Off the wire
• Commemorative events honoring WWII victims held in Poland  • Next-generation membrane technology might help lower industrial energy consumption  • Hungarians mark Holocaust Memorial Day  • Urgent: U.S. dollar falls against other currencies  • Economic Sentiment Indicator of Albania falls in Q1  • Macedonian unemployment rate decreases to 27.6 pct from its peak of nearly 40 pct  • Moon is 4.47 bln years old, U.S. researchers say  • Spotlight: China believes in UN's leading role in coordinating states' cyberspace behavior  • Urgent: Oil prices extend gains amid supply forecast  • 1st LD Writethru: 6.1 magnitude quake hits Aegean Sea off Crete island, no injuries reported  
You are here: 　 Home

Metal fatigue causes Comp Air 8 crash in Finland in 2014

Xinhua, April 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Investigators have determined that a fracture resulting from metal fatigue caused the crash that claimed the lives of eight parachuters in Jamijarvi, western Finland in April 2014.

The aircraft was a Comp Air 8 built from components purchased as a kit from the US manufacturer. The hobbyist builders in Finland had made changes in the wings without asking for a written permission from the Finnish transport safety authority, according to the final investigation report published on Thursday.

The fatigue based fracture had formed over a longer period of time and could not be detected in regular maintenance.

While the leading investigator Ismo Aaltonen said on Thursday the accident was not the fault of the pilot, it was believed the pilot had only limited experience in flying an efficient turbo prop and had not received enough training.

The pilot and two parachuters were able to exit the aircraft before it crashed, but eight others were killed in what was considered the deadliest air crash in this Nordic country in the last 30 years. Endit