Air Antilles flight 4 I 301, which left Rémy de Haenen Airport in Saint-Barthélemy on Sunday, January 19, for Pointe-à-Pitre, had to make an emergency landing at Princess Juliana Airport. All passengers and crew members were unharmed.
Shortly after takeoff, the pilots of the Twin Otter DHC-6, registered HB-LUX, detected smoke in the cockpit. In response to this critical situation, they activated the emergency code Squawk 7700, triggering an immediate alert on ground radars. The nearest airport, Sint Maarten, was chosen for landing. The aircraft landed normally, 19 minutes after departure from SBH, where firefighters were already mobilized to intervene if necessary. The passengers and crew were taken care of upon arrival at the airport. A mechanic from Zimex, the Swiss company that owns the twin-engine aircraft, went to Sint Maarten to inspect the aircraft and determine the causes of the incident.
Flights cancelled for Saint-Barthélemy
The Twin Otter DHC-6, the only aircraft in the Air Antilles fleet capable of operating on short runways such as that of Saint-Barthélemy, was therefore grounded for repairs, leading to the cancellation of flights for this route. Yesterday, a first test flight was scheduled for 11 a.m. Air Antilles, through its sales director Nicolas D'Hyèvres, will restart the schedule to this destination this Thursday, January 23 in the morning. _VX
https://faxinfo.fr/en/atterrissage-durgence-pour-un-vol-air-antilles-a-sint-maarten/
