AAIB Special Bulletin S1/2019 on Piper PA-46-310P Malibu, N264DB
Aircraft lost 22 nm north-northwest of Guernsey, 21 January 2019.
The AAIB has published a Special Bulletin on the loss of Piper Malibu aircraft N264DB.
Summary:
At 2122 hrs on 21 January 2019, the AAIB was informed that a Piper PA-46-310P Malibu aircraft, registration N264DB, had been lost from radar in transit from Nantes, France, to Cardiff in the UK, and that a surface search for survivors was underway using assets from the Channel Islands, UK and France. The wreckage of the aircraft had not been located by the time the official search ended at 1515 hrs on 24 January 2019, and the event therefore became classed as an aircraft accident under the terms of Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. There were two persons on board the aircraft but neither was found by the surface search.
The aircraft was lost in international waters and, in such circumstances, Annex 13 places a responsibility on the State of Registration of the aircraft, in this case the USA as represented by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), to commence an investigation. However, the State of Registration may, by mutual agreement, delegate the investigation to another State. On 22 January 2019, in anticipation that an accident investigation would be required, the NTSB delegated responsibility for the investigation to the State of the Operator, in this case the UK as represented by the AAIB.
The AAIB began an investigation assisted by the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la Sécurité de l’Aviation Civile (BEA) in France, which had been supporting search activities since the accident occurred, the NTSB in the USA, and the Junta de Investigación de Accidentes de Aviación Civil (JIAAC) in Argentina.
This Special Bulletin contains preliminary factual information on the investigation and general information about how aircraft registered in the USA may be operated between the UK and France.
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