Wikipedia

RED Air Flight 203

RED Air Flight 203 (L5203/REA203) was a scheduled international commercial passenger flight from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to Miami International Airport by RED Air.[1] On 21 June 2022, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 aircraft operating the service suffered a left landing gear collapse and runway excursion, causing the left wing of the aircraft to impact an antenna structure, followed by a subsequent fire on the right side of the airplane.[2] The incident caused three people to be hospitalized with minor injuries.[3][4]

RED Air Flight 203
The incident aircraft on the day of the accident
Accident
Date21 June 2022
SummaryRunway excursion after landing gear collapse
SiteMiami International Airport, United States
Aircraft
Aircraft typeMcDonnell Douglas MD-82
OperatorRED Air
IATA flight No.L5203
ICAO flight No.REA203
Call signRED DOMINICANA 203
RegistrationHI1064
Flight originLas Américas International Airport, Dominican Republic
DestinationMiami International Airport, United States
Occupants140
Passengers130
Crew10
Fatalities0
Injuries4
Survivors140

Aircraft

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A northeast view of the plane after the fire was put out

The aircraft involved in the accident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with the registration of HI1064 and serial number 53027. The aircraft was transferred to RED Air, a subsidiary of LASER Airlines, in February 2021.[citation needed]

Passengers and crew

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There were 140 occupants on board the accident flight: 130 passengers and 10 crew members. Airport officials reported that all of them survived. The local fire rescue authorities reported that three people suffered minor injuries and were sent to the hospital.[5][6]

The flight crew consisted of 58-year-old Captain José Darriba,[7]: 5  out of 14,388 total flight hours, 1,400 were on the MD-80;[8]: 7  and 28-year-old First Officer Pablo Peña[7]: 6  had 269 hours of experience on the MD-80, out of 822 total flight hours.[8]: 8  Captain Darriba was the pilot monitoring, while First Officer Peña was flying the aircraft.[8]: 5 

Incident

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Aerial image of the aircraft wreckage.

According to Flightradar24, RED Air Flight 203 departed from Las Américas International Airport in the Dominican Republic at 3:36 PM (19:36 UTC) and landed at Miami International Airport on runway 09 at 5:38 PM (21:38 UTC) after a flight time of two hours and three minutes on 21 June 2022.[9][10] During landing, the aircraft's left main landing gear collapsed, causing the aircraft's left wing to scratch the runway. Just before the aircraft came to a full stop, the right landing gear and nose landing gear also collapsed, resulting in damage to the aircraft's nose and a fire on the right wing. Firefighters found fuel leaking from the aircraft when they arrived on scene. The aircraft had also reportedly collided with a communication tower and a small building before catching fire. Passengers began evacuating the plane about 5 seconds after the aircraft stopped and fled with their personal belongings.[5][6] This became RED Air's first aircraft to be involved in a hull loss accident.[11][12]

 
Wreckage after the incident

Footage of the incident

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The scene was captured by Miami International Airport's CCTV camera[6] and the ground crew employee's cellphone.[13] Two videos were subsequently released showing scenes onboard the aircraft during the landing and when the passengers were evacuating the aircraft. The footage was recorded by one of the passengers onboard. The first video shows the aircraft's landing and the unusual vibrations before the left landing gear collapsed. The collapse of the left landing gear was heard at the end of the first video. The second video shows the passenger who recorded the footage exiting the aircraft.[14][15] Another smartphone video was released, showing the moment inside the plane from touch down on the runway until the stop of the aircraft. This video shows not just what the other onboard video shows, but also the passengers' reactions during the incident.[16]

Investigation

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NTSB investigators inspecting the left main landing gear.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived on scene the following day and began an investigation.[17] A preliminary report issued by the NTSB cited four minor injuries to passengers,[17] rather than the three originally reported by news outlets.[18] Both flight recorders (data and voice) were recovered and their data was successfully downloaded by the NTSB.[17] The NTSB also removed the left and right main landing gear from the aircraft for further evaluation.[17]

Preliminary report

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The National Transportation Safety Board released their preliminary report into the accident on July 15, 2022 stated that, the flight was the second of the day from the actual flight crew. The captain was the pilot monitoring while the first officer was the pilot flying. The flight departed Las Américas International Airport, Santo Domingo at 15:35 after a delay of 36 minutes. The airplane was cleared to land at Miami International Airport, Miami runway 09 with an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach with the pilot reporting that the approach was normal. The first officer reported that the landing was smooth, and they first touched down on the right main gear followed by the left main gear slightly right of centerline. The pilots had the sensation of an increase in vibration on the left side of the aircraft shortly after the left main gear touched down. During the landing roll-out the left main gear collapsed, the airplane traveled to the left, departed the paved surface and impacted the runway 30 glide slope equipment shelter. During departure from the paved surface and impact with the steel and concrete shelter, the airplane's right main landing gear and nosewheel collapsed, and the fuel tanks were breached. Shortly after the airplane came to a stop, a postcrash fire began on the right wing. All 140 occupants of the airplane evacuated safely and four of them sustained minor injuries. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department (MDFR) is successfully extinguished the post-crash fire and all occupants of the plane were transferred to the airport's terminal with buses.[19]

An investigation docket of the accident was opened by NTSB on July 31, 2023.[19]

Final report

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The NTSB released their final report on the accident on April 25 2024, which stated the cause of the accident was the left main landing gear's shimmy dampener failing to mitigate extreme vibrations during landing rollout. The vibrations caused the gear's lower torque link to fail and the entire left gear collapsed as a result.[8]

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The aircraft involved in 2008 while in service with American Airlines
 
The aircraft in 2017 while waiting to enter service with Orange Air
 
The aircraft in 2018 while in service with parent company LASER Airlines
 
The aircraft involved, seen at Miami International Airport, the incident airport, in March 2022

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Fiery crash landing at Miami airport captured on video". NBC News. 22 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  2. ^ "DCA22FA132.aspx". www.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 2022-07-20.
  3. ^ Sutton, Joe; Lynch, Jamiel; Wallace, Gregory (21 June 2022). "3 hospitalized after commercial plane landing gear collapsed at Miami International Airport". CNN. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  4. ^ "Plane catches fire after crash-landing at Miami airport; at least 3 hospitalized". New York Post. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  5. ^ a b Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas MD-82 HI1064 Miami International Airport, FL (MIA)". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  6. ^ a b c Passenger jet crash lands in Miami after catching fire | 7NEWS (Video), Seven Network, June 22, 2022
  7. ^ a b "NTSB Form 6120.1 – PILOT/OPERATOR AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT/INCIDENT REPORT" (PDF). data.ntsb.gov. National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  8. ^ a b c d "Aviation Investigation Final Report". National Transportation Safety Board. 2024-04-26. DCA22FA132. Retrieved 2024-04-26.
  9. ^ "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map". Flightradar24. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  10. ^ "Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map". Flightradar24. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  11. ^ Ranter, Harro. "Red Air". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  12. ^ "3 Hospitalized After Plane Catches Fire Landing at Miami International Airport". NBC 6 South Florida. 2022-06-22. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  13. ^ Cellphone video captures jetliner skidding across MIA tarmac, 21 June 2022, retrieved 2022-06-22
  14. ^ Passenger Films TERRIFYING Evacuation From Burning Jet, 22 June 2022, retrieved 2022-06-22
  15. ^ Schlappig, Ben (2022-06-22). "RED Air MD-82 Catches Fire At Miami Airport After Landing". One Mile at a Time. Retrieved 2022-06-22.
  16. ^ Passenger's View of RedAir Flight's Rough Landing in Miami || ViralHog, 23 June 2022, retrieved 2022-06-25
  17. ^ a b c d "National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Preliminary Report: DCA22FA132" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved November 13, 2022 – via wikimedia.org.
  18. ^ "Three injured as plane catches fire after landing at Miami airport". calgaryherald.com. AP. June 21, 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Accident: Red Air MD82 at Miami on Jun 21st 2022, runway excursion causes gear collapse on landing". avherald.com. Retrieved 2024-01-02.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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