What happened
On 30 June 2007, a Beech 1900, registered ZS-POK, was conducting a charter flight from Kabul Aerodrome, Afghanistan. The flight, which was intended to be a local circuit under visual meteorological conditions, departed from runway 29 at approximately 0414Z with a crew of two and seven passengers on board.
As the aircraft accelerated during the takeoff roll, the left-hand engine experienced a failure once the airspeed reached 104 knots at V1. Despite the loss of power, the flight crew continued the takeoff sequence. Following the departure, the crew attempted to restart the malfunctioning engine, but the effort was unsuccessful. The aircraft subsequently performed a circuit of the aerodrome and returned to land on the same runway with the left engine inoperative. There were no injuries to the passengers or crew, and the aircraft sustained no damage during the landing.
The investigation
Investigators reviewed the maintenance history of the aircraft to determine if mechanical issues contributed to the failure. The aircraft had completed a Phase 1 Inspection on 2'1 May 2007, with only 53.9 flight hours accumulated since that inspection. At the time of the incident, the airframe had a total of 25,904.9 hours. Records indicated that all mandatory overhauls and inspections required by the approved maintenance schedule had been performed and documented.
Furthermore, the investigation confirmed that the maintenance organization responsible for the most recent Phase 1 Inspection held a valid approval certificate and had passed its last audit in August 2006 without major deficiencies. The left-hand engine failure remains the primary focus of the event.