Lao Airlines Flight 301
ATR 72-600 · Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
From Wattay International Airport (VTE) to Pakse International Airport (PKZ)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 49 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 49
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
ATR 72-600
- Flight
- QV301
- Aircraft type
- ATR 72
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- RDPL-34233
- Operator
- Lao Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 49
- Route
- From Wattay International Airport (VTE)To Pakse International Airport (PKZ)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Lao Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Vientiane to Pakse, Laos. On 16 October 2013, the ATR 72-600 aircraft operating the flight crashed into the Mekong River near Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. The accident was the first involving an ATR 72-600 and the deadliest ever to occur on Lao soil.
The investigation report concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to properly execute the published missed approach procedure following an aborted landing at Pakse airport.
Accident
The aircraft was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Wattay International Airport, Vientiane to Pakse International Airport, Pakse, Laos. The flight departed from Vientiane at 14:45 local time (07:45 UTC) and crashed into the Mekong River at 15:55 local time (08:55 UTC) while approaching Pakse for the second time, less than 6 km from the airport. The aircraft had already gone around once due to poor weather and was in the downwind leg for another approach when it crashed into a riverbank and was deflected into the river. All five crew and 44 passengers on board were killed.
Marks on the ground indicated that the aircraft landed heavily on the ground before entering the Mekong. The weather was reported to be poor at the time of the accident due to the remnants of Typhoon Nari affecting southern Laos.
The fast-flowing, deep waters of the Mekong hampered the recovery of the victims and wreckage. To assist with the search, 50 divers from Thailand were brought in. Eighteen victims had been recovered as of 18 October. By 23 October 44 of the 49 victims had been recovered. Identification had been confirmed for 27 of them. Some of the victims were found 19 km downstream of the crash site.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Lao Department of Civil Aviation opened an investigation into the accident. The aircraft's manufacturer ATR and the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) assisted them. The BEA sent four investigators to Laos.
The aircraft's wreckage was lifted from the Mekong on 22 October 2013. Within three weeks from the accident, both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were successfully recovered from the Mekong.
According to the official investigation report, released in November 2014, the accident's probable cause was the flight crew's failure to properly execute the published missed approach procedure, which resulted in the aircraft flying into terrain. A sudden change in weather conditions and an improperly executed published instrument approach necessitated the go-around. The recordings show that the flight crew initiated a right turn according to the lateral missed approach trajectory without succeeding in reaching the vertical trajectory. Specifically, the flight crew did not follow the vertical profile of the missed approach as the missed approach altitude was set at 600 ft and the aircraft system went into altitude capture mode. When the flight crew realized that the altitude was too low, the pilot flying over-reacted, which led to a high pitch attitude of 33°. It then struck trees. The fuselage collided with the bank and plunged into the river.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Lao Airlines Flight 301” (revision 1369184672, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Lao Airlines Flight 301
- Article
- Lao Airlines Flight 301
- Revision
- 1369184672 · 2026-08-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q15075468
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Lao Airlines Flight 301" (page 40809613, revision 1369184672)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.