Fly Jamaica Airways Flight 256

Fly Jamaica Airways Flight 256

N524AT, the aircraft involved, photographed in August 2013
Runway Overrun
Date	9 November 2018
Summary	Runway excursion caused by a hydraulics failure due to poor maintenance and quality control
Site	Cheddi Jagan International Airport 6°30′25.1″N 58°14′44.7″W / 6.506972°N 58.245750°W / 6.506972; -58.245750
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 757-23N
Operator	Fly Jamaica Airways
IATA flight No.	OJ256[1]
ICAO flight No.	FJA256
Call sign	Greenheart 256[1]
Registration	N524AT
Flight origin	Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana
Destination	Toronto Pearson International Airport, Ontario, Canada
Occupants	128
Passengers	120
Crew	8
Fatalities	1
Injuries	10
Survivors	127

Fly Jamaica Airways Flight 256 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana to Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada. On 9 November 2018, the Boeing 757 aircraft serving the flight suffered a hydraulic failure, forcing its return and resulting in a runway excursion on landing. This caused significant damage to the aircraft and one passenger fatality.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 757-23N, MSN 30233, registered as N524AT, that was built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in 1999. It first flew on 7 October 1999 and had logged 43420 hours and 13 minutes of airframe hours and 13367 takeoff and landing cycles. It was also powered by two Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4 engines.^{[2][3]: 30–31}

The aircraft departed from Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Guyana on 9 November 2018 at 02:10 local time, bound for Toronto, Canada.^[4] The flight subsequently reported a fault with the hydraulic system; as a result, the pilot aborted the climb and the plane returned to the departure airport for an emergency landing, touching down at 02:53. During the landing, the aircraft overran the runway and hit the airport perimeter fence, sustaining substantial damage in the process to the right-hand main landing gear and the No. 2 engine.^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

There were 120 passengers and 8 crew members on board the aircraft. Ten people were injured and an 86-year-old female passenger subsequently died five days later due to injuries sustained during the incident.^{[5][10][4][11]}

The pilot in command was 58-year-old Captain Basil Ferguson,^[12] he joined Fly Jamaica Airways in 2018, and had a total of 11,755 flight hours.^{[5]: 24–25} The second in command was 33-year-old First Officer Keone Bryan,^[12] he joined the airline in 2017, and had a total of 4,331 flight hours, including 317 hours on the Boeing 757.^{[5]: 24–25}

The accident was investigated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) with assistance from the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) and the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).^[13]

The GCAA concluded in its final report that the major cause of the accident was the “loss of hydraulic fluid, failure of the pressure switch and subsequent total failure of the hydraulic system (firstly the left and subsequently the right) which affected the deployment of some spoilers, thrust reversers and efficacy of the main brakes caused the aircraft to continue the landing roll at a high-speed resulting in an overrun and excursion and severe damage to the aircraft.”^[5]: 91

After the accident Fly Jamaica Airways ceased its operation on March 31, 2019, aggravated by financial difficulties and lack of aircraft.^[14]

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