The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A decommissioned Western Air plane collided with an overhang during routine mechanical checks in Nassau early Friday morning, according to an airline official.

Sherrexcia Rolle, VP of operations and general counsel at Western Air Ltd, told The Tribune there were no passengers or crew on board the aircraft, and no personnel on the ground were hurt during the incident.

Photographs of the incident were posted on social media of the aircraft which appeared to have collided with an overhang structure. The front wheel of the aircraft collapsed causing the nose to make contact with the ground.

When contacted on Friday, Ms Rolle reported that sometime around 6.30am mechanics in Nassau were performing routine run-up engine tests on a decommissioned SAAB 340A aircraft.

"It (the aircraft) was out of passenger services; it was not an aircraft that was scheduled to do any flights, and as they were doing checks the aircraft jumped over its parking chock that is used on the tyres and proceeded forward and made contact with a concrete area, which caused it to tilt forward," she said.

"It is really important to note that there were no passengers or crew on board. I saw some of the comments (on social media) about pilots - there were no pilots involved and no personnel was harmed, and the aircraft was not in flight service. It was decommissioned and completely out of passenger service."

Ms Rolle said the airline is continuing to investigate.

"Obviously, this is incredibly rare and does not happen often so we are grateful that no one was harmed, and that it was on an aircraft that was not being utilised," she said.

She added that Western Air is continuing to offer flights as usual, including additional jet flights for the upcoming North Andros Regatta in early July.

"We always increase frequency of flights based on volume, and we anticipate doing that in the early part of July as people continue to travel," she said. “We try to keep up on what is going on each island."

The airline also provides some newer routes, including Exuma, Cat Island, and Abaco, from Nassau. She said the routes are doing well.

"We have some additional flights that we will be adding to Exuma. And our Nassau to Freeport 701 morning flight, we will be moving earlier, instead of 7am, to 6.30am to accommodate people who want to have a longer stay to Freeport," she said.