A close up of the rear wheel strut that broke off of  Isle of Farquhar

Domestic flights aboard all Twin Otter aircraft have been suspended, Air Seychelles said on Monday September 22.

The announcement comes after an incident on Sunday September 21, in which a rear wheel strut broke off of Isle of Farquhar – one of the airline’s three Twin Otters – as passengers were beginning to board a 12:30 p.m. flight from Mahe to Praslin.

According to the airline, a pilot and one passenger were already onboard the plane when the metal undercarriage gave way.

Eddie d’Offay, the airline’s general manager for domestic operations, said that grounding all of the Twin Otters was a joint decision taken by Air Seychelles and the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA).

Flights using Twin Otters, he said, will not resume until both Air Seychelles and the DCA were “confident and satisfied” that the remainder of the Twin Otters were fit to fly.

“The safety of our passengers comes first,” said Mr d’Offay.

Two experts from South Africa, he said, were scheduled to arrive last night to perform X-rays and inspect the landing gears of all three Twin Otters.

Although the airline’s investigation is still in its early stages, Mr d’Offay said that it appeared corrosion from the inside of the strut had caused it to break along a welded joint.

Farquhar, which has been a part of the airline’s domestic fleet for 16 years, was overhauled in the United States last year and given a “clean bill of health,” Mr d’Offay said.  The plane resumed flights in May of 2002. 

The undercarriage on the aircraft had been replaced last October and was not due for inspection until 2007.

“It’s unbelievable,” Mr d’Offay said.  “You can ask any of our engineers and technicians, and they’ll tell you that they’ve never seen anything like this before.”

All of the flights that were scheduled aboard Twin Otters have been re-booked onto the airline’s Shorts 360 plane, which can carry 36 passengers.  Mr d’Offay said the Shorts will conduct 10 to 12 flights to Praslin per day on an hourly rotation.

Air Seychelles has indicated there would be a backlog in service for the next few days until passengers are re-booked onto the new flight times with the Shorts.  A press release from the airline advised passengers that there could be delays at the domestic terminals on both Mahe and Praslin.

The Islander, the airline’s only other domestic aircraft operating after Sunday’s incident, will be used primarily for flights to Denis, Bird and and other outer islands.  Mr d’Offay said that the Islander will make three trips to Bird and two trips to Denis on a daily basis to compensate for the larger Twin Otters, which were previously used to transport passengers and cargo to those islands.

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