By Admin. Updated 5:43 p.m., Monday, January 8, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
No one wants to hear about them or even imagine them, but mishaps do happen with aircraft, some of which end up being fatal.
Aviation itself has evolved over decades to rely on technology more and to be safer for commercial use, but mishaps still occur from time to time in the airspace of every country.
A few airplane mishaps have occurred from time to time in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), the most recent being the crash of the single-engine plane that killed all four people aboard including American actor- Christian Klesper (professionally known as Christian Oliver) and his two daughters.
The January 4, 2024 incident left many people in mourning and the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority – ECCAA investigating.
Though the country is known to have a very safe aviation record, there are other times in history when aircraft crashed, leaving several people dead.
In an inconvenient yet important history lesson, here are nine (9) times fatal airplane crashes occurred in SVG.
1. Thursday, February 13th, 1969: a private aircraft with four persons on board crashed in the Rabacca River of the La Soufrière region, leaving one person dead.
The victim of the afternoon plane crash was Dr. Clarence Aubrey Williams, who according to the Saturday, February 15 edition of the Vincentian Newspaper was a Specialist Anaesthetist at the Kingstown General Hospital.
The other three persons who were on a single-engine aircraft with him were Oswald Robertson, Keith Robertson, and Paddy Punnett. The three passengers survived.
According to the Vincentian News Paper, all of the men were members of the Light Aircraft Club which was recently formed.
The Vincentian Newspaper reported that after the crash, one of the survivors – Mr. Punnet went to seek help after the Robertson boys had been dislodged.
2. Friday, November 11, 1977: A charter flight nose-dived into the sea off the coast of Canouan, an island in the Southern Grenadines. Six (6) people were on board the flight. Five died and the pilot survived.
The aircraft was a twin-engine Aztec that crashed into the sea while on a trip from Mainland St: Vincent to the Grenadine islands
According to a February 27, 1978, CANA report, an inquest conducted into the incident blamed operators of the small aircraft for the deaths of five of the people killed in the incident.
“In November 1977, a five-man jury found that ‘Sufficient consideration’ was not given to passenger safety by operators of the aircraft an, American registered Piper Aztec,” the CANA news report stated.
The plane crashed into the sea near Canouan while on a trip from Mainland St: Vincent to the Grenadines.
“Three Vincentians and two Guyanese died in the disaster, but Guyanese pilot Leon Fraites survived,” the CANA report stated.
“The aircraft reportedly crashed, the pilot told the inquest when a passenger grabbed the controls after one its engines failed during landing,” the CANA report stated.
The Vincentian newspaper, in an account of the incident, said that Captain Fraites testified that a Guyanese passenger in the front seat held on to the controls and refused to release them even though hit on the hand. This caused the plane to climb, then it spiralled into the sea, CANA reported.
“In giving its verdict, the jury said they felt that enough consideration was not given by operators of the plane for the safety of its passengers,” the CANA report stated.
3. Friday, August 20, 1982: All six people (another source says nine) aboard flight IAS 109 died when the aircraft in which they were traveling crashed in the La Soufrière mountains.
The dead included Vincentian pilot lan Haydock.
In its Friday, August 27, 1982 edition, the Vincentian Newspaper reported that Vincentian lan Haydock (21) years), Grenadians Mr and Mrs Jude and Louise Evans, Shanet Daniel (5 years) and Donna David (24 years) of St Lucia, and thirty-four-year-old Victor Dookeram of Trinidad died when the Islander aircraft of Inter-Island Air Services Ltd (a LIAT subsidiary piloted by Haydock crashed into the Soufriere mountain near the old crater lake.
According to the August 27, 1982 report, the “aircraft left the Arnos Vale Airport at about 9.16 a,m. on Friday last (20th August 1982) and was reported not to have arrived at its destination in St. Lucia on schedule. The normal
flying time from Arnos Vale in St. Vincent to Vigie in St. Lucia is estimated to be thirty minutes”.
Many regional governments sprung into action to search for the plane in the waters between St. Vincent and St. Lucia with no luck.
“Some luck came at about 7.45 a.m. on Saturday, August 21, 1982, when a French helicopter sighted the wreck on the northern slope of the Soufriere, lying at about 100 feet from ground level on a ridge in the old crater hills,” the Vincentian Newspaper reported.
“A party of about twenty-five policemen armed with cutlasses, knives, ropes, and blankets then left the airport bound for the site via the Rabacca Dry River, where the ambulance and many onlookers waited anxiously,” the newspaper report stated.
4. Sunday, August 3, 1986: In what has been described as the most tragic aviation tragedy in Vincentian history, the commercial flight of Sunday, August 3, 1986, is still very much remembered by many.
The flight – LIAT 319 came close to the Arnos Vale Airport but never landed leaving 13 people dead including a former Deputy Prime Minister – Hudson Tannis and his wife and child and beauty queen – Miss St. Vincent and the Grenadines – Donna Young.
The aircraft had already entered SVG’s airspace from St. Lucia but face difficulties with the inclement weather.
After circling once after trying to land, the aircraft is reported to have made another landing attempt but air traffic controllers lost all connection with the aircraft.
To this day, neither the aircraft nor its wreckage has ever been found.
5. Thursday, July 12, 1990: Four people died when an Eagle Air (St Lucia) flight crashed in Union Island. The four include two St. Lucians, Allan Clavier – the pilot, and Hugh Williams, the engineer,
The airplane was trying to land at the Union Island Airport when it nose-dived into the garden of a resident of Union Island, some 200 metres from the runway at the Union Island airport.
According to a report by the Advocate, the aircraft was returning to Union Island from St. Lucia to pick up passengers it had earlier left at Union Island.
According to the report, the aeroplane was registered in St. Lucia and was owned by Ewart Hinkson, a pilot.
6. Monday, November 21, 1994:
A private aircraft owned by a German resident in Bequia crashed into the Ashburton area after takeoff from ET Joshua airport at Arnos Vale. The aircraft was headed to the JF Mitchell Airport in Bequia. According to the Vincentian Newspaper, three people including the pilot – George Simmons of Bequia, and two Canadian priests were killed.
In its Friday, November 25 edition, the Vincentian Newspaper reported that the aircraft crashed shortly after its 12.41 p.m. take-off from E.T Joshua Airport at Arnos Vale.
The Canadian priests were part of a welcoming party of the Anglican Church at the airport to greet the Anglican Bishop-Elect of the Windward
Islands – Dr Sehon Goodridge who had arrived in St Vincent from Barbados just after noon to prepare for his consecration in early December.
According to the newspaper, the United States registered craft owned by German-born Nicholas Khune, resident of Bequia, was returning to Bequia but crashed about two miles northeast of the Amos Vale airport, about two minutes after take-off, Airport officials said.
Eyewitnesses to the tragedy said that a strange sound coming from the plane’s engine alerted their attention and some say they saw the plane hit a coconut tree.
7. Thursday, January 4, 2024: According to a report from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, At 12:09 pm local time on January 4, 2024, a Bellanca 17 single-engine aircraft with registration N4023B, owned and operated by a resident of Bequia, Robert Sachs, was involved in a fatal accident shortly after takeoff from the J.F Mitchell Airport, Bequia.
The aircraft was en route to the Hewanorra International Airport, St. Lucia, and was carrying a total of four individuals, including the pilot and three passengers.
Shortly after takeoff, the pilot declared an emergency and subsequently crashed into the water. Regrettably, there were no survivors.
Passengers, Christian Klepser, a 51-year-old citizen of the United States of America, and his daughters: 13-year-old; Annik Klepser and 11-year-old; Madita Klepser were involved in the fatal crash. They arrived in the State on the 26th of December 2023.
Relatives of the deceased were informed of the accident through the Embassy of the United States of America.
The pilot also died.
There was a crash in 2007, but everyone survived.
Added:
8. Sunday, November 19, 2006: Two people are said to have died when SVG Air flight J8VAX disappeared without a trace after taking off from the Grenadine island of Canouan on Sunday, November 19, 2006.
The twin-engine Aero Commander 500S aircraft had two persons aboard including the pilot of the aircraft – Mr. Dominic Gonsalves, and Rasheed Ibrahim, the lone passenger.
A 2014 inquest conducted into the plane’s disappearance deemed the two people to be dead by misadventure.
9. Monday, August 9, 2010: One man is said to have died when the plane he was piloting disappeared en route to Canouan on Monday, August 9, 2010.
The aircraft was on its way to Canouan from SVG to pick up an accident victim. According to reports, the plane never arrived at Canouan and the accident victim at Canouan died.
The pilot – Captain Suresh Lackram was never found, but the SVG Coast Guard said that debris was found 7.5 nautical miles off the island of Mustique.
One News SVG 
You ommitted the Trinidad registered plane that crashed on takeoff from Arnos Vale at night killing all 4 on board. plane was recovered but not all bodies. All on board had come up from Trinidad to watch a one day international cricket match at Arnos Vale.
Also in March 1943 a British Baltimore bomber aircraft being ferried to North Africa crashed near the southern end of the Grand Sable beach killing all three crewmen. Two were buried in the Georgetown cemetery and one in Kingstown.
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