Polynesian Airlines Flight 211
Samoa Airways De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter · Controlled flight into terrain
From Pago Pago International Airport (PPG) to Fagali’i Airport, Samoa
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
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 2
- 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
- 2
- 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
De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DHC-6
- 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
- 5W-FAU
- Operator
- Samoa Airways
- Onboard fatalities
- 3
- Route
- From Pago Pago International Airport (PPG)To Fagali’i Airport, Samoa
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Estimated position: Apia, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
Polynesian Airlines Flight 211 was an international scheduled flight of Polynesian Airlines from Pago Pago to Apia, on which on 7 January 1997 a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter flew into a mountain near Apia. Three people died on impact.
Course of the flight
The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter had initially departed Pago Pago as scheduled. Because of bad weather at the destination airport of Fagali’i, the pilots diverted to Faleolo Airport. However, a landing was not possible there either, which is why the captain decided to fly to the original destination after all. Despite heavy rain and a low cloud base, the crew flew under visual flight rules. Four kilometres southwest of the airport the aircraft flew into the western slope of a mountain. Three of the five occupants died on impact.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The causes of the accident were named as the bad weather and the captain's decision to continue the approach to Fagali’i Airport nonetheless, regardless of the reduced visibility.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Polynesian-Airlines-Flug 211” (revision 238071715, retrieved 2026-09-19) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out; the translation may contain errors, and long articles were cut to their first 700 words. Read the article
Sources
German Wikipedia article: Polynesian-Airlines-Flug 211
- Article
- Polynesian-Airlines-Flug 211
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 238071715 · 2023-10-11 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q90500381
- 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
- de Wikipedia article "Polynesian-Airlines-Flug 211" (page 11241584, revision 238071715), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata 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
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.