Flight 7100 was still in the ROVAL hold, IRVR for Runway 17 began to improve.

09:39 – Following further slight improvement in IRVR values, but with conditions still below minimums, the flight crew elected to carry out a third approach, and the second approach for Runway 17.

09:45 – Flight 7100 reported established on the ILS for Runway 17; during this time IRVR improved further to 550 m (the required minimum) which was passed on to the crew by Cork Approach. The flight was handed over to Cork Tower for the third time.

09:46 – Cork Tower passed on the latest IRVR of 500/400/400, which were now again below minimums.

The approach was continued beyond the OM, the commander taking over operation of the power levers. Descent was continued below the DH. A significant reduction in power and significant roll to the left followed, just below 100 ft, and a third go-around was called by the commander, which the co-pilot acknowledged. Coincident with the application of go-around power by the commander, control of the aircraft was lost. The aircraft rolled to the left, and then to the right beyond the vertical, which brought the right wingtip into contact with the runway. The aircraft continued to roll and impacted the runway inverted. The stall warning sounded continuously during the final seven seconds of the CVR recording.

At 09:50:34, following both initial impacts the aircraft continued inverted for a further 189 m and came to a rest in soft ground to the right of the runway.

During this time, the Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) began to sound in the Control Tower at Cork Airport. Post impact fires ensued in both engines, and from fuel leaking from the outboard right fuel tank. The fires were put out by the Airfield Fire Service (AFS) before they reached the fuselage. Of the twelve on board, six people were fatally injured including both pilots. Four of the survivors suffered serious injuries whilst two received minor injuries and were described as walking wounded. A witness inside the airport terminal building stated that the fog was so thick that the crashed aircraft could not be seen. The airport fire service extinguished both post impact fires within ten minutes of the accident, and started to remove the casualties from the wreckage. The injured were taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment.