Air Caraïbes Flight 1501
Air Caraïbes Flight 1501 (TX1501/FWI1501) was a scheduled international passenger flight, flying from Saint Martin Airport in the Dutch overseas territory of Sint Maarten to Saint Barthélemy Airport which was in the French overseas region of Guadeloupe at that time. The flight was operated by Air Caraïbes, a Caribbean regional airline, using a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter. On 24 March 2001, during an approach to Saint Barthélemy Airport, the DHC-6 Twin Otter banked steeply to the left and crashed onto a house, killing all 19 passengers and crew on board. One person on the ground was also killed in the explosions that followed.

The crash was the third deadliest plane crash in Guadeloupe, behind Air France Flight 212 and Air France Flight 117, and was the 11th deadliest involving a Twin Otter.

Investigation by the French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile (or BEA) concluded that the cause of the crash was due to an error by the flight crew in managing the plane's thrust lever. During its final approach to Saint Barthélemy, the crew caused one of the aircraft's engines to reverse by moving the thrust lever back to the "beta" range, creating a thrust asymmetry which caused the aircraft to bank steeply to the left and crash.

According to the BEA, this was the first fatal accident in the Twin Otter whereby an accidental thrust selection caused a propeller to enter the Beta range. The investigation was hampered by the lack of a flight recorder on the plane. After the crash, the BEA made a mandatory recommendation to equip every transport plane with at least one flight recorder.
Q723325
Saint Martin Airport
LOC
Q5317255
Dutch overseas territory
LOC
Q26273
Sint Maarten
LOC
Q38805
Saint Barthélemy Airport
LOC
Q202216
French overseas region
Concept
Q17012
Guadeloupe
LOC
Q406992
Air Caraïbes
ORG
Q683041
de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter
MISC
Q38805
Saint Barthélemy Airport
LOC
Q17012
Guadeloupe
LOC
Q4697990
Air France Flight 212
MISC
Q3562568
Air France Flight 117
MEDIA
Q1010515
Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la Sécurité de l'Aviation Civile
Concept
Q380813
thrust lever
UNK
Q25362
Saint Barthélemy
LOC
None
reverse
UNK
Q28971917
Air Caraïbes Flight 1501
MEDIA
1501-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1501
DATE
2001-03-24T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
24 March 2001
DATE
+1501^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1501
NUMBER
+1501^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
1501
NUMBER
-6^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-6
NUMBER
+19^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
19
NUMBER
+11^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
11
NUMBER
destination point
item operated
item operated
destination point
point in time
located in the administrative territorial entity
part of
instance of