Incident
A flight en route from Woleai Atoll to Yap Island encountered difficulties when the pilot became lost amid marginal weather conditions. Adverse winds aloft, with gusts reaching 30 knots, worsened the situation. Both engines subsequently failed because the fuel supply was exhausted. The pilot executed an emergency landing on the water approximately 80 kilometers east of Yap Island. All seven occupants were quickly rescued, but the aircraft sank and was lost.
Investigation Findings
The official investigation determined that the engine failure occurred during normal cruise and led to a ditching. The root cause was fuel exhaustion after the pilot became lost and disoriented. Contributing factors included adverse winds aloft, wind gusts up to 30 knots, complete failure of both engines, weather conditions slightly worse than forecast, and the forced landing off an airport on water.