- Aircraft crashes off Bequia, Grenadine island
- Plane crashes near Petit Nevis after departure from J.F. Mitchell airport
- Bequia Plane Crash: All 4 onboard dead
A U.S registered private aircraft carrying four individuals tragically crashed shortly after taking off from J.F. Mitchell airport on the Grenadine island of Bequia, resulting in the loss of all lives on board.
St Vincent Times understands three individuals (US residents) from the same family who were passengers lost their lives when the single-engine plane crash near Petit Nevis.
It is understood that the three passengers—an adult and two children—were on vacation in Bequia and were departing the island today.
The plane, along with its captain and three passengers, departed from Bequia shortly after midday on January 4, en-route to Hewanorra airport in St. Lucia.
Upon the occurrence of the crash, nearby fisherman promptly mobilised to the site and, in collaboration with the Coast Guard, successfully retrieved the deceased individuals.
Members of the La Pompe community recorded videos of the aircraft descending to its deadly crash. Residents told this publication that the plane emitted an unusual sound upon takeoff.
“The noise matched that of a vehicle experiencing difficulty in generating sufficient force to climb a hill”.
As per an aviation specialist, the airplane seemed to have had a stall immediately after it began its ascent.
A stall refers to a situation in aerodynamics and aviation where the lift of an aircraft starts to decrease as the angle of attack exceeds a specific threshold. The critical angle of attack refers to the specific angle at which this phenomenon takes place. If the angle of attack over the critical threshold, the lift decreases and the aircraft descends, further increasing the angle of attack and causing additional loss of lift.
The Coast Guard is currently on its way to the mainland with the retrieved corpses.
The provided information will undergo revision.
