Widerøe Flight 839 crashes after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Norway, killing five people.
Widerøe Flight 839
Widerøe Flight 839, also known as the Værøy Accident, was a de Havilland Canada DHC-6-300 Twin Otter that crashed shortly after takeoff from Værøy Airport in Værøy Municipality in Lofoten, Norway. The accident occurred on 12 April 1990 at 14:44, killing all five people on board. The cause of the accident was strong winds that exceeded the structure's tolerance, causing the tail rudder and tailplane to crack and the aircraft to become uncontrollable. Impact occurred 63 seconds after takeoff and 8 seconds after the crack. The aircraft crashed into the water and a search was conducted for several days to locate the wreckage.
Værøy Airport
Værøy Airport was a regional airport located just southwest of the village of Nordland on the island of Værøya in Værøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. Operated between 1986 and 1990, it had an 800-by-30-meter asphalt runway aligned 07–25. The airport was owned and operated by the Værøy Municipality. It was served by Widerøe, who operated de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft to the town of Bodø and the nearby island of Røstlandet. After a fatal accident in 1990, the airport was shut down.
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of Norway. Bouvet Island, located in the Subantarctic, is a dependency, and not a part of the Kingdom; Norway also claims the Antarctic territories of Peter I Island and Queen Maud Land. Norway has a population of 5.6 million. Its capital and largest city is Oslo. The country has a total area of 385,207 square kilometres (148,729 sq mi). The country shares a long eastern border with Sweden, and is bordered by Finland and Russia to the northeast. Norway has an extensive coastline facing the Skagerrak strait, the North Atlantic Ocean, and the Barents Sea.