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Cessna 208 Caravan

The Cessna 208 Caravan is a utility aircraft produced by Cessna. The project was commenced on November 20, 1981, and the prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargomaster freighter variant was developed for FedEx. The 4 ft (1.2 m) longer 208B Super Cargomaster first flew in 1986 and was developed into the passenger 208B Grand Caravan.

An Iraqi Air Force Cessna 208B Grand Caravan

The strutted, high wing 208 typically seats nine passengers in its unpressurized cabin, is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A tractor turboprop and has a fixed tricycle landing gear, floats, or skis.

By 2022, 3,000 had been delivered and 24 million flight hours have been logged. Caravans have been used for flight training, commuter airlines, VIP transport, air cargo, skydiving and humanitarian missions.

Soneva Kiri(Soneva)

Soneva, formerly Soneva Resorts and Residences, is a resort chain founded in Maldives in 1995 by Sonu Shivdasani OBE and his wife Eva Malmström Shivdasani.

Thai Flying Service Flight 209

Thai Flying Service Flight 209 was a domestic Thai passenger charter flight operated by Thai Flying Service on behalf of Soneva Kiri from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport to Ko Mai Si in Ko Kut district, Trat Province. On 22 August 2024, the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan serving the flight, with nine occupants on board, crashed shortly after taking off from Bangkok, killing all aboard.

HS-SKR, the aircraft involved in the accident

Background

Aircraft

The aircraft involved, manufactured in 2007, was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan registered as HS-SKR with serial number 208B1241.

Passengers and crew

The flight had a crew of two Thai pilots and carried seven passengers: two Thai resort employees and five Chinese nationals. Among them were two children.

Accident

The wreckage in a forest of Bang Pakong

The plane was meant to fly from Bangkok to Ko Mai Si, the site of a private airstrip serving the Soneva Kiri luxury resort on the nearby island of Ko Kut. The aircraft took off at 14:46 local time, and the contact with it was lost at about 14:57 when the aircraft was about 35 kilometers southeast of Suvarnabhumi airport. The plane crashed in a mangrove swamp near the Wat Khao Din temple in Bang Pakong district of Chachoengsao province, disintegrating on impact and killing all nine on board. Local residents reported to have seen the plane diving to the ground, and then exploding in a loud bang on impact throwing fragments in a radius of at least 20 meters. Most of the bodies were dismembered, and at least 23 body parts had been recovered from the crash site. The weather at the time of the flight was described as clear.

Recovery

More than 300 military personnel and volunteers were deployed in the search for the aircraft, which was hampered by heavy rains. Water and mud at the site, which measured 10 meters deep and eight meters wide, were drained and removed using pumps and backhoes. Recovery operations finished on 23 August.

Notes

This operated is Soneva Kiri

Crash Animation