Fiji Air accident at Vanua Balavu
de Havilland DH-114 Heron 2B · Loss of control shortly after takeoff
From Vanua Balavu Airport, to Nausori International Airport (SUV)
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
- 1 · 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 DH-114 Heron 2B
- Aircraft type
- de Havilland DH-114
- 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
- DQ-FEC
- Operator
- Fiji Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 1
- Route
- From Vanua Balavu Airport,To Nausori International Airport (SUV)
Cause areas
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Physical
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
The Fiji Air accident at Vanua Balavu occurred on 27 December 1986, when a de Havilland DH-114 Heron 2 on a domestic scheduled flight of Fiji Air from Vanua Balavu to Suva-Nausori went out of control shortly after takeoff and crashed; of the three people on board, one passenger was killed.
Accident sequence
On that day the aircraft's takeoff was carried out in bad weather from a sloping runway and with a headwind. During the takeoff run the aircraft veered off the runway to the left and collided with trees. The aircraft was destroyed by the collision. One passenger was killed in the accident; the other two occupants were injured.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The accident investigation found, on the one hand, that during the takeoff run the pilot had not had sufficient visual reference points available to ensure that the aircraft kept running straight. Secondly, it was found that the pilot's cognitive performance was impaired due to medication he had taken beforehand.
Translated into English with AI assistance from the German Wikipedia article “Flugunfall der Fiji Air bei Vanua Balavu” (revision 237138014, 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: Flugunfall der Fiji Air bei Vanua Balavu
- Translation
- Into English with AI assistance; names of linked operators and aircraft types from Wikidata. It may contain errors.
- Revision
- 237138014 · 2023-09-08 · retrieved 2026-09-19
- Wikidata
- Q115287429
- 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 "Flugunfall der Fiji Air bei Vanua Balavu" (page 12448520, revision 237138014), translated into English with AI assistance
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- "scheduled flight" in the article's opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia article lead
Source notes (2)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the German Wikipedia article's infobox, translated into English with AI assistance, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.
- The German article's text gives 27 December 1986; its infobox and cited Aviation Safety Network record give 11 September 1986, used here.