‘Standard operating procedures inadequate’
Almost 24 years ago, on the misty morning of July 24, 1999, just past 05:00, two crew members and 15 passengers boarded Air Fiji Flight 121.
Air Fiji was a domestic-only carrier connecting all the Fijian islands with primary bases at Suva and Nadi on the main island of Viti Levu.
They had a small fleet of a few DHC-6 and Embraer jets, though as of 2009 are out of business, with Fiji Airways’ Fiji Link now fully running the domestic routes.
Passengers and Flight Crew
Flight 121 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Suva’s Nausori International Airport to Nadi International Airport. Besides the two crew members, seven Fijians, five Australians, one Kiwi, one Chinese, and one Japanese passenger were onboard.
The quick 30-minute hop, using an Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante, should have brought passengers to the more major international airport for connections abroad—unfortunately, no one would make it.
Drinking pilot
A final report for this incident could not be tracked down, and as a result, it isn’t easy to know a more deep background of the pilots in charge.
However, information from the Aviation Safety Network (ASN) tells us that the Captain did not get proper rest the night before such an early departure.
It’s likely he felt under the weather or was suffering from allergies, as a cooperative investigation between the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF) and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found the Captain consumed an “above-therapeutic” level of antihistamine before taking off.
The combination of these factors would have significantly reduced the pilot’s ability to fly an aircraft safely.
While unconfirmed, multiple sources indicate the possibility he had been drinking the night before, which, if true, would further degrade the flight deck situation.
The fatal incident took within 10 minutes of takeoff
place
Everyone had boarded the small jetliner around 05:00 in the morning, and by 05:25, Flight 121 had left Nausori.
Fiji lies in a tectonically complex region, and Viti Levu features a prominent mountain range running north to south, essentially splitting the island into two halves.
Air Fiji’s standard operating procedures were inadequate for the Embraer aircraft being used that morning.
At 05:33, eight minutes after takeoff, Flight 121’s flight crew contacted Nausori ATC to say they would maintain 6000 feet on a direct track to Nadi.
Somewhere in the next two minutes, tragedy struck.
At 05:35, the air traffic controller attempted unsuccessfully to reach the aircraft after realising they didn’t promptly contact Nadi ATC.
Air Fiji Flight 121 had descended too low, and the right wing struck a tree on a ridgeline before the entire aircraft broke up, impacting the mountain; the tail and right wing were found a couple hundred meters away from the rest of the wreckage.
In what was and still is Fiji’s worst air incident, all 17 people perished in the event.