Panamanian investigators have retrieved the two flight recorders from a Fokker 50 destroyed in a runway overrun on the island of Colon.
The Air Panama turboprop had conducted an approach to runway 27 at Bocas del Toro airport on 16 May, following a service from Panama City.
But Panamanian civil aviation regulator AAC states that the aircraft “overshot the runway after landing”.
AAC director general Rafael Barcenas Chiari says the Fokker 50 landed “under adverse weather conditions”, just after 21:00.
The aircraft came to rest on its fuselage underside, with its starboard wing and empennage separated.
AAC identifies the turboprop as HP-1899PST, a 1995 airframe formerly operated by Australia’s Alliance Airlines as well as Taiwanese carriers.
Barcenas says recovery personnel have retrieved two flight recorders – transferring them to investigators for analysis – and have been dealing with removing 300USgal of fuel from the wreckage.
The aircraft’s pilots have testified that there were no obstructions on the runway during touchdown, despite unconfirmed initial reports of people crossing the runway at the time.
Air Panama says all passengers and crew from flight 7P982 were “unharmed” following the accident, during which the aircraft “went off the runway after landing”.
“Passengers and crew were evacuated from the aircraft by our personnel and local authorities,” it adds.
Air Panama says it is “collaborating” with the AAC to establish the cause of the occurrence.
