Lao Airlines Flight 301

RDPL-34233, the ATR 72 involved in the accident, landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Vietnam
Accident
Date	16 October 2013
Summary	Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error
Site	Done Kho Island, Mekong River, Laos 15°09′06″N 105°43′59″E / 15.15167°N 105.73306°E / 15.15167; 105.73306
Aircraft
Aircraft type	ATR 72-600
Operator	Lao Airlines
IATA flight No.	QV301
ICAO flight No.	LAO301
Call sign	LAO 301
Registration	RDPL-34233
Flight origin	Wattay International Airport, Vientiane, Laos
Destination	Pakse International Airport, Laos
Occupants	49
Passengers	44
Crew	5
Fatalities	49
Survivors	0

Lao Airlines Flight 301 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Vientiane to Pakse, Laos. On 16 October 2013, the ATR 72-600 aircraft operating the flight crashed into the Mekong River near Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. The accident was the first involving an ATR 72-600 and the deadliest ever to occur on Laotian soil.^[1][2][3][4]

The investigation report concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to properly execute the published missed approach procedure following the aborted landing at Pakse airport.^[5]

Accident

Crash site

Location of the crash site within Laos

The aircraft was operating a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Wattay International Airport, Vientiane to Pakse International Airport, Pakse, Laos.^[6][7] 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.^[8][9] The aircraft had already gone around once due to poor weather and was in the downwind leg for another approach when it crashed into a riverbank and was deflected into the nearby river. All five crew and 44 passengers on board were killed.^[7]

Marks on the ground indicated that the aircraft landed heavily on the ground before entering the Mekong.^[10] The weather was reported to be poor at the time of the accident due to the remnants of Typhoon Nari affecting southern Laos.^[7][11]

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.^[12] Eighteen of the victims had been recovered as of 18 October.^[13] By 23 October 44 of the 49 victims had been recovered. Identification had been confirmed for 27 of them.^[14] Some of the victims were found 19 kilometres (12 mi) downstream of the crash site.^[10]

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an ATR 72-600, registration RDPL-34233, serial number 1071, with a total flying time of just over 700 hours since its delivery to Lao Airlines 7 months before, in March 2013.^[12][15]

Passengers and crew

The victims were of eleven nationalities. Of the 44 passengers on board, 16 were Laotian,^[16] as were four of the five crew. The pilot was a Cambodian national.^[10][11] 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.^[8] At least two children, both from Australia, were among the dead.^[17] Early reports that a Canadian was on board were incorrect, since it was later determined that the individual was a Vietnamese national.^[18]

Country	Passengers	Crew	Total
Laos	16	4	20
France	7	0	7
Australia	6	0	6
Thailand	5	0	5
South Korea	3	0	3
Vietnam	3	0	3
Cambodia	0	1	1
China	1	0	1
Malaysia	1	0	1
Taiwan	1	0	1
United States	1	0	1
Total	44	5	49

The pilots were captain Yong Som (Khmer:យ៉ាង សោម) (57), who had logged 5,600 flying hours of which 3,200 on the ATR-72, and first officer Soulisack Houvanthong (Khmer:សូលីសាក់ ហួវ៉ាន់ថង) (22), who had logged around 400 hours of flying experience.

Investigation

The Laotian Department of Civil Aviation opened an investigation into the accident.^[12] The aircraft's manufacturer ATR and the French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) assisted them.^[7] The BEA sent four investigators to Laos.^[19]

The wreckage of the aircraft was lifted from the Mekong on 22 October 2013.^[14] Within three weeks from the accident, both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were successfully recovered from the Mekong.^[7][20]

According to the official investigation report, released in November 2014, the probable cause of the accident was the flight crew's failure to execute properly the published missed approach procedure, which resulted in the aircraft flying into terrain. A sudden change of weather conditions and an improperly executed published instrument approach necessitated the go-around.^[21] 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 did not follow the vertical profile of missed approach as the missed approach altitude was set at 600 feet (180 m) and the aircraft system went into altitude capture mode. When the flight crew realized that the altitude was too low, the pilot flying over-reacted, which led to a high pitch attitude of 33°. It then struck trees. The fuselage collided with the bank and plunged into the river.^{[citation needed]}