What happened
On the afternoon of 8 February 2025, a Beechcraft Super King Air B200, registration ZS-LFW, was performing a positioning flight from Kimberley Airport to Bram Fischer International Airport. The flight, operated by Air Ambulance Health Service (PTY) LTD, carried a crew of two and two medical personnel.
During the descent from 13,000 feet, the aircraft's cabin door warning light illuminated on the annunciator panel. Upon inspection, the crew discovered that one of the four door locks was misaligned. Following standard operating procedures, the captain instructed the passengers to remain belted and advised against tampering with the door while the cabin remained pressurized.
As the aircraft was on its downwind leg for Runway 30, the cabin door opened and completely detached from the fuselage. The door fell to the ground, landing in a paved parking area of a nearby shopping mall. Despite the loss of the door, the crew maintained the aircraft's configuration and speed, completing the approach and landing safely. There were no injuries to the occupants, and no damage to property was reported.
The investigation
An investigation by the SACAA AIID established that the aircraft was operating under visual meteorological conditions. The investigation examined the aircraft's maintenance history, noting that the last inspection had been completed only days prior to the incident. The investigation also reviewed the status of the door'comprising the forward and aft side latches, which had approximately 936 cycles of service life remaining at the time of the event.
Findings
- The primary cause of the door detachment was a misaligned door lock.
- One of the four visual indicators on the door locks was not centered, signaling an improper lock.
- The aircraft's cable attachments, which serve to keep the door in place when open, were damaged during the incident.
- The aircraft was operating under Part 91 regulations as a private positioning flight.
- The incident was survivable as the crew remained belted and the aircraft's flight path was not significantly disrupted.