Swiftair Flight 704

Swiftair Flight 704 (ICAO flight number: SWT704) was a domestic cargo flight of Swiftair from Palma de Mallorca Airport to Barcelona–El Prat Airport on 28 July 1998, on which a Swearingen SA227-AC Metro III crashed on landing approach, whereupon both pilots on board were killed. The accident occurred during a standard training flight, during which the crew wanted to practise a simulated engine shutdown and a landing with only one functioning engine.

Accident sequence

Flight SWT704 was a cargo flight from Palma de Mallorca (PMI) to Barcelona–El Prat (BCN) and was operated by Swiftair.

Initially it was planned that the crew should carry out a missed approach with only one operating engine, i.e. with a simulated engine failure. Runway 25 was difficult to approach under these circumstances, so the captain decided to postpone flying this manoeuvre. Instead, it was decided to fly the approach slightly above the glide path, to shut down the right engine and then gradually to retract the landing gear and the flaps, while the captain explained to the first officer: "As soon as we lose control, we'll restart the engine". The approach initially proceeded normally. At 00:47:10 the pilots contacted air traffic control in Barcelona, which informed them that they were scheduled as the next aircraft for the approach and that they should continue. At 00:49:55 the captain reported that the aircraft was now on final approach to runway 25. At this point the aircraft was about 1,400 feet (approx. 430 metres) above the ground and 6 nautical miles (approx. 11 kilometres) from the runway threshold.

Near the runway threshold, the crew began simulating the engine failure. The captain announced: "Okay, stop engine", to which the first officer replied "Gear up". Contrary to normal procedure, however, the right engine was shut down completely instead of merely being set to idle. In addition, the propeller was feathered. When the first officer then inadvertently pressed the wrong pedal, the aircraft began to drift to the right. The captain then tried to restart the engine, but without success. Because of a locked guide pin in the propeller mechanism, the engine could not be started again.

At this point the aircraft was in a critical situation. The captain decided to continue flying on one engine and the first officer continued the landing. But when the aircraft, with landing gear extended and flaps partially extended, fell below the critical speed, a stall warning sounded and control was lost. The aircraft first rolled 90 degrees to the left, then 90 degrees to the right, and increasingly lost height. Finally the left wing struck the ground, whereupon the aircraft crashed into the boundary wall along road B-203 near the airport. The wreckage then broke through the airport fence and came to rest 250 metres short of the threshold of runway 25 and 100 metres to the right of the extended centreline. The aircraft caught fire and was completely destroyed. The two pilots were killed.

Causes of the accident

The investigation of the accident revealed that the probable cause of the accident was the considerable reduction in speed at low altitude after the landing gear had been extended and the flaps had been in an intermediate position, while the right engine was shut down and the propeller was almost feathered. This configuration had led to a considerable loss of lift and control.