Lao Airlines Flight 301

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an ATR 72-600, registration RDPL-34233, serial number 1071, with an accumulated 758 hours of flight. It was delivered to Lao Airlines on 29 March 2013.

Accident

The aircraft was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Wattay International Airport, Vientiane to Pakse International Airport, Pakse, Laos. The flight departed from Vientiane at 14:45 local time (07:45 UTC) and crashed into the Mekong River at 15:55 local time (08:55 UTC) while approaching Pakse for the second time, less than 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the airport. The aircraft had already gone around once due to poor weather and was in the downwind leg for another approach when the aircraft impacted the nearby river.

There were five crew and 44 passengers on board, all of whom are presumed to have died upon impact. Marks on the ground indicated that the aircraft landed heavily on the ground before entering the Mekong. The weather was reported to be poor at the time of the accident due to the remnants of Typhoon Nari affecting southern Laos.

Recovery of the victims and wreckage was hampered by the fast-flowing, deep waters of the Mekong. To assist with the search, 50 divers from Thailand were brought in. Eighteen of the victims had been recovered as of 18 October. By 23 October 44 of the 49 victims had been recovered. Identification had been confirmed for 27 of them. Some of the victims were found 19 kilometres (12 mi) downstream of the crash site.

Investigation

The Laotian Department of Civil Aviation opened an investigation into the accident. The aircraft's manufacturer ATRand the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (BEA) are assisting them. The BEA sent four investigators to Laos.

The wreckage of the aircraft was lifted from the Mekong on 22 October 2013. More than two weeks after the accident, on 31 October 2013, the Cockpit Voice Recorder was successfully recovered from the Mekong. TheFlight Data Recorder was recovered two days later on 2 November.

According to the official investigation report, released on 28 November 2014, the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the pilots to land safely in the changed weather conditions, after a first failed landing. The recordings show that the flight crew initiated a right turn according to the lateral missed approach trajectory without succeeding in reaching the vertical trajectory. Specifically, the flight crew didn't follow the vertical profile of missed approach as the missed approach altitude was set at 600 ft and the aircraft system went into altitude capture mode. When the flight crew realized that the altitude was too close to the ground, the PF over-reacted, which led to a high pitch attitude of 33°. It then impacted trees. The fuselage struck the bank and plunged into the river.

Passengers and crew

The victims were of eleven nationalities. Of the 44 passengers on board, 16 were Laotian, as were four of the five crew. The pilot was a Cambodian national. The remaining casualties consisted of seven French nationals, six Australians, five Thais, three South Koreans, three Vietnamese, and one each from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and the United States. At least two children, both from Australia, were among the dead. Early reports that a Canadian was on board were incorrect, since it was later determined that the individual was a Vietnamese national.

The pilots were:

• Captain Yong Som (57), he had logged in 5.600 flying hours, in which 3.200 hours were on the ATR-72.
• First Officer Soulisack Houvanthong (22), he had logged in around 400 hours of flying experience.