19 Feb 2009: Robinson R44 — Motta International

19 Feb 2009: Robinson R44 — Motta International

3 fatalities • Tocumen, Panama

Probable cause

The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the government of Panama. Further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from: Direccion de Aeronautica Civil Apartados 7501 y 7615 Panama 5 http://www.aeronautica.gob.pa This report is for information purposes only and contains only information released by the Panamanian Government.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On February 19, 2009, at 2152 coordinated universal time, a Robinson R44, Panamanian registeration D-EPDK, was destroyed when it exploded in flight and impacted the parking lot at Tocumen International Airport (PTY), Tocumen, Panama. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot and two passengers were fatally injured.

The investigation is under the jurisdiction of the government of Panama. Further information pertaining to this accident may be obtained from:

Direccion de Aeronautica Civil Apartados 7501 y 7615 Panama 5 http://www.aeronautica.gob.pa

This report is for information purposes only and contains only information released by the Panamanian Government.

Conditions

Weather
VMC

Related events

Same aircraft

  • 28 Mar 2026 — ROBINSON R44 (—)
  • 12 Mar 2026 — ROBINSON R44 II (—)
  • 19 Feb 2026 — ROBINSON R44 (—)
  • 15 Feb 2026 — ROBINSON R44 II (—)
  • 25 Jan 2026 — ROBINSON R44 (—)

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.