Dornier (RUAG, General Atomics; HAL in India) · Turboprop
Dornier 228
Is the Dornier 228 safe? It ranks Shared rankWithin 1 point of other aircraft types: the difference is not meaningful.More in the glossary of 53 airliner families we rate, with 13 fatal accidents counted in about 3.5 million passenger flights.
How the score is built
- Fatal passenger accidents
- 13 in 3.5 million flights
3.7 fatal passenger accidents per million flights. Counted: passenger flights, accidents and unexplained losses; not counted: sabotage, hijackings, shoot-downs and deliberate crew acts.
- Full-loss equivalents
- 11.5
Each counted accident adds the share of people on board who died (1 = no survivors). This is what the score is based on.
- Flights flown
- 3.5 million
Estimated passenger departures. Passenger departures 1982 to 7 October 2026 from a fleet model: deliveries with a median passenger service life of about 25 years and about 998 departures per aircraft per year (average of similar types in OpenSky). OpenSky sees too few of these aircraft. Uncertainty roughly ±50%.
- Technology generation
- Classic turboprop (designed before about 1980)
Small fleets are pulled toward the record of their generation: 2.9 full-loss equivalents per million flights over 127 million flights. Weight of this family's own record: 54%.
- Last fatal passenger accident
- 24 November 2019
Busy Bee Congo, 1 km S of Goma Airport (GOM), Congo (Democratic Republic): 21 of 22 people on board died.
- Hull losses
- 37
Civil aircraft destroyed or written off from all causes, including non-fatal accidents, cargo flights and attacks; airframes flown by air forces on military operations are left out (context only, not in the score).
Compared with everyday risks
One flight on the Dornier 228 carries about the same risk of death as the activities near it below.
- An hour's walk1 in 14 million
- Driving 100 miles (160 km)1 in 5.9 million
- A day of skiing1 in 1.3 million
- An ordinary day: accidents and violence1 in 1 million
- A scuba dive1 in 500,000
- Cycling 100 miles (160 km)1 in 430,000
- One flight on the Dornier 228This aircraft1 in 320,000
- Running a marathon1 in 290,000
- A skydive1 in 250,000
- A general anaesthetic1 in 100,000
- Riding a motorbike 100 miles (160 km)1 in 83,000
Accident history
13 fatal accidents count toward the score, with 171 people on board killed.
| Date | Flight | Killed | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Busy Bee Congo228-201 · 1 km S of Goma Airport (GOM), Congo (Democratic Republic) | 21 / 22 on board | Just after takeoff from Goma the controller saw the wings rocking; the crew asked to return without saying why, and the aircraft came down on houses south of the airport and burned. One passenger survived; six people on the ground died.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| Sita Air228-202 · ca 0,4 km SE of Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport (KTM), Nepal | 19 / 19 on board | The Dornier lifted off from Kathmandu at low speed, then lost speed while flying level at about 100 ft; the pilot mentioned a bird hit. It stalled, rolled left and crashed beside the river. Investigators could not explain the loss of thrust.Type: Loss of control in flightASN record | |
| Agni Air228-212 · 5 km SW of Jomsom Airport (JMO), Nepal | 15 / 21 on board | Approaching Jomsom, the pilot radioed that he was heading back to Pokhara moments before the aircraft struck a hillside near Marpha village. Five passengers and the flight attendant survived.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Agni Air228-101 · near Bastipur, Shikharpur VDC, Makwanpur district, Nepal | 14 / 14 on board | Turning back to Kathmandu because cloud had closed Lukla, the pilot reported a generator problem and tried switching to backup power. Attempting a visual approach with the alternate also shut by weather, the aircraft struck a hillside about 18 nm south-west of Kathmandu.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| TACV - Cabo Verde Airlines, lsf Guarda Costeira Cabo Verde228-201 · Santo Antão Island, Cape Verde | 18 / 18 on board | On a short VFR flight in very poor weather, the crew turned back toward São Vicente but struck a mountainside on Santo Antão. The inquiry found a navigation error, with flight below minima, unreliable weather data and fatigue contributing.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Alliance AirHAL/Dornier 228-201 · Cochin Airport (COK), India | 6 / 6 on board | Soon after takeoff the aircraft pitched up almost vertically, stalled and fell onto a naval workshop roof, also killing three workers. A stabilizer actuator fitting had partly detached because required fasteners were never fitted during maintenance.Type: System failureASN record | |
| Royal Brunei Airlines, lsf Merpati Intan BI839228-212 · 13,7 km S of Miri Airport (MYY), Malaysia | 10 / 10 on board | Cleared for a visual approach at night although the cloud base was below the published initial approach level, the crew could not find their way visually in cloud and struck the slope of Lambir Hill. The controller's clearance was a contributing factor.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Formosa Airlines228-212 · 1 km from Matsu Airport (MFK), Taiwan | 16 / 16 on board | After giving up its first approach in rain and strong wind, the aircraft struck trees and a military water tower on a 290 m hill, then crashed and burned.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Formosa Airlines228-212 · 1,6 km off Matsu Airport (MFK), Taiwan | 6 / 17 on board | Attempting a visual approach in instrument conditions, the crew kept descending before the runway was in sight; they noticed they were too low and added power, but the aircraft struck the sea.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Everest Air228-101 · 6,5 km N of Bharatpur Airport (BHR), Nepal | 19 / 19 on board | The aircraft flew into a mountainside while approaching Bharatpur on a flight from Kathmandu.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Formosa Airlines228-201 · off Orchid Island, Taiwan | 6 / 6 on board | The aircraft crashed into the sea off Orchid Island while approaching on a flight from Taipei. No account of the accident is available.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| Air Tahiti228-212 · 1 km WNW off Nuku Hiva Airport (NHV), French Polynesia | 10 / 22 on board | On approach the left engine failed uncontained, which the crew did not recognise. They flew past to land in the other direction, lost height and ditched at the last moment. Investigators cited poor crew handling, possibly affected by alcohol.Type: Engine failureASN record | |
| Vayudoot PF624228-201 · 9,5 km SE of Indapur, India | 11 / 11 on board | At night near thunderstorms, the aircraft hit severe turbulence in cloud and entered a spiral dive the pilots did not recognise; pulling back without levelling the wings, they crashed into a reservoir. An elevator jam was not ruled out.Type: Loss of control in flightASN record |
Listed but not counted
These events did not happen on regular passenger flights or were caused by a crime or a deliberate act, which says little about the aircraft design.
| Date | Flight | Killed | Why not counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malawi Air Force (MAF)228-202K · Chikangawa Forest Reserve, Mzimba District, Malawi | 9 / 9 on board | Military operation. The air force Do 228, carrying Malawi's vice president, wandered on an erratic course in poor weather near Mzuzu and flew into a forested hillside. Investigators found the crew flew visually into cloud, low and with poor preparation and awareness.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Nigerian Air Force - NAF228-212 · Kaduna, Nigeria | 7 / 7 on board | Military operation. A Dornier 228 of the Nigerian Air Force crashed into a house in a Kaduna military cantonment and burned. No cause is given.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| Indian Coast Guard228-202 · 30 km off Pichavaram, Indian Ocean | 3 / 3 on board | Military operation. Heading back at night from a coastal patrol, the Coast Guard Dornier vanished from radar; the wreck was found a month later deep in the sea. Its attitude and heading reference unit had lost power and the crew lost control; why the power failed is unknown.Type: System failureASN record | |
| Indian Naval Air Arm228-201 · 46 km SW off Goa, India, Indian Ocean | 2 / 3 on board | Military operation. On a night training sortie from INS Hansa, the Indian Navy Dornier 228 went into the sea off Goa; one crew member was rescued.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| Transportes Aéreos Corporativos - CorpFlite228-202K · 1,9 km SE of Viña del Mar Airport (KNA), Chile | 2 / 2 on board | Ferry flight without passengers. Repositioning to Viña del Mar in poor visibility with the ILS glideslope out, the crew flew a non-precision approach, went below MDA and struck power cables and trees before coming down in a field. Poor CRM, no checklists and overconfidence were cited.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Nigerian Air Force - NAF228-212 · near Vande Ikya, Nigeria | 13 / 18 on board | Military operation. Nigerian Air Force flight carrying military officers to a retreat at Obudu Cattle Ranch, which flew into a hillside about 18 nm from its destination. No cause is given.Type: Flight into terrainASN record | |
| Indian Coast Guard228-101 · off Paradip [Bay of Bengal], India | 4 / 6 on board | Military operation. Indian Coast Guard flight from Visakhapatnam to Calcutta that went down in the sea off Paradip; two of the six on board survived. No details are available.Type: Unknown causeASN record | |
| Alfred Wegener Institut228-100 · S of Dakhla, Western Sahara | 3 / 3 on board | Unlawful interference (sabotage, hijacking or shoot-down). The research institute's Dornier was flying home from an Antarctic expedition with a sister aircraft when Polisario guerrillas shot it down over Western Sahara, probably taking it for a Moroccan spy plane.Type: SecurityASN record | |
| Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH228-100 · near Igenhausen, Germany | 3 / 3 on board | Test flight. During a UK certification test, the Do 228 prototype was trimmed fully nose-down to simulate a trim runaway. Heavy stick forces disengaged the trim clutch, so it could not be re-trimmed; the pilots could not hold the nose up and it broke up diving at low level.Type: Loss of control in flightASN record |
The Dornier 228 is a sturdy, simple 19-seat commuter aircraft, and its fatal record says more about where it flies than about how it is built. Up to 7 October 2026 our data holds 13 fatal passenger accidents, four of them in Nepal and three on Taiwan's island routes. The flight count behind the rate is an estimate of about 3.5 million passenger flights with a margin of roughly 50% either way, so treat the type's record as uncertain.
What the Dornier 228 is
Dornier flew the 228 in 1981 and delivered the first one in 1982. It has a high wing with a distinctive square-tipped planform, two Garrett TPE331 turboprops, an unpressurised cabin and main wheels that retract into fairings on the fuselage sides. It takes off and lands on short strips, which is why mountain and island operators like it.
About 370 have been built, including Hindustan Aeronautics' licence production in India, which went mostly to the Indian armed forces. The 228NG, built since about 2010, adds a glass cockpit and five-blade propellers. About 150 are in service, but well under half of them carry airline passengers. The rest patrol coastlines, survey or fly for militaries.
Where you fly on one
Nepal is where most travellers meet the 228: domestic flights from Kathmandu and Pokhara into mountain airports, including Lukla and Jomsom. In India, Alliance Air has used HAL-built 228s on short regional routes in the north-east. Elsewhere it turns up with small island and bush carriers in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The fatal record
Our data lists 22 fatal Dornier 228 events. Nine do not count towards the score: six military flights (including the Malawi Air Force crash of June 2024), a ferry flight, a 1982 test flight and a research aircraft shot down over Western Sahara in 1985. Our methodology explains why. The 13 that count:
- Nepal. Everest Air near Bharatpur (31 July 1993, 19 dead); Agni Air near Kathmandu (24 August 2010, 14 dead) after it turned back from cloud at Lukla with a generator fault; Agni Air near Jomsom (14 May 2012, 15 of 21 dead) while turning back towards Pokhara; Sita Air at Kathmandu (28 September 2012, 19 dead), which stalled after take-off.
- Taiwan. Formosa Airlines lost three 228s on approach to Orchid Island and Matsu in 1993, 1996 and 1997.
- India. Vayudoot PF624 entered a spiral in night thunderstorm turbulence near Indapur (23 September 1989, 11 dead). An Alliance Air 228 pitched up and stalled after take-off from Cochin (30 July 1998, 6 dead) because fasteners had been left out of the tailplane actuator mounting during maintenance.
- Elsewhere. Air Tahiti at Nuku Hiva (1991), Royal Brunei Airlines near Miri (1997), Cabo Verde Airlines on Santo Antão (1999) and Busy Bee Congo at Goma (24 November 2019, 21 of 22 dead), which crashed into homes after take-off.
Terrain and weather, or the airframe?
Separate the two. The Nepal crashes happened on routes where cloud fills the valleys within minutes, where most flying is visual and where a turn-back can put an aircraft into a hillside. Taiwan's losses came on approaches to small island airports. Those risks belong to the route and the operator, and the Twin Otter and Let L-410 carry them on the same strips.
Few counted accidents point at the aircraft at all. Cochin was a maintenance error, not a design flaw. The Agni Air crew of 2010 had a generator fault, but only after bad weather had already turned them back. At Kathmandu in 2012, investigators could not explain why the aircraft lacked thrust, though they found that the crew had let the speed decay. There was no counted fatal accident between 1999 and 2010, and none since November 2019.
How to tell if you are on one
Flight trackers show the ICAO code D228. Outside, look for the long, slim nose, the high wing with square tips and the bulged wheel fairings under the fuselage. In Nepal, book the earliest flight of the day: the weather is usually best then, and a cancelled flight is a sign the airline is doing its job.
Questions people ask
Is the Dornier 228 safe to fly in Nepal?
Four of the 13 fatal Dornier 228 passenger accidents in our data happened in Nepal, all on flights to or from mountain and valley airports. The causes were mostly weather, terrain and crew decisions, not the aircraft. Fly in the morning, when cloud is lowest, and accept a delay or cancellation if the airline calls one.
What happened to the Sita Air Dornier in 2012?
On 28 September 2012 the Sita Air 228 took off from Kathmandu for Lukla, lost speed while flying level at about 100 feet and stalled. All 19 people died. A bird was found on the runway, but Nepal's investigators could not explain why the aircraft had too little thrust, and found that the crew had not held the safe climb speed.
Is the Dornier 228 still being built?
Yes. The modernised 228NG, with a glass cockpit and five-blade propellers, has been built since about 2010, and Hindustan Aeronautics in India builds the type under licence. About 370 have been built and about 150 remain in service, many with coast guards, air forces and survey operators rather than airlines.
How many flights has the Dornier 228 made?
We estimate about 3.5 million passenger flights since 1982, but the estimate comes from a fleet model, not from flight records, and could be half or one and a half times that. Flight trackers see few of these aircraft, so the type's accident rate is less certain than that of an airliner.
Sources
- 1.ASN record: Sita Air Dornier 228, Kathmandu, 28 September 2012 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 2.ASN record: Agni Air Dornier 228, near Jomsom, 14 May 2012 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 3.ASN record: Agni Air Dornier 228, Makwanpur district, 24 August 2010 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 4.ASN record: Alliance Air HAL/Dornier 228, Cochin, 30 July 1998 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 5.ASN record: Busy Bee Congo Dornier 228, Goma, 24 November 2019 (opens in a new tab) · Aviation Safety Network
- 6.World Bank: Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide (opens in a new tab) · World Bank
- 7.SafetyScorer fleet model (World Bank departures, OpenSky averages) (opens in a new tab)Passenger departures 1982 to 7 October 2026 from a fleet model: deliveries with a median passenger service life of about 25 years and about 998 departures per aircraft per year (average of similar types in OpenSky). OpenSky sees too few of these aircraft. Uncertainty roughly ±50%.