On January 7th the Saab 340B, registered as YL-RAF, was performing positioning flight MTL-650P from Riga (Latvia) to Savonlinna (Finland). There were 3 crew members on board, but no passengers.
The aircraft landed on Savonlinna’s runway 12/30 at about 05:36L (03:36Z) but the crew however lost directional control, the aircraft turned and slid sidewards off the runway. They came to a stop with all gear in deep snow off the runway surface. Luckily there were no injuries to the crew or to anyone on the ground.
A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) was put in place by the airport notifying other aircraft that the airports only runway, runway 12/30 was closed. This, in turn, closed the airport to both arrival and departures, with FlightRadar24 showing flights resuming on January 10th, but this could change. So far over 8 flights into the airport have been cancelled.
The aircraft was about to perform scheduled flights out of Savonlinna for Flexflight. The morning flights of Flexflight had to be cancelled as result.
Finland’s Onnettomuustutkintakeskus (Accident Investigation Board AIBF) dispatched an investigation team of 5 investigators on site.
Finavia (the airport operator) reported the runway had been cleared on a width of 37 meters, the runway surface was covered with dry snow of 8mm/0.3 inches. The braking action was measured to be better than the medium. Snow banks at the edges of the runway rose to about 40cm (15.7 inches).
On Jan 8th 2019 Finland’s Onnettomuustutkintakeskus reported the weather conditions were not exceptionally bad, the runway condition was sufficient for landing. Based on the ground tracks the aircraft touched down to the left of the runway centerline and drifted off the runway coming to a stop about 20 meters to the left of the runway edge. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained damage to both propellers, landing lights and tyres. The onsite work has been completed.
Image © AIBF
