Britten-Norman Islander

The Britten-Norman Islander is a slow, simple nine-seat twin built for short strips and short hops, and most of them are not turboprops at all. The BN-2, BN-2A and BN-2B have piston engines; only the BN-2T has turboprops. We rate the family with the classic turboprops because the site has no class for piston commuters. Up to 7 October 2026 our data holds 93 fatal passenger accidents in an estimated 19.5 million flights, a figure with a margin of roughly 50% either way, so the rate is uncertain.

What the Islander is

Britten-Norman flew the first Islander on the Isle of Wight in 1965, and it entered service in 1967. Many were built under licence by IRMA in Romania and PADC in the Philippines, and the type is still made in small numbers. About 1,250 have been built and about 450 fly today, but only around 200 carried airline passengers in 2019. The rest fly for police, militaries, surveyors, skydivers and private owners.

The design is deliberately basic: a high, straight wing, fixed landing gear, no pressurisation and one pilot. There is no cabin aisle, so passengers climb in through side doors. That simplicity makes it cheap to run on routes nobody else can serve, and it also means there is no co-pilot to catch a mistake.

Where you fly on one

The best-known Islander route is Loganair's Orkney inter-island service from Kirkwall to the North Isles, including the Westray to Papa Westray hop, which takes about two minutes. Elsewhere you meet Islanders on Caribbean island hops, in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Guyana, on southern Chile's coast and on scenic and charter flights.

The fatal record

Our data lists 149 fatal Islander events. Fifty-six do not count: 11 cargo, 10 ferry, 6 military, 2 training, 3 unlawful acts and 24 other flights such as air ambulance, survey and private trips. One was a Loganair air ambulance that flew into the sea near Campbeltown on 15 March 2005 after the pilot descended below the minimum altitude; investigators cited fatigue and lack of recent flying. Our methodology explains the exclusions.

Of the 93 that count, 74 happened before 2000. Papua New Guinea alone has 19, Indonesia 8. Recent ones show the usual pattern:

• 26 December 2001, BAL Bremerhaven Airline: snow left on the wings before take-off; 8 of 9 died.
• 13 April 2016, Sunbird Aviation PNG, Kiunga: a BN-2T rolled and fell on approach with its right fuel tank empty; all 12 died.
• 16 April 2019, Archipiélagos Servicios Aéreos, Puerto Montt: lost power after take-off, possibly with the fuel selectors on near-empty tip tanks; all 6 died.
• 13 November 2021, Island Airways, Beaver Island, Michigan: stalled on final approach in snow and gusts; 4 of 5 died.
• 22 December 2024, North Coast Aviation, Papua New Guinea: hit trees on a ridge while climbing through about 8,400 ft; all 5 died.

Operator, weather and terrain first

Be fair to the airframe. Very few Islander crashes trace back to a design fault. The recurring causes are flight into cloud over mountains, fuel management, ice and snow, and overloading, on single-pilot flights to strips with no landing aids. A careful operator flying in the British Isles faces different odds from a bush charter in the PNG highlands, even in the same aircraft. Compare the Twin Otter and the Cessna Caravan, which do the same work.

How to tell if you are on one

Flight trackers show BN2P for the piston Islander and BN2T for the turboprop. If the weather is poor and the pilot delays or cancels, that is the right call on this kind of flight. Give your real weight when asked; on a nine-seater it matters.