SmartLynx Airlines Estonia is an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flight ...

and a wholly owned subsidiary of the

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n SmartLynx Airlines.

History

The airline commenced operations in 2012 with aircraft from its parent company and since gradually acquired its own fleet. As of June 2015, the subsidiary employed 40 people.

Fleet

, the SmartLynx Airlines Estonia fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

SmartLynx Estonia Flight 9001

On 28 February 2018, a SmartLynx Estonia

Airbus A320-214 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

(registered ES-SAN) whilst operating for SmartLynx Estonia Flight 9001, was a training flight for 4 new student pilots. Aboard the flight was also an Instructor, a second pilot and an Estonian Civil Aviation Administration inspector. The flight had to do five

touch-and-go landing In aviation, a touch-and-go landing (TGL) or circuit and bump is a maneuver that is common when learning to fly a fixed-wing aircraft. It involves landing on a runway and takeoff, taking off again without coming to a full stop. Usually the pilot ...

cycles and two full-stop landings for each student. While one of the student pilots was controlling the aircraft during takeoff, they lifted the

side-stick A side-stick or sidestick controller is an aircraft control stick that is located on the side console of the pilot, usually on the righthand side, or outboard on a two-seat flightdeck. Typically this is found in aircraft that are equipped with ...

back; however, the aircraft ceased to respond. It soon gained altitude but thereafter rapidly lost elevation, and engine 2 hit the runway and again gained altitude and climbed to 1590 ft, and subsequently pitched down again. The aircraft also was not responding to several flight inputs. Pilots used manual pitch trim and engine thrust to stabilize the flight path and make a turn back to the runway. Shortly after, engine 2 flamed out and failed; and, during final approach, engine 1 also flamed out and failed. The safety pilot recognized the problem in time, and the instructor took control from the trainee. The aircraft touched down hard from the runway. No one aboard was killed; however, there was severe damage to the aircraft, and it was subsequently written off. Investigation later found that the accident was caused by a combination of factors which contributed to the accident. * A part of the plane that helps control its movement (THSA) wasn’t working properly because of the wrong oil used. This caused a loss of control by the plane’s

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

and

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement aroun ...

computers (ELACs). The plane’s maintenance didn’t include a check of a safety device (OVM), which might have let this problem go unnoticed. * There was a design issue in another computer (SEC) which caused a loss of control when there was a temporary issue with the left landing gear. Not having ground spoilers ready for landing during training may have contributed to this problem. * The training instructor decided to keep flying despite the repetitive warning messages from the ELAC. There weren’t clear rules for training flights and there was pressure to finish the training.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of Estonia Airlines of Estonia Airlines established in 2012 2012 establishments in Estonia