Aero Flight 311
Route of Aero O / Y DC3
The Aero Flight 311 ( AY311 ) was by the airline Aero O / Y (now Finnair ) performed scheduled flight between Kronoby, Finland and Vaasa. The plane, a Douglas DC -3C, crashed near the municipality of Korsholm (Finnish Korsholm ) on January 3, 1961. In this plane crash all 22 passengers and three crew members were killed. Even today it is the most serious plane crash in the history of Finland.
Expiration
Due to a delayed clearance the aircraft in Kronoby started late at 07:16 o `clock scheduled at 07:00 clock. The air traffic control gave Flight 311 permission for the free choice of the altitude, so that only had to be adhered to the prescribed on the Kruununkylä Vasa route minimum safe altitude. In the last 40 kilometers of the route this statement, however, was not followed by the pilots and below the height of 330 feet (equivalent to 100 m).
The last radio message, the pilots confirmed the weather information from the air traffic control and reported the early flyby Seppä Lighthouse. They had already begun with the landing preparations and were now sunk to a height of less than 50 meters. After a sudden left turn introduced the aircraft lost speed. In spite of the attempt to compensate for this loss by full thrust, the aircraft began to spin. Eyewitnesses reported that the pilots still anschalteten the landing light before the plane eventually crashed in a forest at an angle of 70 ° at 07:40:30 Clock.
The plane was on fire and was completely destroyed by the impact and fire. When the first people about ten minutes after the crash reached the accident site, no rescue attempts could be made because of the fire.
Investigation
The investigation revealed that the aircraft had been in a completely airworthy condition and the cause of the accident was probably due to a pilot error during the left turn. The position of the body of a passenger also allowed for the possibility that the pilots had been disturbed by this. There was no evidence of technical failure nor with trees found in an explosion or the collision of the aircraft. Although on that cold winter icing of the aircraft can not be excluded, this is unlikely, according to investigative report because of the flight. In addition, showed neither the remote from the main part of the aircraft wreckage functional wing icing, nor had been reported icing before by the pilot by radio.
According to the accident investigation report, the pilot and his first officer Lars Hattinen straws were in a weakened state, because they do not sleep the day before and had taken in substantial amounts to be alcohol. The autopsy eventually revealed that Hattinen had a blood alcohol concentration of 2 ‰, while in culm blood 1.56 ‰ could be detected. Thus disregarded Hattinen and stalks are allowed to fly their responsibility for the safety of passengers and have both under the Convention of International Civil Aviation Organization as well as under the provisions of their contract on that day.
Flight number
The successor of Aero O / Y, today's Finnair, since March 2009 operated the Helsinki - Vaasa route with an Embraer 170 flight number AY311. This is unusual because normally the flight numbers of tragic accidents are no longer used.