Created Saturday, Apr 9th 2022 17:21Z, last updated Wednesday, Sep 24th 2025 17:31Z
An Air Tahiti Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration F-ORVS performing flight
VT-823 from Nuku Hiva to Atuona (French Polynesia) with 60 passengers, landed on Atuona's runway 20 but touched down hard. The aircraft rolled out without further incident.
The aircraft is still on the ground in Atuona standing Apr 10th 2022 (local time).
The airline reported the aircraft experienced a downdraft during landing in Atuona and touched down hard. A post flight inspection and assessment by the aircraft manufacturer determined that at least one of the main gear struts experienced loads beyond structural integrity, as result it was decided to replace both main gear struts. The aircraft is going to be ferried to Papeete for these repairs. Due to the lack of this airplane the airline told their passengers that there may be disruptions to their flight schedule. The airline is awaiting parts from the gear manufacturer and hopes to have the aircraft back in service for the Easter weekend.
On Apr 15th 2022 the French BEA reported the aircraft encountered a windshear at 100 feet AGL which pushed the aircraft down to the ground, the crew could not avert a "brutal" ground contact and went around. The BEA is investigating the occurrence.
No Metars are available for Atuona. The local weather station at Atuona reported (scheduled arrival at 13:10L) at 13:00L: temperature 26 degrees C, Dew point 21 degrees C, winds from east at 6 knots, QNH 1005 hPa, mostly cloudy. The station did not report any significantly different weather throughout the day.
On Jul 25th 2025 the BEA released their final report in French and on Sep 24th 2025 the final report in English concluding the probable causes of the accident were:
The crew's choice of the RNP 20 approach, which appears to have exposed them more to the risks of turbulence and wind shear, may have been influenced by an inadequate weather service at Hiva-Oa-Atuona, which did not provide the necessary precision guarantees to enable pilots to choose the most appropriate runway for the approach and landing.
The following factors may have contributed to the continuation of the approach when the stabilization criteria were no longer met, and then to the hard touchdown:
- Accepting the destabilization of the approach, without interrupting it, due to recurring turbulent conditions on Runway 20;
- The operator's definition of stabilization criteria insufficiently adapted to a steep approach;
- The difficulty of responding effectively to wind shear at low altitude due to the lack of detection equipment, on the ground or on board. The simultaneous opposite control inputs following the reflex action of the Captain led to the unwanted disconnection of the PUM (Pitch Uncoupling Mechanism).
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