Widerøe Flight 933
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | March 11, 1982 |
| Type | In-flight, severe clear-air turbulence, subsequent structural failure in the tail section |
| Site | Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway |
| Passengers | 13 |
| Crew | 2 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Fatalities | 15 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | DeHavilland Twin Otter |
| Aircraft name | ? |
| Operator | Widerøes Flyveselskap |
| Tail number | LN-BNK |
On March 11, 1982, Widerøe Flight 933, a Widerøe Twin Otter, registration number LN-BNK, on a flight form Berlevåg Airport to Mehamn crashed into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, killing all fifteen on board. More than twenty years and four rounds of investigation later, this incident remains highly controversial in Norway. While all official investigations concluded that the crash resulted from structural failure of the aircraft's tail caused by severe clear-air turbulence, some claim that LN-BNK was damaged by collision with an RAF Harrier jet flying outside its designated operations area during a NATO exercise. This would have been particularly embarrassing considering Norway's policy not to operate military aircraft east of the 24th meridian, to minimize the risk of costly misunderstandings with the Soviet Union. It has been claimed that Norwegian authorities regularly turned a blind eye to violations of this and other policies by NATO aircraft (including American B-52 and U-2 aircraft) based in Northern Norway during the cold war.
Evidence of a collision is thin. British Harriers did operate in Northern Norway at the time (though not beyond 24°E), and one made an emergency landing at Bardufoss around the time LN-BNK crashed. Considering the distances involved and the time of its landing (several hours after the crash), it is very unlikely that it was anywhere near Mehamn when LN-BNK crashed, but proponents of the collision theory claim the ATC logs were forged as part of the cover-up.
Over the years, eyewitnesses' recollections were further muddled by conflation with other events, such as a near-miss between a Twin Otter and a RNoAF CF-104 Starfighter involved in the search for LN-BNK, and an incident two years later where two RAF Harriers entered the no-fly zone. During the 2003 investigation, one witness clearly recalled seeing the purported collision on radar; it was later revealed that he could not possibly have been present at the time, as he did not start working as an air traffic controller until several months after the crash.
In November 2002, NRK produced and broadcast a strongly pro-collision documentary which was instrumental in re-opening the investigation. The outcome of the that investigation was essentially the same as that of the previous three. They found no evidence of any collision, and NRK was strongly criticized for giving in to sensationalism and failing to thoroughly verify their sources.
