Cessna 208B Hard Landing at Balimo Airstrip (P2-AMH)

Incident Overview and Location Details On 13 July 2025, at 14:15 local time (04:15 UTC), a Cessna 208B aircraft with registration P2-AMH experienced an abnormal runway contact, specifically a hard landing, at Balimo Airstrip in Western Province, Papua New Guinea. The airstrip is a two-way landing and takeoff facility with runway identifier 10/28, an elevation of 100 feet, and a length of 1,390 meters. The incident occurred at coordinates 08°03'04.61''S latitude and 142°56'26.84''E longitude. ## Operational Context and Personnel The aircraft was operating under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) as a charter flight carrying both fares and freight. The flight was crewed by a single 25-year-old male pilot of Papua New Guinea nationality, who held a Commercial Pilot License (CPL) for aeroplanes. There were eight passengers on board. Following the incident, there were no injuries reported among either the crew or the passengers. ## Aircraft Specifications and Damage Assessment The aircraft involved was a Cessna 208B manufactured in 1999, with serial number 208B0785. As of 12 July 2025, the airframe had accumulated 17,457.5 hours. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A engine (serial number PCE – PC0716) with 16,476.4 hours, and equipped with a McCauley 3GFR34C703 propeller (serial number 200925) with 1,262.8 hours. The hard landing resulted in substantial damage to the right main landing gear and nose landing gear assemblies, as well as the propeller assembly. Minor damage was also sustained to the fin of the empennage.