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What: 0640 UTC, a Piper PA42 Cheyenne III
Where: Grand Case, St. Maarten
When: May 5, 2012
Who: Pilot and three passengers
Why: On May 5, 2012, at 0640 UTC, a Piper PA42 Cheyenne III, French registration F-GXES, was destroyed when it crashed about four minutes after takeoff into the Atlantic Ocean, three miles from Grand Case, St. Maarten. The pilot and three passengers on board were fatally injured. The aircraft was airborne at 02:39 LT and crashed approximately five minutes later about one nautical mile off coast.
The passengers were a doctor, nurse, and the patient, Panagiotis Vryonides of Nicosia, a sick man from the cruise ship Allure of the Seas.
Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The foreign, non-scheduled cross-country flight was en route to Fort de France, Martinique.
Witnesses saw the airplane explode and crash into the sea.
The plane and remains were later found off Le Galion Beach.
This investigation is under the jurisdiction of the government of France.
Flybe flight BE-1284 crash-landed at Amsterdam Airport, Netherlands, on February 23rd.