Air Niugini Flight 73
Boeing 737-8BK · Accidentally ditched short of the runway due to pilot error and loss of situational awareness
From Pohnpei International Airport (PNI) to Port Moresby Jacksons International Airport (POM)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA18RA292
- 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
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Final · AIC final report, 15 Jul 2019
- Event fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 47
- Survivors
- 46
- 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
- 6
- 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
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Boeing 737-8BK
- Flight
- PX073
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane
- 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
- P2-PXE
- Operator
- Air Niugini
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Pohnpei International Airport (PNI)To Port Moresby Jacksons International Airport (POM)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Approach
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Unknown or undetermined
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
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
Air Niugini Flight 73 was a scheduled service from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, via Chuuk State, FSM. On 28 September 2018, a Boeing 737-800, operated by Air Niugini, landed short of the runway at Chuuk International Airport in Weno (FSM) and came to rest in Chuuk Lagoon. Local people in small boats rescued most passengers and all crew members. One passenger was found dead by rescue divers. Forty-six people survived, six of whom were injured.
Accident
The aircraft was operating an internationally scheduled passenger flight from Pohnpei International Airport, FSM to Port Moresby International Airport, Papua New Guinea via Chuuk International Airport, FSM. At 10:10 local time (00:10 UTC), the aircraft landed in the Chuuk lagoon 443 ft short of Chuuk International Airport. Initial reports stated that all 12 crew and 35 passengers were rescued by local boats and United States Navy personnel. However, a male Indonesian passenger was reported missing after the evacuation. Three days of searching failed to locate the missing passenger seated at 23A, and the investigating commission requested a verification search of the airplane. On 1 October 2018, Japanese divers located the passenger between partially submerged seat rows 22 and 23, in the vicinity of a fuselage fracture; he had not been wearing a seatbelt. Air Niugini had previously stated that the deceased passenger had been seen by other passengers evacuating the aircraft. Nine people were taken to hospital. Six passengers were seriously injured. Some of the injured sustained broken bones. It was reported that there were thunderstorms in the vicinity of the airport at the time of the accident. The aircraft subsequently sank in 100 ft of water.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Papua New Guinea Accident Investigation Commission opened an investigation into the accident. The Micronesian government delegated the investigation to the Papua New Guinea government on 14 February.
The Department of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure in the Federated States of Micronesia issued a preliminary report on 26 October. It stated that the body of the deceased passenger was recovered from the aircraft. Pathological analysis found that the passenger had succumbed to injuries within three minutes of impact. An autopsy determined that there was a lack of trauma around the waist and hips, indicating that the passenger "was not wearing a seat-belt" at the time of the crash, "which allowed his body to become a projectile sustaining traumatic head and facial injuries".
On 18 July 2019, the Papua New Guinea Accident Investigation Commission issued its final report: the flight crew did not comply with Air Niugini Standard Operating Procedures, nor the approach or pre-landing checklists, and did not adequately brief the approach. The flight path became unstable after autopilot disconnect. The Precision Approach Path Indicator was showing three white lights just before entering Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). The rate of descent significantly exceeded 1,000 ft/min in IMC. The glideslope deviated from half dot low to two dots high within nine seconds after passing the Minimum Descent Altitude. The flight crew heard, but disregarded, thirteen Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) aural alerts (Glideslope and Sink Rate) and flew a 4.5° average glideslope. EGPWS showed a visual PULL UP warning on the Primary flight display. The pilots lost situational awareness. The approach was unstabilized, but the captain did not execute a missed approach. The copilot was ineffective and oblivious to the rapidly unfolding unsafe situation. The continuous alarm WHOOP WHOOP PULL UP aural warning could have been effective in alerting the crew of the imminent danger.
The final report stated confusion led to a botched evacuation of the airplane. According to cabin crew members, the word 'evacuate' was not understood by some of the passengers. Several passengers took their cabin baggage with them against instructions. However some cabin crew members acted with conspicuous courage, retrieving passengers lying underwater in the aisle or still strapped in their seats. The report concluded the Papua New Guinea Civil Aviation Safety Authority "did not meet the high standard of evidence-based assessment required for safety assurance, resulting in numerous deficiencies and errors".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Air Niugini Flight 73” (revision 1372380161, 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
NTSB narrative
The government of Federated States Of Micronesia (FSM) has notified the NTSB of an accident involving a BOEING 737 that occurred on September 28, 2018. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the FSM's investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13 as the State of Manufacture of the airplane.All investigative information will be released by the government of FSM.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: Air Niugini Flight 73
- Article
- Air Niugini Flight 73
- Revision
- 1372380161 · 2026-08-31 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q56764495
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA18RA292
- Event ID
- 20180928X51314
- Case number
- DCA18RA292
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Air Niugini Flight 73" (page 58598012, revision 1372380161); merged with NTSB case DCA18RA292 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date; matches the Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), Papua New Guinea (investigation delegated in full by the Federated States of Micronesia on 14 Feb 2019) final report
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from NTSB record DCA18RA292
- Map position
- Wikipedia: 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); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA18RA292
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities; matches the Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), Papua New Guinea (investigation delegated in full by the Federated States of Micronesia on 14 Feb 2019) final report
- Ground fatalities
- Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), Papua New Guinea (investigation delegated in full by the Federated States of Micronesia on 14 Feb 2019) final report
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "Air Niugini Flight 73" and NTSB case DCA18RA292, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- Checked against the Accident Investigation Commission (AIC), Papua New Guinea (investigation delegated in full by the Federated States of Micronesia on 14 Feb 2019) final report (2019-07-15) on 2026-09-18. The report states the same date, flight number, fatalities, registration, operator, departure and damage. Taken from the report: ground fatalities. Shown unchanged where the report gives another value or wording: destination (shown Port Moresby International Airport, Papua New Guinea; report Chuuk). Not checked: place, crash-site coordinates, aircraft type and type of operation.